Helping habits happen
In the book Excellent Advice for Living, Kevin Kelly identifies the importance of habits.
Habit is far more dependable than inspiration. Make progress by making habits. Don’t focus on getting into shape. Focus on becoming the kind of person who never misses a workout.
I have tried to use habits with this blog. I have tried to post something every day - it is becoming a habit. Sometimes I feel inspired and write a number of posts and sometimes it just doesn't flow but I still aim to post something.
The risk to a habit comes when you break it. Once you have broken a habit once it is much easier to break it a second time so sometimes you need to add an additional element to help you stay on the path.
There is an interview on the School of Greatness podcast with James Clear, the author of the popular book Atomic Habits, where identifies an additional area he would now include in the book:
So if I had to pick one topic that I think is even more important now than I realized when I was writing the book, I would probably say the social environment. We're all part of multiple tribes. All of those tribes, large and small, they have a set of expectations. They have a set of social norms. They have a set of beliefs that, this is how you act in this group. This is what's normal and expected. And the more that your habits align with the expectations of the group, the easier it is to stick with them, the more appealing and attractive they are because they signal to the people around you, hey look, I'm part of this. And the more that they go against the grain of the tribes that you belong to, the harder they are to stick to.
We can use those around us and our environment to help enforce habits. There is an element of accountability and not wanting to stand out from the group. This is effectively peer pressure used in a positive way to make changes.
Links
3 Habits To Improve Your Life with James Clear/
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