5 Ways to Establish New Habits

A new habit sometimes involves ceasing to do something that has come easily, doing more of something that has not come easily, or substituting one behavior for another. In any case, solid principles and methods from psychology can help ensure your success.

The Power of Reinforcement

When you successfully enact the new habit, it’s important to take advantage of each instance as an opportunity to reinforce such behavior. The reinforcement doesn’t have to be big or substantial, but should be something you enjoy or appreciate, and ideally is administered as soon as possible after the desired behavior. That is, how can you treat yourself in some small way for having just accomplished a new behavior? Simply taking a moment to recognize your accomplishment and mentally congratulating yourself may be an effective form of reinforcement. The effect of reinforcement is that the behavior being reinforced is more likely to occur in the future. People you admire for their self-discipline and positive habits may simply be good at reinforcing themselves, even if just mentally.

The Power of Envisioning the Future

Many times, the benefits of positive habits are relatively far off in the future, whereas the payoffs for not exercising self-control and engaging in negative habits are relatively immediate. One practice that has been shown to be beneficial is to picture yourself at some point in the future, having reaped the benefits of engaging in the new habit now. For example, imagine yourself in a better job or enjoying a promotion as a result of consistently tackling dreaded tasks at work. Or picture yourself older but healthy and trim as a result of resisting temptation to snack at work (a new habit). In what ways would your future life be better if you engaged in your new behavior now?

The Power of Implementation Intentions

Implementation intentions are little rules you create for yourself so that you have already pre-decided how you will respond in particular situations. They typically take the form of “When X, I will do Y.” For example, “When I am assigned a task I dislike, I will start on it the same day.” Or, “When I see donuts in the break room, I will ignore them and go about my business.” By pre-deciding how you will react, and immediately following your implementation intention when the corresponding situation arises, you remove the need to decide in each situation. Deciding repeatedly in the moment increases the likelihood that at some point you will make a decision that works against the habit you are trying to establish.

The Power of the Environment

Your environment influences your behavior, so be aware of it and take the necessary steps to shape your environment to facilitate the new behavior. For example, if your intended new habit is to eat healthier, removing unhealthy food from your surroundings is a good start. You know you’ll get hungry or simply want a snack, so making sure acceptable options are readily available is an important way to shape your behavior. If your new habit is to work out at a gym after work, having clean workout clothes lying on the passenger-side front seat is a way to help ensure that you’ll remember or exert the necessary self-control when you get into your vehicle to leave work.

The Power of Social Influence

Leverage your relationships with other people to help establish your new habit. First, tell other people about your goals in that regard. Simply telling other people sort of puts you “on record” and more likely to follow through. Also consider an accountability partner, or two. That is, ask someone to regularly ask you about the status of your new habit. The goal with an accountability partner isn’t to shame you or lecture you when you’ve fallen short but, rather, to help motivate you with encouragement and praise for success. Just knowing that you will have to report to this partner on a regular basis will add motivation in the process. Last, is there some way that your new habit might be facilitated by recruiting others in your relevant environment to perform some task? For example, if your new habit is to take the stairs whenever possible, ask coworkers to do the same so that whenever you are leaving with someone, the assumption will be that the stairs will trump the elevator.

All of the practices described here are effective at bolstering the likelihood that you will engage in the behavior you desire, thereby establishing new habits. By employing all five, you will be well on your way to reaping the benefits that accrue from more positive habits. Be gentle with yourself if establishing new habits does not come as readily as you’d like. Remember that the long haul is what is important, and decide to persist until the desired habits are your new norm.