Habit Building Fundamentals: Build Long-Term Productive Habits

I am guessing the first thing that came into your mind when you saw the title was ‘Huh, something as simple as this?’ I understand that. Habits are simple, right? Our everyday behaviour and patterns. What’s so complicated about them? But it is more complicated and nuanced than that. People say all the time about how they want to build a habit of reading, of eating healthy, of talking more, and so on. But only a few succeed. Why is it so difficult to actually build the habit we want? What is the key to setting habits that are also long lasting and positive? And why are habits exaggerated so much?

What exactly are Habits, and what drives them?

Let’s start with what habits actually are. Habits are habits, right? Behaviours that we repeat often. But they are much more than repetitive actions. Habits are sub-conscious actions or responses to a specific situation or under a specific condition or environment. Notice the terms sub-conscious, situation and environment. Basically, a habit is our default response that we do without thinking when we react to a certain situation or place. And this is the key to building sustainable habits. Habits are not only simple actions that we repeat over and over, they are our natural inclination or response which gives us the outcomes we find most acceptable with respect to the specific environment or condition. If you too want to cultivate sustainable habits, you must ensure they are guided by your desired outcomes. Building sustainable habits requires a valid objective. A habit of walking up early does not last if you just want to walk up early, it lasts because you probably have lots of things to do in the morning. Either way, building sustainable habits itself is a goal and blueprint’s structured and systematic goal management framework is efficient and effective for sustainable habit-building.

Say you have a habit of walking fast without being distracted when you come home from work or school, following the same route everyday. But some other people like to take their time, wander, visit the park or their favourite shop and so on. Why is that? It is because both actions give the natural outcome the person desires. In your case, you walk fast because you want to reach home quickly to play video games or to sleep and relax or watch your favourite show. Other people, however, like to socialize, enjoy the markets, or simply like to wander and be outside. In both cases, the habit produced the desired outcome. This was a simple common example that everyone had (or still have). And if you want to know why I am emphasizing on habits so much, please read my article on why “Habits vs. Discipline: Why You Need Habits For Long Term Success And Easy Growth?” to understand why you need habits not discipline for long term success.

What are the core principles of building sustainable and productive habits, and how can we use them?

Now, let’s get into the actual crux of the subject and talk about the fundamental guidelines to building habits that last, so that you may also build the life you aspire to have (or be the person you aspire to be). Here are the 101s of building long lasting positive habits:

Repetition is key

This was expected right? Repeat something until it becomes natural. What’s so hard about that? Well, if that’s the case, why is it that so many fail to do so? It is because of the way they practice. First of all, most people are not consistent. They repeat, forget, then repeat, then get bored, then repeat, then get demotivated and on and on. Consistency is key here. You might have to adjust things like time, location, method and other variables based on your ability and circumstances, but being consistent is essential. Secondly, repetition is only good if it’s successful i.e. if it gives the desired outcome. Of course you will make mistakes and errors in the first few tries (or even more than that) but you will need to improve and adjust. Else, you will only be repeating your mistakes and not the actual habit. As I mentioned before, habits only stick if they give us the outcome we desire. Finally, how long do we need to keep doing that? Habits are sub-conscious. Until your default response is the habit you are building, you’ll need to keep going. Until your first action in the morning is to grab your shoes for a jog or the gym, you need to repeat. Repeat until you’re not even aware of doing it.

Your environment is a catalyst

Our environment is the situation (or sometimes it can even be a place) that we function or operate in. A lot of people have a misconception that we are completely in control of our actions and behaviours. However, that is inaccurate. Almost all of our actions are dictated by the current situation that we are in. I would even argue that even our thoughts are not entirely our own. Let me give you an example. Say you have to complete that pending assignment of yours; school’s work or something left from your job. You sit down and try to focus. All of a sudden you find that you find your pen is missing or your laptop's battery is dead or you hear your phone’s notification go off or you hear a loud noise of some construction work. Let me make this even more relatable. You sit down and suddenly you find that it’s a bit cold today (now you feel like wrapping yourself with a blanket and watching Youtube.) So many such interruptions that could make you lose focus, demotivate you, make you lose interest and postpone the task.  Here, you were not in an ideal environment to work and hence failed to complete your task, even though your initial intent was to do this anyhow.

