Creating Positive Habits

How many times have you said or perhaps have heard, “I’m just not
motivated to (fill in the blank)”.


I’ve come to discover that motivation is overrated!


Sure we need it, especially to start a task or a project or a new
wellbeing habit like exercise.


Often we know what we need to do, we know that it will be helpful
and beneficial but we don’t do it and the excuse is often, “I’m
not motivated enough”.


When I ask students what happens when they receive an assignment
they usually tell me that they leave it to the last moment.


They say, “I only ever get motivated at the last minute, the
night before”. My response is that they are confusing motivation
with desperation!


The point is that even last minute desperate actions to complete
an assignment are not filled with enthusiastic motivation.


You can, “not be motivated” and despite your feelings still take
action.


That’s because as human beings we are driven by the need
to avoid pain and gain pleasure. The night
before flurry of activity, is not motivation but more an attempt
to avoid pain.


So rather than relying on whether you feel
motivated to take positive action, build a positive
habit instead.





The 3 Things – Cue, Reward and Routine, That Help You Program A
Habit 


First it takes 66 days to create a habit. The first 21days can be
the most difficult. To persevere until you create your positive
habit you need to:


Identify the habit. Routine



What could be one simple thing you could do every day to make
life, more fun, happy, fulfilling, hopeful and peaceful etc.


Why did you choose that? Write down 3 reasons why this habit
will make a positive difference in your life.

Give yourself a reward for
following through and taking action to build your positive habit
each

What’s your trigger? How will you know it’s time to take
action on that positive habit?



Here you need to identify a Cue. A cue
can be anyone of the following:


Person

Place

Thing

Environment



A cue is like a trigger, a signal that it’s time to take positive
action.


To summarise, use motivation to start creating a positive habit
in your life. Habits are automatic and don’t require motivation
after you have it programmed.


To remove negative habits in your life, create more positive
habits. The more positive habits in your life the more negative
habits tend to fall away.


You can learn more about this and much more
at www.studysamurai.com