We all know the grim stats about how many New Year’s resolutions fail. That’s not because people are inherently lazy or incapable of following through. When you get right down to it, all resolutions are about habit change—adopting new (good) habits or breaking old (bad) habits—and habit change is hard.
What Are Habits, and How Do You Change Them?
Habits are any behaviors that don’t require a lot of brainpower or decision-making. You do them automatically, in psychology lingo. Nobody has to remind you to brush your teeth in the morning. Runners don’t think long and hard about going for a morning run; they just swing their legs out of bed when the alarm goes off.
Successful habit change is the process of taking a behavior that currently requires brainpower and making it more automatic.
On a basic level, all behavior works like this:
- Cue (trigger): You experience a thought, sensation, or emotion, or something happens around you.
- Response (behavior): You respond with some sort of action.
- Feedback (consequences): The action leads to an outcome.
For example, you feel hungry so you eat and then feel satisfied. Someone cuts you off in traffic, you honk at them, you feel less angry. When the feedback feels good to your brain—when it’s rewarding—you’re more likely to repeat that behavior. Repeat a rewarding behavior enough times and eventually it becomes a habit.
It’s elegantly simple but not easy. The good news is you can improve your odds of success by beefing up any step of the process.
The Secret Sauce: How to Lock In New Habits
Let’s say your resolution is to exercise more regularly. Here’s how to increase your likelihood of success.
Trick #1: Strengthen the Cues
Make it easier to remember that you’re supposed to be exercising:
- Leave yourself reminders. Put post-it notes on your bathroom mirror, fridge, or laptop. Set alarms on your phone.
- Arrange your environment. Keep your gym bag on your front seat. Put an exercise tracking app on your phone's home screen.
- Make specific plans. “I will go to the gym on Mondays and Thursdays at 5:30 p.m.”
- Use habit stacking. Pair your new desired behavior with something you already do habitually. When you shut off your laptop at 5 p.m., immediately change into gym clothes.
Trick #2: Make the Behavior More Appealing
There are countless ways to do this.
- Arrange to meet friends at the gym.
- Invest in nice workout clothes that make you feel more comfortable.
- Designate podcasts or audiobooks you only listen to at the gym.
- Use positive language: “I get to go to the gym today” instead of “I have to go to the gym today.”
Trick #3: Make It Feel Feasible
It doesn’t matter how much you want something. If you don’t believe you can do it, you won’t try. Take a good hard look at what’s preventing you from exercising regularly now, then take steps to remove those obstacles:
- Don’t know where to start? Download a fitness app that programs workouts for you.
- Overwhelmed? Break big goals into smaller, more achievable interim goals.
- Scheduling issues? Block off workout time on your work calendar. Join the gym between your home and office, even if the one on the other side of town is fancier. Buy workout equipment for your home.
Trick #4: Make It Feel Urgent
Increase the stakes by creating a situation where not following through will be painful.
- Tell people about your plan so you’ll be motivated to follow through and save face.
- Hire a coach or trainer so someone is counting on you to show up.
- Create a deadline. Register for an upcoming race or join a 30-day challenge.
Trick #5: Make It More Rewarding
While developing better habits can be rewarding in and of itself, you can speed the process along by building in positive reinforcement.
- Use a tracking app or check off days on your calendar—the grown-up version of getting gold stars in elementary school.
- Post your progress on social media. I know, I know, but likes and positive comments are actually quite reinforcing.
- Celebrate milestones. For example, every time you increase a lift by 10%, put money aside for those expensive gym shoes you’re eyeing.
Target #6: Repetition, Repetition, Repetition
To really ingrain the habit, you have to do the behavior over and over. The more you do, the stronger the cognitive association between the cue and the behavior and, over time, the more automatic it becomes.
Most importantly, stick with it. Don’t let minor setbacks derail you. New habits take weeks or months to lock in. Be patient. You’ve got this!