So how can we ensure our environment is ideal to the habit? Let’s get back to our previous example. You could have placed your phone in the other room, charged your laptop beforehand, or got a noise cancelling headphone, turned on the heater, sat down with hot chocolate or tea or coffee, or even better, went to a public library to complete the task. See how just putting ourselves in an ideal environment, we can get a different result. Now, how to blend this in the process of habit building? You want to start a habit of jogging, keep your shoes and tracksuit near your bed or an easy place to grab. You want to start a habit of reading? Get a library card at a public library or start filling your room with books. You want to start a habit of talking to more people and get good at conversations? Join a club or use more social media, even dating sites can help. Put yourself in situations that will help you reinforce your habits and you will feel doing the habit is the natural and easy thing to do.

Limit your options

This is never good right? We always want to have a lot of options. So why now? Well, having a lot of options leads to a lot of problems. I think you have had this experience. You decide to go out to eat a new dish, see so many options that you become confused and paralyzed, only to settle with your daily or usual dish. Having too many options is rarely beneficial since it distracts us, makes us feel overwhelmed, indecisive and confused. You need this same mindset for building habits as well. You need to limit the number of things that you can do until doing the habit itself is your only choice.

Do you want a habit of eating healthy? Fill your fridge with only healthy foods. You want to start exercising? Make sure your phone’s battery is too low in the morning for you to use it and waste time. You want a habit of reading!? Cancel your netflix subscriptions and buy only books. You want to go out more? Cancel your tv and wifi subscription so you get bored at home. You want to eat more at home and waste less money? Carry as little money as you can when you go out. Let’s do one habit that most people have a problem with. Spend too much time on the toilet scrolling through your mobile? Drain the battery at night and leave the phone to charge just after walking up so that you can not bring it with you. Limit your options as much as possible, so that your only option is the new habit you want to build.

Practice via thought, Execute via action

I understand this feels a bit exaggerated but I assure you it is part of the process. Have you ever tried picturing yourself doing something just before you had to do it? Say imagining running just before a race started, in school. Or this might be familiar, practising lying in your head before actually lying to someone. I used to do that all the time. I also used to picture myself giving a presentation in front of a huge crowd of people, moments before actually doing that in front of the classroom. And guess what!? It always worked. Somehow it helped me perform better and prevent mistakes. These are what they call “mental pictures”. Numerous studies have shown if you do these mental pictures, your brain forms new pathways.

Envisioning doing some task daily, just before actually doing it, will not only make you more likely to do it but also ensure that a habit will set faster, because now you are doing it twice; first through thought and then through action. Imagining yourself doing an exercise just after waking up makes you more likely to do it. Or imagining yourself eating more health and home cooked food will make you avoid bad food. Why? Because in your mind, you are that person who does that. Now, not doing that in the real world, will create conflict with that version in your mind, making you more uncomfortable and inconsistent. Just thinking yourself being more productive actually makes you do more. Hence, picturing yourself doing that new unfamiliar action is the fundamental approach to creating new lasting habits.

Consistent effort but also consistent breaks

This is pretty straight forward so I will keep it short. We are not machines. We need rest. Taking 1 or 2 or every other day off will certainly help you perform better when doing any task. I do want to go a bit deeper and explain that it is a bit complex than simply resting your body and mind. As human beings, we are not monotonous creatures. We seek emotional variations through new experiences. If we do a single task every single day without rest, we will soon start to see it as a burden. This will not only reduce your willpower, but also make you more aware about the task itself. Habits are extremely effective primarily because they are sub-conscious. Anything that triggers extreme focus or awareness will start to create unnecessary mental workload, causing demotivation and laziness. Hence, it is healthy and effective in the long run to take breaks routinely.

Replace, Don’t force

You might be wondering, Replace? What? Replace your old habits with new ones. Remember humans are habitual creatures. We often have a default habit. You want to start a habit to eat healthy? Then it means you probably have a habit of eating unhealthy food. You want a habit of exercising frequently!? That means currently you are lazy and probably a couch potato. You want to be better at conversations and making new friends!? Means you are not talkative or probably shy. You want a habit of reading more!? Probably because you like too much youtube or netflix or video games or some other thing. In order to start a new healthy habit, you need to do it at the same time or place where you do your old or current bad habit. You always need an alternative. Of course, the new habit can be a new addition to your system and you might not have any old conflicting ones (In that case, you can ignore all of this.) But in most cases, there is always an existing bad default habit.

