Whether you
are an entrepreneur, a manager, worker, student or other making new habits is a
difficult and trying task. It is something that successful people seem to have
made look easy. It isn’t, though, is it? How do professional athletes and elite
forces make new habits? They build muscle memory. Your brain is your best
muscle. Or, at least, it should be.
By actively
using the steps outlined below you can be pretty certain that you will have new
habits in place and benefiting from them. It won’t be overnight, not in the
least. New habits are instilled, on
average, over about 21 days. This time frame is based on the observations of a
plastic surgeon from the 1950s.
“What can a
plastic surgeon from almost 70 years ago know about making habits?” Good question.
He noted that his patients took an average of 21 days to get accustomed to the
change. Be it their nose, cheekbones, an amputation the time to get used to the
change was around 21 days. I am inclined to agree with that timeline.
Making
Habits Stick
During the
initial habit making you will go through the following phases. There are the
Glory Days. There is the Rough Run. Finally, it begins to settle in to a
comfortable habit. The Glory Days are the first several days of the new habit.
Everything feels new and exciting. The Rough Run comes after the new car smell
has faded. Then there is the Comfortable Habit. This is when you are doing just
what you set out to do in the first place. It feels good. Good results are
coming in.
Visualize
what this new habit will look like. See it so vividly in your mind that you can
feel and taste it. Bring in all of your senses when visualizing the success of
the new habit. Elite forces like Navy SEALS and Army Special Forces do this
with their training and making new habits. Top rated athletes practice this.
They play each step of the game in their mind before getting onto the field.
Martial artists do this to help solidify their techniques. Research shows that
by visualizing your actions and the success of them actually makes the neural
connections necessary for the new act. It also does trigger some physical
adaptation for it, as well.
How does one
get through the Rough Run? Linking personal positive rewards as a way to mark
hitting the milestone.
Link
Positives to making new healthy habits. Treat yourself to something that
involves as many senses as you can to reward yourself. Something I like, and
miss from my days in Europe, is sitting back with a cappuccino. I use them now
as a reward for achieving a set goal and for making new habits. Cappuccino
smells wonderful. It tastes grand. It even has its own feel in your mouth. The
sound of the milk being frothed is the audible cue that things are great. Even seeing the foam reminds me of those late
afternoon coffees sitting near the curb or a heater in a café. This is the sort
of thing that brings all of you together to celebrate your achievement.
Sometimes
life will knock you out of the new track before it becomes a healthy rut. At
these times you have to head back into your healthy habit as fast as you can.
As fast as you can without stressing out, that is. Close your eyes and breathe
deeply for about 12 breaths. That will take approximately 2 to 3 minutes if you
are breathing fully and deeply. These breaths will not only help slow you down,
but they will flood your system with more oxygen. The higher O2 content will
feed your brain. There you have it, you are reset and ready to reengage.
Visualize
the new habit as a regular attribute or action. Breathe deeply. Refocus on the
goal. Then, with your mind calmed, cleared, and full of O2 step back into your
habit. After the 21 days are done you will find that coming back into the track
is easier and that getting knocked out of it is less perturbing.
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