We’ve all said it: ‘new year, new me’. But after the second week of the new year, it seems all of our resolutions have fallen apart. Over the break, I read a book called Atomic Habits by James Clear. The book talked about making small changes to create big results. As my monthly contribution to our esteemed school newspaper, I have summarized 300 pages into 3 bullet points to create: Atomic Habits (Student Edition).
1. Make small changes and be patient. Often when we are building a new habit, we expect big results immediately. Upon not seeing these results, the motivation we once had vanishes and we let the habit drop. This happens in the valley of disappointment. It is important that we focus more on building the habit, and the results will come later. In school, an example of this might be studying very rigorously for a math test, but receiving a disappointing grade. The grade might not be where you want it to be, but you are building a good habit of studying which will pay off later. In summary, patience is a virtue and expect disappointment.
2. If the last tip seemed bleak, you might be looking at habit building wrong. This next bullet point is to focus on your system, not your results. Habits are not about results, they are about repetition. If your system is strong, the results will follow. Often we rubber neck our end goal and lose sight of how we get there. Your habits should be often, and rely on prompts, not motivation. Prompts are daily instances in your life which tell you when to execute a habit. For example, after you eat dinner, maybe you do ten push ups. When your motivation fades, you should have a system you can carry out even when you are tired. This includes making prompts commonly viewed and keeping habits small and doable, hence the atomic in atomic habits.
3. Writing down goals makes them happen. It might seem silly, but physically writing down goals makes you more likely to carry them out. When you keep a goal in your head, it can turn into an imaginary goal post that keeps moving. Saying ‘I’ll get better grades’ is hard to follow through with because you are not defining what ‘better’ looks like. Instead, you can write down that you want an A in math. This outlines a clear result that you can build a system to achieve. You can also write down habits. If you write down every single habit you recognize in yourself, good or bad, you can see which ones you want to improve upon and which ones you want to get rid of. Placing an x next to bad habits and a check next to good habits can help you choose which habits stick with you.
If these tips make sense to you, I highly recommend checking out James Clear’s Atomic Habits. He expertly covers many more habit building tips with enough humor that you might even forget you are reading a self help book… or reading at all, for that matter. In the meantime, why not click on another article? My peers have lots to talk about.
Comentarios