RMT008 How to create habits that stick

It’s a new year—a season of new beginnings and resolutions. Unfortunately, only one out of four people who make resolutions succeeds in achieving them. What’s the secret? How do we stick to our resolutions? More importantly, how do we create habits that stick?

In this episode, Leary talks about the three key elements to creating habits that stick, and suggests some practical tips for each:

1. Focus: be specific, sequential, strong-willed, strategic, and right-sized.
2. Clarity: use precision, pairing, and planning.
3. Visibility: measure, monitor, and manage.

Quotes from this episode:

• “You’re more likely to engage in a positive habit—something that you really want to do—than you are a negative habit—something you want to stop doing.” —Leary
• “Find a keystone habit that’s important to you and that you can express in a positive [way].” —Leary
• “Habits are formed from repetition…. Find a minimum effective dose that you could do that increases your probability of repetition…. Repetition is the key to making a habit work.” —Leary
• “A good habit is linked to an event.” —Leary
• “When you find yourself asking the question, ‘What should I do next?’ that’s a good time to add a new habit.” —Leary
• “You can only manage what you can measure.” —Leary

Give these tips a try and let us know how they work for you by sharing your thoughts in the comments below.

Resources mentioned in or related to this podcast:

• Episode 21: “How to create habits for your next great beginning“
• Episode 51: “What you need to know about willpower“
• The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. Read Leary’s review of Duhigg’s book.
  
• iPhone Strides app