Lately I have been reading books on habits as well as on health and fitness. One of the books on habits I enjoyed was The Power of Habits: Why We Do What We Do In Life and Business by Charles Duhigg. I would recommend reading this book if you are interested in understanding your habits and how to change habits.
Today I found a brief video online by Mr. Duhigg called How to Break Habits. It is just over 3 minutes and well worth the watch.
Finally if you want to test this theory out, you may want to check out the website, Tiny Habits. Mr BJ Fogg has created a way for you to try forming a new habit by paying attention to a cue, an action, and a reward. About a month ago I tried one of his mini sessions. One of the habits I created was to do push ups after I go to the bathroom. It worked. I can no longer go to the bathroom without doing a couple of push ups before I leave the bathroom. (Is that more than you want to know?). At first my reward was a “Yeah I did it.” while looking in the mirror. Yes, I felt a little stupid, but kept at it. I now do between 15 and 24 push ups a day, when I couldn’t even do one push up that wasn’t on my knees. And now…now my reward is muscles developing in my biceps and upper back. Pretty cool.
I am in the process of trying to figure out what other healthy habit I want to create. I know I want to eat slower, but I can’t figure out a cue or a reward yet. So trying to break it down to a small routine. If I get it, I will let you know.
If you try it, I would love to hear what habit you want to break or to form.
It's Still Life 