Making new habits requires change, and improving upon yourself constantly requires change. However, some people may finds change difficult and creating habits is without a doubt hard. There are different ways to create new habits and finding the perfect method requires trial and error. Here's a method you can try:
2:2:2
Honestly, I don't know what the name for this method is so I'm calling it the 2:2:2 method. It takes only 2 minutes, then 2 weeks, then 2 years. By the end of it all, you would have created and consolidated a new habit into you.
2 Minutes
These 2 minutes are away to practice the habit that you would like to pick up. You start off by picking a habit, then making a time or place for it so that you can easily get into the mindset of doing whatever it is. For the first week or so do the new habit for two minutes - no more, no less. This way you can persuade yourself to do whatever it is because you know it will be over soon and, since it's only for a short period of time, you won't get distracted.
2 Days
This part of the method helps build persistence. All you have to do is to never miss the habit for more than two days or two sessions in a row, otherwise you risk losing your habit completely. If you do miss it once, forgive yourself: it's better to be consistent than perfect because striving for perfection could be too overwhelming, leading you to give up on your goal.
2 Years
The 2 years help you develop patience when making this new habit a part of you. Don't quit over these two years. They are long enough to help you change your identity into the type of person that does the habit you are trying to achieve, as well as long enough to see progress and the changes as a result, at the same time, they aren't too long causing you to give up. You'll get there eventually - these two years are just a journey to the end.
When creating a habit, you should always introduce things gradually, and this is exactly what this method does. It might not work for everyone, but it may prove to be very useful for many of you out there. If you are already using it or are trying to use it, like I am, share your experiences. I know I definitely use the 'two days' part of the method for every habit I try to form and am trying to create these changes over a period of 2 years.
Something that might also help with sticking to your habits whilst using this method is to track your progress. Use a graph or calendar to track the days where you achieved the habit and the days you didn't by crossing off the days you were successful and leaving out the days you weren't blank.
That's all from me today. I'll see you in my next post. Happy habit changing! ;)
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