Habits 101: What you Really Need to Know in a Nutshell

Here is a quick summary of the elements that will help you form habits and stick with them. It’s all about stacking all the odds in your favour.

Photo by FitNish Media on Unsplash

For me, forming a new habit means setting the scene for a new part of my identity. I borrow a leaf from chefs and create a ‘mise-en-place’.

‘Mise-en-place’ is a French culinary phrase that means ‘putting in place’. It refers to the detailed set-up required before cooking: gathering all the ingredients needed, measuring them and preparing them so they are ready to be used. That way the cooking — your new habit — can be done with focus and efficiency.

1. Take a few moments to think about what you want your habit to look like. I walk a lot but I wanted to add a few minutes of a more intense workout in the morning to kickstart my metabolism early in the day. I don’t have much time for it as I already have a long morning routine. I, therefore, selected a series of 7-minute HITT sessions that I bookmarked on YouTube. Done! I can go straight to it; no thinking involved.
2. Decide on a time and place for your new habit. What will it follow? A habit is more likely to stick if it is part of a sequence of tasks you already do automatically. When you do this, you then do that.
3. List everything you will need, gather them and…