Did you know that 40 % of our actions are based on habits?1 That’s almost half the actions we take all day! Out of 1 hour, we are 30 minutes on autopilot. Our whole life basically depends on habits. So instead of wasting time you can learn a new habit during Quarantine and it’ll have a major impact on your life.
Let’s find out how we can build a good habit. Apparently, we aren’t the only ones who try to implement new habits. Quora shows 1.1K people follow the question “how do you build a new habit”.
What is a habit?
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a
habit is “something that you do often and regularly, sometimes without knowing that you are doing it”.
Thankfully, we have good and bad habits. Our brain uses habits to save energy.
A study conducted in the 1990s by MIT shows the brain activity of rats before and after habit building. The
experiment was mentioned in the book “The power of habit” by Charles Duhigg. After a clicking noise a door opened to a maze. The rats had to find their way through 2 sections for a piece of chocolate. At
first their brain was on full activity, but after a week their brain activity calmed down during the task.
“We first Make our habits , and then our habits make us” – Frederick Langbridge
How Do Habits Form
In His Book The Power Of Habit Duhigg Explains That Habits Are Formed In A Three-Step Habit Loop:
The Cue
A cue is a trigger that tells the brain, it is time to start action loop XYZ.
For example, it is nighttime you go to the bathroom and see your toothbrush. Your brain knows it is time to start brushing. (Hopefully)
The Routine
Next comes the routine, which is the action or the behavior following the cue.
In the case of the toothbrush example. Now you would take your toothbrush apply toothpaste and brush away.
The Reward
Last comes the reward. It’s how your brain remembers the task as beneficial.
Maybe your brain connects brushing teeth with your mum’s praise as a kid. Or you like the clean feeling afterward.
Why to start a new habit during Quarantine?
I think the Covid-19 Pandemic, despite all its negative and dreadful consequences, is a great chance for us to start new habits. Instead of seeing quarantine as a “waste of time”, and feeling lonely we have time to start something new.
How long does it take to implement a new habit
Learning and forming a new habit can actually take anywhere between 15 to 254 days!
Why is it so difficult to implement a new habit?
Let’s be honest, we all know how to build a new habit. We all have done it before. It is just so difficult at times to have the discipline to stick with it. When I looked for how to implement a new habit I found Malcolm Scovil’s Quora answer, which explains really well why it is so difficult to implement a new habit.
Methods that make starting a new habit during Quarantine Easier:
1. Figure out your cue and routine
Imagine your habit. For me that would be for example “borrowing” slippers. Every time I see slippers in our house lying around, I just slip into them and wear them. To the great annoyance of my mum and sister. Let’s say your mum has gone so far as to leave slippers for you in the hallway, but you still “borrow” hers. She gets angry and you promise it won’t happen again, but the next day your feet are cold, there are her slippers… zack.
My cue are cold feet and slippers. If you know your cue you can change the action. Try to figure out your cues and create new habits. I always put on wool socks, when my feet get cold.
2. The 2 Day Rule
I first heard about the 2-Day Rule from my twitter feet. Meraki Beans wrote a blogpost on it. Please check it out it is really interesting.
According to the 2 Day rule, don’t, under any circumstances break a new habit 2 days in a row. You can break the habit once, but never twice or you will have to start from the beginning again. The 2-day rule gives you some lenience, so you don’t have to beat yourself up over missing a habit once. With a strict one day rule you might get discouraged.
3. Track your New Habits (Free Habit Tracker)
Checking a box each day can feel really satisfying! You will feel super proud, when you see the progress you’ve made. Check out our free Habit Tracker Printable and track your progress.
4. Only start one habit at a time
I tried implementing a number of new habits all at the same time at first. It was just overwhelming. After a few days I gave all of them up. These days I try to just implement 1 habit. Pick the one little habit that will impact your life the most and work on that. Btw. we are doing a #30DayHabitChallenge on twitter. Share your progress pics or your tracker to stay accountable 
.
5. Start a New Habit During Quarantine with Small Changes
Our brain resists change but the smaller the change the less likely is that our brain will try to resist.
6. Share the habit you want to learn
Share your habits with a friend or make new habits a joined effort. When you make it a challenge between you and a friend you stay motivated. For example, make weekly gym appointments.
7. Post its
After work I always forgot to press the button that re-directed my calls from my company phone to my mobile phone. Sticking a post-it note on my computer screen changed that. Post its are a useful tool against forgetting.
8. Use Routines
Routines are a sequence of habits. Use your existing routines to implement a new habit. E.g.: While brushing your teeth squat.
– Here is a Productive Summer Routine
– Morning Routines of Successful Women
2 Tiny habits that positively changed my life:
If you want to learn even more about small habits that can change your life read this post.
Getting up early
I was always sleeping in when I was a teenager till 10 or 11 a.m., but after I started work I always got up at 6 a.m., and these days since the start of my morning routine I joined the 5 a.m. club. I get so much more done now and my days are much more productive.
Sleeping 8 hours a day
When I don’t sleep at least 8 hours a day I just don’t work well. I can go with 5 or 6 hours of sleep for one or two days, but after that, I end up totally drained. At first, I used caffeine to stay awake, but lately, I always try to sleep my 8 hours.
If you want to learn even more about habits, I’d recommend the book Atomic Habits – by James Clear.
> Not sponsored it’s just that good.
Wrapping it up and Resources:
I hope you can use some of the tips to form a new habit.
So that’s it for today. We update every Wednesday and every Saturday. So it would be great to see you again. Also for updates follow us on:
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