How to Build and Maintain Good Habits

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I see that a lot of people, especially me, are struggling to build habits. Not only are we struggling to maintain it, but we are even starting it.

We know the 2-minute rule and the 5-second rule. All of those rules are actually helpful, but if we don’t implement them, they would be useless.

The same as books that we read without implementation. You have the knowledge, but if you just let it sit at the corner without implementation, you might not find it pretty helpful for your life.

You might read this article and hoping to find a solution to your problems, or maybe you are trying to learn something. Which is great!

Even so, it is your own choice to implement it. My opinion in this article is not 100% accurate, but at least it could help you learn. So, be a learner, not a follower, okay?

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Why is this happening?

Let’s start by explaining why we are struggling to maintain our own habits or activities, or even start them.

We know that we sometimes plan big goals for some activities but don’t know where to start. You might want to check out my article about how to start.

The interesting part about starting or maintaining a habit is that you have the ability to do that. You are not controlled by the environment or other things outside of you.

Well, you might get disturbed or disrupted, but your choices are still in your hands and you have control over that.

So, start to be aware that you have control over your own responses and choices!

Photo by Jan Tinneberg on Unsplash

The Domino Effects

You can maintain your habits by using “The Domino Effects”. Well, this theory is not new, actually. You can find it in other articles or maybe YouTube videos.

According to wikipedia.org, the domino effect is the cumulative effect produced when one event sets off a chain of similar or other events.

We are not going to talk about global events like the economy, politics, or social issues. We are implementing it for our own improvement.

Remember what Jim Rohn said? If you want your life to change, you have to change. In my opinion, if you want the world to change, start with yourself.

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The benefit of The Domino Effects

The domino effect is beneficial because you can create a sequence of actions in your routines. For example, if you wake up and tidy your room, you might feel much better and have the confidence to do another good habit, like washing your dishes.

Vice versa, if you wake up and open your phone, you are more likely to check your emails, scroll through social media, and engage in other bad habits that you can get from your phone.

So, like I just said from the beginning, you have choices. If you aren’t aware of being present, you might just be unconsciously living your day. You might even wonder why you end up feeling bad.

You can start by writing down or being aware of what you do every day but, most importantly, what you started your day with. If you start your day by opening your social media, you are more likely to scroll after looking at other people’s on social media.

I have done that too in the past, so I am sometimes annoyed at the end of the day and not even aware of why I got annoyed.

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How to implement it

So, you can use these tips to help you implement “The Domino Effects”:

1. Start small; you need to make yourself move first. The result will come later. You don’t have to think about that. The important part is that you are starting.
2. Start with something that could make you feel better! Don’t start by forming bad habits like scrolling on social media. Start by doing something like maybe tidying up your bedroom, which is very popular for starting a day because it gives you a sense of accomplishment in the first morning.
3. Do the next activity that could make you feel even better. After you do the first activity, you will feel better, and you might start to see things clearly (the activity that could make you feel better). So, start choosing that because you can!

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The positive chain

Keep up the chain of positive activities. You will feel much more confident and much better after you keep continuing the chain. This is my list of positive activities:

1. Tidying up my room
2. Washing the dishes
3. Wash the clothes.
4. Meditate
5. Exercise
6. Drinking a glass of water
7. Not using my phone for an hour after waking up
8. Reading with a goal (for example, 15 pages or 15 minutes to give a sense of accomplishment)
9. And etc.

At the end, you will feel better and unknowingly do something productive. Remember that the key is the first small step toward a good habit. If you have conquered that, you might feel more confident to do something good in the next activity.

“We are what we repeatedly do, therefore, excellence is not an act, but a habit”

–Aristotle

source

Conclusion

The Domino Effects help you to maintain good habits and keep improving your life with the sequence of good habits. It could direct you to bad habits and make you miserable at the end of the day.

So, being aware that you have choices to do something good can help you start small and do something good for the entire day. I hope that with this tool, you can improve yourself and build your routines.

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I am Kevin Nokia, and I hope that from this article we can learn together and improve together. I hope you guys can give me criticism and suggestions to improve my writing.

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Check out my Medium: Kevin Nokia Writing ✨

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