Changing habits is a skill you need to learn

You change every day. The person you were when you woke up this morning is not the exact same person you are now. The person you were when you took up your cause is different from the person you are today. Even when you are not aware of it, change is constantly taking place. However, your habits influence how receptive you are to that change.

In just one day, there are so many moments when you set the stage for change: You go to a meeting and commit to a new partnership. You decide to try a new piece of technology you heard about at a conference. You work on a strategic plan to bring renewed focus to your day-to-day activities. You book a meeting, pay for an online course, launch a fundraising campaign, or set your alarm for a new wake-up time. 

Every plan you make — big or small — is a plan for change.

Habits require more than a plan

Making plans to do something new or different is pretty easy.

Then, something happens between the planning and the doing. When you return to your desk, a clear plan becomes hazy. A long-term strategy gets buried under an inbox of urgent messages. The new partnership gets off to a slow start because you are both so busy already. You decide it’s too risky to check out the new software with a looming deadline. You sleep through the first early alarm. 

Adopting new habits is way harder than it feels like it should be. The lure of the familiar draws you back, especially when you are tackling something difficult or stressful. 

Motivation isn’t the problem

The ability to learn new tools and behaviours is probably the most powerful skill anyone could have. It’s the skeleton key that unlocks everything else: when you know how to change, you can take advantage of opportunities. You’re able to innovate and grow. You aren’t constrained by what you already know and do.

Sure, passion for your cause can help. It can motivate you and help you focus, but what happens on the days when passion doesn’t show up? This is when skill and habit come to your rescue.

How to actually form a new habit

There are so many articles telling you what to do differently or which newfangled tools to try. Few of those articles tell you how to actually make it happen. 

Let’s fix that. 

If you struggle to adopt new habits or implement plans and promises, then you could try focusing on habit chains. 

Don’t try to implement your new routine out of the blue. It takes too much effort and there are too many distractions.

Instead, attach the thing you want to do to something you already do. This is called habit chaining (aka, habitat stacking). 

A habit is something you do almost without thinking about it, like turning on a light when you enter a room, locking a door behind you, sitting in the same seat in your conference room. You try it, repeat it a few times, and then eventually do it without much effort.

A habit chain is two or more habits that you do in sequence — like brushing your teeth then washing your face before bed. Or checking Instagram every time you close your email.

If you want to follow through on a plan to change, habit chains make it much easier. Just attach the new habit to an old routine.

For example: If you are trying to implement a new strategic plan, recap the current priorities at the beginning of every regular staff meeting. If you want to work with a new partner, call them as soon as you sit down in your desk chair after lunch. 

The old routine becomes a cue, reminding you to follow through with your plan. 

Give it time

Doing something may require all of your attention or take more time than things you’ve done a thousand times before. In the early days, it’s easy to get discouraged or distracted.

It won’t always be this way. 

With time, new routines become familiar. They get easier. They become the old routines.