I’m about to ruin your day. Sorry. You’ve come here looking for the painstaking, tedious, mind-numbing key to building a habit. I hate to break it to you, but building a habit couldn’t be easier.
What People Expect When Building a Habit
Okl’n is a different kind of zombie. He keeps doing the same things over and over that get him into trouble. He’s famous for his midnight runs through the graveyard that invariably bring him face to face with a frost monster.
Yet he still does it. Why? Because it’s a habit. Habits have a way of making us do things even when we don’t want to.
The funny thing is that people don’t realize this works both ways when building a habit.
That “doing what we don’t want to do” is often forgotten when we talk about good habits. We think that we go on the midnight strolls because of habits even when we know better, but we never would think we would go for a healthy run during the day for the same reason.
People assume that building a habit is all about forcing ourselves to do things over and over. What they don’t realize is that there is an easy way to make it… well, easy. Then we end up being compelled to do the habit even when we don’t want to.
The Key to Building a Habit
The key to building a habit is simple. As in… keep it simple. We like to think that in order to become a runner and get in shape, we have to start running a mile every day. That’s probably the worst way to start.
Instead, just walk for a minute. That’s it. Inside, outside: it doesn’t really matter. Just do the action. Do it every day. Without fail.
That’s the key to building a habit: it’s not about how much you do. It’s about doing it every day. Soon it becomes part of your life and you find yourself compelled to do it. You will figure out ways to fit it in no matter what. It becomes a part of who you are.
That’s it. I know you’re expecting some big follow up or some magical method to follow, but you don’t need it. Just do the activity each day without fail, no matter how little. That’s all there is to it.
