How to Build a Habit

I looked back on my list of goals from 2019.  Wah wah wah.  I completed half, some were started, and yet others left untouched.  I asked myself, WHY?  Why did I fail to complete many of the goals I had set out to do? 

There was one missing common denominator and that was consistency.  I would start something and fizzle out after the excitement of the "new-ness" would wear off.  I needed an answer and there on the end cap of an aisle at Michaels I found it.  I picked up a very simple and basic journal about habits and knew this was it. 

Instead of goals and resolutions I am creating HABITS.  Deciding what good habits affect my everyday and working on building and maintaining them.  I figure the rest will fall into place after that!  This is a year long expirement of building one habit every single month.  I'm breaking it down week to week in impossible to fail pieces and sharing all the tid bits with you all!

I condensed the jest of the journal into a one page printout.  Fill it in, put it on fridge.  Focus on it and hang out in Instagram stories where Monday we will hold each other accoutable.  

If you want a smaller printout, there you go! 

Let me break it down for you.   Building a habit is done with three important components and did you know 40% of what you do every single day is out of habit whether you are aware of it or not!  

TRIGGER

The trigger indicates that you are about to do something.  After you bring groceries into the house do you immediately sit on the couch or put them away?  Going to bed may be triggered by brushing your teeth and washing your face.  Every habit starts with a trigger. 

PLAN

Intentionally building good habits require a plan, whether it is in your head or on paper.  You have to know why you desire to continue doing the habit, what challenges you may face, and how you will react when the challenges come up.  

REWARD

There is a reward to every good and bad habit that we have and that is why we continue to do it.  If you can identify that reward and remind yourself of it when you just don't feel like it, then it will be enough to put your body to action.  For my buddies who wash their dishes before going to bed.  You know you have created that habit because there is a glorious sense of peace to wake up to an empty sink.  

Let me show you an example of what my plan is for one this months habit if keeping the house tidy: 

Remeber, what you do everyday matters more than what you do sometimes.