habit change basics – Simple Meal Plans

As anyone who has ever broken a new years resolution (read: pretty much everyone) knows, just having the desire to change something about your life isn’t enough.

These days, there’s a lot of info out there to help us humble humans improve our lives. This week, I wanted to share with you two of my favourite sources of inspiration. But first I’ll give you the low down.

habit change in a nut shell

Basically, the secret to making changes in your life is to set small goals and take baby steps.

By setting ourselves up for success, we gain the confidence and the motivation to keep making changes, one after the other. It also helps us persevere and try again when we fail.

the 20 second rule

I read Shawn Achor’s brilliant book ‘The Happiness Advantage’ late last year.

Written by a self-professed ‘happiness psychologist’, the main lesson from the book was that in modern life we’re led to believe that we need to work hard to achieve success and once we achieve success we’ll be happy. But as Achor points out on numerous occasions. We achieve success when we are happy, not the other way around. Makes sense right?

But I digress, today we’re interested in habit change.

Achor wanted to learn to play the guitar. So he set himself a goal of practicing the guitar for 10 minutes every day. He made himself a chart to track his progress and stuck it to his wall. The first few days went well but by the end of the month Achor tore the tracking chart down in disgust. After day 4 he just hadn’t had the motivation to get the guitar out of the cupboard and play it every day.

He had failed at his goal.

This made him feel depressed. Which in turn made him feel even worse. Imagine being a depressed ‘happiness’ psychologist. The irony.

So Achor decided to try again. But this time he made sure he set himself up to win. Rather than storing his guitar away in the cupboard (closet), he got a stand and placed it right near the couch so he could lean over and reach the guitar within a second.

And at the end of the second month?

Success! He had practiced every single day and had his tracking chart covered with ‘x’es to prove the point.

And from this Achor coined the ’20 second rule’. Because the difference between his first and second attempts was just the 20 seconds it took to get up from the couch and get out the guitar.

He also applied the 20 second rule when he decided to start reading more instead of vegging in front of the TV after work.

The trick?

In the morning Achor would remove the batteries from his remote control and put them in another room – 20 seconds walk away. He then left copies of the books he wanted to read, conveniently on the couch. You can guess the results.

He also applied it to develop the habit of getting up early and going to the gym. By sleeping in his gym gear and having his shoes by the bed so all he had to do was roll over, slip his shoes on and walk out the door.

and how have I applied the 20 second rule?

I wanted to start drinking more water. So every evening before I go to bed I fill up a small bottle of water and put it in the fridge. Now when I get up the first thing I do is walk to the fridge and start drinking my cold water before I even begin to really wake up. Win!

I’ve also cleaned out my pantry and removed most of the pasta and other non-Slow Carb foods. I’ve stacked it with cans of lentils and beans and dried lentils too. I’ve also started buying lots of eggs and keeping spinach and broccoli in the freezer so I always have the makings of a great Slow Carb meal at my fingertips.

What are the habits you’d like to change and how can you apply the 20 second rule?

the zen habits method

Leo Babauta has become a master of habit change. He’s pretty much turned his whole life upside down. And how did he do it?

One small change at a time.

He quit smoking, lost weight, started running marathons, he got out of debt, and has built an incredibly successful blog (Zen Habits) that has allowed him to quit a job that he hates. All with a wife and six kids.

And the thing is, he is one of the most humble, lovely people ever. We can all learn a lot from Leo.

I highly recommend delving through the Zen Habits archives. In particular the posts on habit change. Here are a few of my favourite Zen Habits posts to get you started:

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