To have a habit means to do something without thinking about it, something that is already part of our life and that does not require effort to do it or any kind of motivation, but how do we form a habit?
The creation of a habit is based on the repetition of an action, for example: drinking a healthy juice every morning, after repeating it continuously, the moment comes when we already do it without thinking.
That is a habit, doing it automatically, just as we do the most everyday things, we all have dozens of habits that are already part of our daily lives without realizing it.
But how long does it take us to create a habit? a week? a month? a year?
There are studies that prove that repeating the same thing for 21 days can form a habit, other studies say that there is no definite time, and others say that it takes 70 days.
But all agree that the time varies depending on the person, the context and the type of habit.
So, how do we create good habits?
• It is important to do it in phases, the first phase is the initiation phase, you have to define what you will do, at what time and for how long. For example: I will drink a green juice every day before going to work;
• Once the first phase is very clear, the second phase follows: the learning phase, in which the action is repeated to strengthen the context-behavior association;
• The achievement of a habit ends with the third phase: the stability phase, in which the habit has been formed and consolidated, so that it can always be performed without effort.
Focus on a single habit, don’t want to do all of them at the same time, if you focus your attention on a single action the probability of its success increases significantly, trying more than one will cost you much more.
Motivation is fundamental when you perform a certain action, that makes it easier, but as time goes by, motivation begins to decrease, it is important to maintain it in order to be able to continue.
The temptation to give up will be inevitable, when that happens: imagine how everything will improve in your life with the new habit, do not obsess about what you are giving up, whether certain foods, think of the benefits and the positive changes you will have.
If you have something planned that takes you out of your routine, for example, a trip, wait for it to happen so you can form the habit, since it has to be done without interruptions for a better result.
Even if it seems like you've been doing it for a long time, don't stop, everyone has their own rhythm and there is no set time to achieve it.
The most important thing is not to despair, sooner or later with discipline you will achieve it, we are the ones who do it repeatedly, excellence is not an act, but a habit.
We all have dreams, dreams that we wish to come true, but these will never materialize without good habits.
If we form habits that are related to what we want to achieve, the process that will bring us closer to our dream will become easier and easier, it will flow by itself.
They will not be formed overnight, we will have to dedicate effort, both physical and mental, and be completely focused on achieving them.
Everything in life is a process, but in the end, we will make them part of our daily life, let's not lose sight of the objective for which we do it.
It is very comfortable to dream of achieving the dream we long for, what is not comfortable is having to work every day on it.
It is not the same to walk half an hour every day than to carry a certain weight for half an hour, the effort is much greater in the second case and the desire to do it will be less.
Once you have achieved the habit, the next step is to improve it, for example: we have already managed to integrate the nutritious juice every morning, now let's add healthier food and then a little exercise, it is to gradually change our lifestyle, progressively.
We should never deceive ourselves, or give ourselves some kind of "justified" permission not to achieve our goal.
Laziness is a constant in everyone's life, it will be easier to go back to your previous routine, and make excuses such as: I don't have time, I don't have the resources, I have other things to do, etc.
All of the above is not the enemy, the worst enemy we have is ourselves.
We need to have well identified all the excuses we are going to make and have a plan to avoid them.
Dreams do not come true on their own, we must be willing and determined to achieve them.
Do not leave things to memory, we need a little help, set alarms, leave post its, everything that reminds you to do and when, at least the excuse of having forgotten it will no longer be valid.
Keep track of your progress, write down in a notebook all the days in which you have and have not fulfilled the habit to perform.
It is better if you have well detected the obstacles that have arisen during the process, and always celebrate, it is very important to see to what extent you are achieving your goals.