Research shows that starting small helps if you want new habits to stick. There’s more in NPR’s Life Kit.
Emily Kwong, host:
Imagine your typical morning. You wake up, probably scrolling through your phone, feel bad about it, get up and brush your teeth. It is all a collection of habits. Some are healthy habits, some are not. But the good news is, forming new habits is possible. Life Kit host Mariel Segarra tells us how.
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Mariel Segarra: BJ Fogg is a behavioral scientist at Stanford University, and he’s starting the habit of dancing in the dark as soon as he wakes up every morning.
BJ Fogg: After I put my feet on the floor in the morning, I say, This is going to be a good day, and then I go outside and drink a big glass of water. And then once I drink that big glass of water, that’s what inspires me to turn on the music and dance.
Segarra: Fogg studies habit formation, and he’s actually come up with a research-backed approach to starting new habits called the Tiny Habits Method. He says that a habit is a behavior that you do automatically without thinking or deliberation. And this happens when three things come together.
FOGG: There is a motivation to behave. There is the ability to behave, and then there is a signal. Something that reminds or prompts behavior.
Segarra: First, let’s deal with motivation. According to BJ’s research, if a task is easy, people have more motivation to do it. So he says if you want to start a habit, set the bar low, like, really low, even if it sounds silly. You want to start flossing, so you say, at a minimum, I’m going to floss one tooth every day. Or if you want to dance every morning, then dance for 20 seconds. And then…
FOGG: Great, I did it. go ahead. But if you want to do more, you will do more. And I can’t think of a single time when I stopped dancing after 20 or 30 seconds.
Segarra: Fogg also recommends that you design this new behavior into your existing schedule and pair it with something else that can motivate you.
FOGG: And what you’re finding is what comes naturally? So you’re not using a post-it or an alarm or just a memory to commit to the new habit. You are using an existing routine you already have.
Segarra: Like, after I brush my teeth, I’m going to floss a tooth. After making coffee, I will tend to the two calves. And then you want to celebrate your victory. I know it may seem silly to celebrate a teeth cleaning, but research shows that emotions, including positive emotions, can lead to new habits.
FOGG: The idea is that when you adopt a new habit you make yourself feel successful or make yourself feel successful because it’s that feeling, it’s that feeling of success that makes the habit more automatic. So if I’m brushing a teeth, I can look in the mirror and smile and go, BJ, right?
Segarra: He says it’s not actually the repetition that creates habits.
FOGG: It’s the feeling. And the more positive emotion you feel when you adopt this habit, the faster the habit enters your life.
Segarra: Now, you don’t have to keep doing it forever, just until the habit is cemented. By the way, Fogg says you can start more than one habit at a time. However, it can help if they’re all leading you toward the same larger goal, like getting healthy or making more friends. On that note, if you find yourself with a vague, big-picture goal, you can always sharpen it by breaking it down into smaller habits. For NPR News, I’m Mariel Segarra.
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KWONG: For more tips from Life Kit, go to npr.org/lifekit.
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