So how do you do it? Say you have a habit of coming home and watching netflix or youtube daily, right after school or work. Now, replace this habit with the new habit of visiting the library or going to coffee with a friend or colleague. How about the habit of drinking coffee in the morning? Instead of coffee, drink two cups of water or tea just before your normal coffee hour; now you are too full to have or even make any coffee. Too much eating outside? Make loads of food at home on the weekend and bring it to work instead. Even if you do not like to carry lunch, you will still feel conscious about all that leftover food at home and feel uneasy about eating outside. Too much junk food? Buy lots of carrots and cucumbers, and take a bite every time you crave a chip or biscuit. Always have a replacement.

Notice the “Don’t Force” part above. I presented the new habit as an alternative, not something you force suddenly in your life. These things take time and patience. Forcing will only feel unnatural and make things more difficult than it should be. Of course you can start a new habit in your life if you do not have an existing bad one. But if there is one, the new habit will conflict with the old bad one and we all know “old habits die hard”.

Execute, Evaluate, Improve, Repeat

Again, another obvious point right? It is crucial to measure the success of your actions. Well, people are hasty when it comes to judgement. It is necessary to not only measure our progress but also see if both the process and outcome is acceptable. Doing new things comes with a lot of mistakes and we need to be able to evaluate and identify our mistakes. This will help us improve our strategy and make adjustments, ultimately leading to our desired outcomes.

Patience is crucial when evaluating. Sometimes the outcome is bad at the start but slowly improves as you refine your practice and minimize mistakes. Other times, you might not even see any visible outcomes and it might feel like a meaningless pursuit; say when you first start to do exercise and see no results in the first month or two, making you feel like you're wasting effort. And sometimes, we think the outcome is good but it starts to have negative indirect impacts on other aspects of our life. In this case, it is fine to give up. Some things are not worth pursuing, especially if they cause harm in the long run. Strangely, sometimes even good things can be counterproductive.  Good habits causing harm? Sounds strange? Say you set a habit of reading before bed. That’s healthy, right.? But if your daily routine involves a lot of stress then reading just adds to your mental fatigue. You do not need anymore pressure and waste energy. In this case, watching netflix or your favourite youtube show might be better. Again, too much medicine can be toxic. Too many good habits can just increase the level of stress on your mental and physical health. Things that stick are usually those that are sustainable and blend into our natural flow of life.

I do want to point out one thing that I could not stress throughout this whole article and that is, whatever new habit you are planning to set, it must be compatible with your long term vision and idea of life. It has been my personal experience that not everything about you has to be productive. You need to find a balance between your necessities (as in what and how much you actually need) and aspirations. If you want to be healthy and fit, there is no need to join a gym because that just wastes your time and money, not to mention your effort too. You can just take on a morning exercise or sport. You need to maintain compatibility or else it will not last. Besides this, if you have a new habit in mind that you want to set, then please try and follow the guidelines I suggested above.

FAQs – Additional Information & Queries

How to know if a habit is good or bad for you?

A habit can be productive but can have an overall bad impact on your life. And vice-versa is true. Watching your favourite show before bed after a long day of exercise and hard work is good because it acts as a counterbalance to all of that pent up stress. You have to look at the overall impact on your life. If your life is already stressful, adding another productive habit might just make things worse.

How to ensure proper repetition while building a new habit?

Be aware during the entire habit-building process, meaning you need to keep track of what you did correct, what you missed and what mistakes you made. I recommend writing it out in a paper and recalling it to improve your next repetition.

How to limit options in a healthy manner?

Limiting your options in a healthier manner is crucial so that you do not end up completely abandoning your habit building goal. You need to start off slow and ease into it until you are comfortable with the new habit, you must be patient. For example: Alternate between your default bad and the new positive habit like every other day. Or Limit the duration of your default bad habit and replace the remaining time practising the new habit.

How to solidify new habits faster and integrate it deeper?

Habits form faster and penetrate your system deeper if you ensure these two things: variation and flexibility. Flexibility in the sense that you can skip and take breaks or reduce the duration of the task. Variation in the sense that you can introduce different approaches, for example: Reading different genres of books while building a reading habit or Playing different types of sports or exercise for a gym habit.