Changing habits is usually a mentally demanding project. You can read here which strategies can make it easier and increase the chances of success.
Breaking through and changing habitual patterns of thought and behavior is very, very difficult for most people. And that’s neither a shame nor a surprise. In order not to follow our unconscious routines, we have to use our consciousness, which from a neurobiological point of view is located in our frontal lobe and consumes a lot of energy. However, we usually don’t have much of that in everyday life, because we use it elsewhere, for example to solve acute problems, process news and cope with constantly changing tasks and challenges.
Still, just because something is very, very difficult isn’t a particularly good reason not to try. Some habits and patterns can eventually harm us over time and prevent us from living the life we want. The following strategies can make it easier for us to change our habits, since they sometimes significantly reduce the conscious effort and the associated energy expenditure.
4 surprisingly easy ways to change habits
1. Modify the external circumstances.
Our external living conditions inevitably determine our habits. For example, it will affect our daily routine whether we work at home or at an external workplace. Whether we can bike to work or whether we have to drive has an impact on our fitness routine. It may be reflected in our eating habits whether we live near a greengrocer’s or next to a chip shop. We have no direct control over some of these circumstances, but we do have control over others.
For example, if we want to change our eating habits—like eating less pasta and more potatoes—it will be easier if we don’t have any pasta at home. And if we go out to eat Portuguese rather than Italian. If we no longer want to pile our clothes on the chair in the bedroom, but get into the habit of putting them away in the closet or the laundry, maybe the moment has come to get rid of the chair of spoilage.
Whenever we can identify external circumstances that encourage undesirable habits in us, we can unburden ourselves and conserve mental energy by changing the circumstances—and merely adjusting ourselves.
2. Let other people rub off on us.
In much the same way that external circumstances influence our behavior, the people we surround ourselves with also influence us. For example, if we spend every other night with people who enjoy drinking wine and drink a lot, we will have a much harder time drinking little or no alcohol than with people who don’t drink. If we want to get into the habit of reading more, it can help to connect with people who already read a lot. In turn, to find people who might encourage habits that we desire, it makes sense to ask ourselves what type of people are likely to exhibit those habits themselves. So maybe a person who is cautious about alcohol will be health conscious in general – and might be found in yoga class. Taking the initiative and daring to step into a new social environment can already give us the impetus and impetus we need to change something. And the contacts we make then, with a bit of luck, help us stay on course.
3. Lower the inhibition threshold.
One of the most common reasons many people fail when attempting to break an unhealthy habit and establish a healthy one is that they overdo it and become fixated on one goal. For example, if you want to do more sport, you don’t have to go to the hated gym every other day from scratch. If you want more order in your own household, you don’t have to set yourself the goal of having the whole apartment under control at all times. If we want to change something in our behavior patterns successfully and in the long term, it is often better to take a path that is inviting to us and that is easy for us to follow. Example of sports: If you like listening to music, you might enjoy a dance workout. Example of order: If you want to become tidier, you can start doing a cleaning or tidying up activity more often that has a great happiness effect – for example vacuuming or cleaning the toilet and sink. This way we don’t look like Pamela Reif overnight and our apartment won’t be as clean as our grandma’s. But we have a good chance to change in a way that we want and that is good for us.
4. Breaking up the old order with a radical little thing.
Sometimes it can be that we don’t know exactly what we actually want to change in our behavior patterns and routines. Or where to start. Or that we are so overwhelmed by the whole undertaking that we feel incapable and powerless. In such situations, it can help to change something small but drastic that doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with what’s really bothering us. For example, no longer having breakfast at the dining table, but in the living room. Or no longer shop in the supermarket up the street, but in the one down the street. We could also listen to a song in Spanish every day or read our horoscope. Whether it brings us anything is of secondary importance, the main thing is that we mess up the order we are used to – and see that it works. Not all changes come easy to us. However, most of them can be achieved if we really want them. And if we don’t make it harder for ourselves than necessary.
Sources used: Alice Boyes: “Stress-Free Productivity”