If you want to build good habits, then you only need to do one thing. You need to create a conscious process out of a single simple item.
I’ve written a lot about to-do lists. I have written about goals and systems. However, the most complicated system in the world is useless if you can’t simply do the stuff on your to-do list.
The way to succeed with the very building blocks of building a habit is to create one single conscious process and just do it every day.
What Do You Mean By A “Conscious Process?”
Habits are subconscious processes. Whether it’s brushing your teeth in the morning or checking your emails when you get into work, most aspects of your life are governed unconsciously by habit.
That makes getting through the day easier as there’s less strain on your brain. It also makes learning new habits difficult, because you are fighting against routine.
A lot of people think that starting a new habit is like continuing an old one. They want to get fit and think that because they want to get fit that all the subconscious pieces will fall into place. Unfortunately, that’s why a lot of people aren’t getting fitter, even though they want to.
You need to make a conscious process of getting your new habit into your head. Laying down the foundations of a new habit is a highly conscious process. It has to be in the front of your mind for the period in which you’re building it into your routine.
How To Build a Habit Through Creating Conscious Processes
“Getting fit” is a terrible goal. So is “Making money.” I’ve written about systems and circular vs linear goals here. However, that’s all still talking about habit building at a meta level.
To really achieve habit building, you need to break things down into a single, easy to do item.
Forget long term goals and your six-pack abs. Forget being a millionaire. What process can you do every single day without fail? What habit can you build that you have no excuses for?
If you want to get fitter, then go for a jog every morning. Do five minutes of skipping rope. It doesn’t matter if you want to run a marathon or build huge muscles; that comes later. All that matters is a single unique action that you can do every single day.
Why Your Goals Don’t Matter For Habit Building
When you’re building a new habit, the actual habit you build is of secondary importance. Obviously, if you’re trying to lose weight, then don’t make your daily habit a hamburger eating contest. But if you’re used to gouging on food or snacking throughout the day, then create a daily habit of eating at a set time. It doesn’t matter if you eat like an idiot during those set times. You don’t have to sacrifice the cookies, cakes and milkshakes immediately.
Instead, make the set meal time a habit. You can give yourself free rein at the beginning, and change the habit once you’ve established it.
The same is true of making money, avoiding booze or keeping your house tidy. Set the habit, and then improve it later.
For instance, let’s say you want to make money online. The temptation is to master affiliate marketing, master ecommerce, master mailing lists and so on and so forth. There are a million things you can learn and a million ways to make an online business.
Instead, you should get in the habit of writing every day. It’s not going to make you a millionaire overnight. In fact, it’s not going to make you a millionaire on its own ever. But it is a simple habit that you can pick up that’ll go a long way. It will condition you to sit in front of your computer every day and produce a quality piece of work within an hour or two. Get Routine Writing and you can see your progress build over time.
I’ve been writing every day on this blog for nearly a year now. The biggest benefit of that hasn’t been financial in the sense that this site makes a ton of money (It doesn’t.) However, by writing every day I get into the mood for sitting, working and not making excuses. I’ve had to learn new things and research new things – and this has had the knock-on effect of making me more money.
In terms of the financial return of this single conscious process, the returns are massive. And this little habit… not the only thing I’ve achieved this year by any stretch. In fact, I spend probably 40 minutes on this site a day. It’s less than an episode of your favourite TV show. It’s also a bit tongue-in-cheek. I talk about success, failure and weird experiments. I have fun writing these articles, and I learn a lot.
Just learning about expected value means I think about business completely differently. It means I’ve gone from frugal self-sabotage to investing thousands into business investments.
And it all came from a single little habit of writing for an extra forty minutes a day.
Success Is Cumulative
I mentioned Routine Writing above. I looked on my Dashboard earlier, and I’ve written nearly 20,000 words for this site in October.
40,000 words is a short book. I’ve written probably a book a month on this site, and it’s a part-time hobby.
When you build a simple, single conscious process habit, it feels underwhelming at first. But the success accumulates massively over a longer period of time.
Think about the guy who joins the gym on January 1st. He wants to spend eight hours in the gym and get muscles on top of his muscles. He goes for the first three weeks, then the muscle soreness adds up and he quits in February.
Simple habit, every day.
If he went on the treadmill for ten minutes every day in January and did nothing else, he’d be more successful in the long term. Just build the habit in an easy way, and wait for the excitement to subside. Wait until it’s completely natural for you to get up and go and put your ten minutes in. Once you can’t bear the thought of missing a day, then maybe throw in an extra ten minutes in the weight room.
Most gym dudes would laugh at you for doing a ten minute workout. Forget them. Keep going until ten minutes turns into fifteen. After six months, you’re doing what you probably wanted to start with, but you know you’ll keep it up.
One single conscious process will mean that you’re unrecognisable in a years’ time.
Final Thoughts
Habit building, the science of learning and building discipline isn’t complicated.
It seems that they’re complicated because people merge goal setting with habit building with future-daydreaming.
However, the key to building a good habit is setting up one simple thing which you can do every single day without fail. That needs to be a conscious effort, which is why going easier is better than going harder/more complicated.
Once you’ve established the habit, it will cease to become a conscious process and will instead become subconscious. As this happens, add in the more complicated elements at a steady and easy rate. You will succeed with habit building in this way.