6 Simple Steps to Building Lasting Habits

“Habits make it more likely that luck will go your way.” — James Clear

Habits are so important. They determine who we are, and who we are going to become. They have direct results on what we achieve in life. I like to view them as mini stepping stones towards my goals.

What I’ve come to realise recently is that success doesn’t happen all at once; success happens in the daily decisions that we make, and the habits we engage in. For example, I’m not going to suddenly achieve writing success and make $1000 on an article. Rather, I’m going to slowly cultivate my success by writing daily. Only then will I achieve success. This goes for everything in life; you rarely experience success out of nowhere, so there’s no point sitting around and waiting for it to come.

“An extraordinary life is all about daily, continuous improvements in the areas that matter most.” — Robin Sharma

1. Identify your goals

Goals provide direction for your habits. Hal Elrod, author of The Miracle Morning, explains that “goals dictate your actions.” Similarly, Atomic Habits author James Clear says that while habits are more important than goals, goals will provide the direction and motivation for your habits.

“Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress.” — James Clear

So identify your goals. What do you want to have achieved in 1 year? 5 years? Remember to think about all aspects of your life — your career, your relationships, your finances, your spiritual life, your intellectual life. All areas that are important to you. Set timely goals for each of these areas.

2. Break down your goals

Take the goals developed above, whether they are for 1 year from now, 5 years, or 10 years. Start breaking them down into smaller and smaller time frames: 6 monthly, 3 monthly, monthly, weekly, until you get to what you need to achieve daily to reach your goal.

3. Identify your daily habits

From step 2, you will now have your daily habits; what you need to do daily in order to progress toward your goals. These need to be tiny and very easy to achieve. Stephen Guise, author of Mini Habits, suggests even aiming for completing one pushup. Something so tiny that it’s ridiculous. And once you do one pushup, you’re probably more likely to do more.

‘’Big intentions are worthless if they don’t bring results. For example, I can say that I will exercise for two hours every day, but if I never do it, the size of the intention doesn’t matter. In fact, intention without action harms self-confidence.’’ — Stephen Guise

4. Stack your habits

This is a tool I have found particularly helpful. Think about the things that you do every day, without fail. For example, having coffee or brushing your teeth. Then, attach another habit to this. Immediately before I brush my teeth at night, I will foam roll for 10 minutes. Now I can’t go brush my teeth without rolling because it has become a habit. Stacking habits makes it more likely that you will remember to do them.

5. Use implementation intention

Implementations intentions are a trick that increases the likelihood that you will carry out the habit. This is determining the exact time and place you will carry out your habit, and scheduling time for it so that there is no way you can miss it. For example, “I will meditate for 10 minutes on my couch at 7am every day.” This is a clear plan of action.

“People who make a specific plan for when and where they will perform a new habit are more likely to follow through.” — James Clear

6. Use the two-day rule

I learned this one from Matt D’Avella last year, and it had stuck with me since. The rule is this: when developing habits, never let your habit slide two days in a row. For example, if you want to run everyday but you didn’t manage to get out yesterday, you have to go today no matter what.

This is an effective way to keep yourself on top of your habits while allowing some room for error. Not aiming for perfection will make it less likely that you give up on your goal, while at the same time ensuring that you’re still consistently working towards it.

Consistency is key with habits:

“Doing a little bit every day has a greater impact than doing a lot on one day. How much greater? Profoundly so, because a little bit every day is enough to grow into a lifelong foundational habit, and those are a big deal.” - Stephen Guise

Habits are important. They are what are going to lead us to success. But habits can be difficult to build and stick to, so it’s important to remember:

• Identify your goals
• Break your goals down into smaller and smaller chunks
• Identify what you need to do daily to work toward your goals
• Stack your habits onto existing habits
• Use implementation intentions to develop clear action plans
• Use the two day rule to ensure consistency

And remember:

“Success is the product of daily habits.” — James Clear