Quick Tips To Build New Habits
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life, and you will call it fate.” Carl Jung
How do we become conscious when we are often in the unconscious? Consider this: there have been times that we move around our daily life by default–automatically–why? It’s a habit! Here is an example, we drive to work or a designated area that we’re familiar with, we park the car, and suddenly it dawns on you that you don’t remember driving or how you got there! That is the power of the unconscious mind. That is why we can do various tasks simultaneously; we go on automatic pilot without even realizing it. We can use this same method to create good habits without a lot of effort! Before we learn about the quick tips to build new habits, let’s look at our belief system because it begins there.
Procrastination and our belief system:
Often we think that we procrastinate because we don’t like the project or it doesn’t excite us, but it’s more than that–it’s about a lack of clarity on what we need to accomplish. And when we are not sure, we begin the “dance” of avoidance. Suddenly, we get busy with tasks that do not move the needle, and we get busy with the minutia. Recognize that this is a “trigger” to keep you at bay. Ask yourself what is bothering me here? Why am I in avoidance? Journaling consistently can help you to dig deep and find the root cause as to why you’re procrastinating. As you get clarity, you can choose to change the outcome and move forward on your given task/project. Now that we have a clearer picture of how our subconscious works, let us implement the new way of creating habits.
You change your habits by changing your behavior:
Implement intentions (write your goal and be specific).
- Plan – i.e., I want to exercise daily= intentions
- When – every morning before starting your workday
- Where – Running track at the park
Create your “cues” beforehand.
- i.e., Tonight, I will set my alarm.
- I will have my workout clothes and running shoes near the door.
- When I wake up and see my gear, it will trigger my commitment.
What you are doing is creating a new habit. As you continue with the process daily, this will make a new neural passage in the brain; the old behavior will begin to dissipate as the new one becomes stronger with consistent practice. You will reach a point that you won’t have to think about it–it will be a habit, a habit that you intentionally created!
