[Music]
it can be so tough to break old habits
and start making new ones habits are all
about having discipline to do the things
that you actually want to do you've got
to be clear about why you want things to
change but it can be tough to keep
habits going for a long period of time
especially if you don't see success
towards the beginning if you feel like
your discipline is wearing thin then
here are some tips to help you make new
habits and stick to them and also break
bad ones i think we've all been in the
position where we've promised ourselves
we'll drink more water or exercise more
often or just study more efficiently but
it just doesn't happen instead of making
new habits excuses become routine in
this video i want to use scientific
literature and evidence to figure out
how we can convert the intention of
changing our habits into actual change
and growth if your goal is to go to the
gym five times a week then it's going to
be very difficult for you to have the
discipline to suddenly make that big
change from zero days to five it's
really important to start small with the
habits that you want to implement into
your life so you can actually get
gradual progress and get going if you
want to go to the gym five times a week
and you're currently not going at all
then it obviously makes sense to start
with once or twice a week and then work
your way up from there of course there's
a lot to say about setting realistic
goals and that's something that i'm
going to cover later on in this video
but for now making small changes that
you can build onto to make bigger
changes in your life has actually been
proven to be really helpful to habit
formation in one study volunteers
wanting to lose weight were randomized
to a habit-based intervention based on
things like 10 small diet and activity
behavior changes or a non-treatment
waiting list control after eight weeks
the intervention group had lost two
kilograms compared to 0.4 kilograms in
the control group and at 32 weeks the
completers of the intervention group had
lost an average of 3.8 kilograms it's
always worth breaking down your goals
into bite-sized chunks so you're not
feeling so overwhelmed that you give up
early this is something that i do every
single day in medical school it's very
easy to see a huge mountain of a task
that you need to climb and it's easy to
get overwhelmed and get put off after a
day or two instead breaking down that
mountain of a task into a bunch of
smaller hills makes it a lot easier to
tackle try focusing on what's directly
in front of you just worry about jumping
over that first hurdle before you even
think about the next so you've got to
know your narrative what i mean by this
is the things that you tell yourself
that get you out of committing to the
habits that you actually want to stick
to if you already know all of your usual
excuses then you can figure out good
ways to address them getting out ahead
of the narrative that you tell yourself
that prevents you from success is a
great way forward some of the most
common things that people tell
themselves when they're trying to break
bad habits are that i have to do this
thing because i can't help myself or i
don't have the time or i'll do it later
and of course later never comes or the
absolute classic i'm just not motivated
right now spoiler alert it's not about
motivation motivation is a myth it's all
about discipline if you can have an
immediate response to your own excuses
of not doing something then you're
already way ahead of the game for
example if you often tell yourself that
you're not motivated to study or do x or
y activity then instead you can focus on
changing your thought patterns into
thinking about discipline thinking about
about creating consistent patterns over
time and small gains every day which
lead to overall success and achievement
it's not about any one event or activity
but it's about the whole period of time
in which you're doing something you can
also find ways to cheerlead yourself or
you know be your own hype man and do the
task until it becomes a habit i do this
all the time i play jedi mind tricks on
myself to convince myself to get things
done even when i might not really want
to and before you know it it becomes a
habit every day it gets easier so the
process of habit formation itself
actually varies a lot in the amount of
effort that's needed we've all probably
heard of that statistic which says that
it takes 21 days in order to build up a
habit but it's not that straightforward
in fact one study showed that some
people managed to form certain habits as
quickly as 18 days but others needed as
much as six months this might seem
really overwhelming and could even deter
people from starting to put things in
place to form habits that they want to
stick to or to break bad habits that
they already have the prospect of this
journey taking six months can seem like
a lot i think what we need to do is
accept that you know we're all different
and that for me one habit might take a
very long time to build or break whereas
for someone else it might take a very
short time and vice versa patience is
really important and realizing that you
don't have to be at the same standard as
everyone else for every little thing can
really take that burden off your
shoulders in order to keep up with your
habits you need to reduce friction as
much as you want to help you stick to
them for example if you want to go for a
run every morning then you need to do
everything you can in advance of that
run to make sure that you have the best
chance of actually going through with it
now this might mean getting your work
done the night before is that you don't
have your usual excuse of well i'm not
going to go on a run because i need
study or i have a lot of work to do it
might be laying out your work clothes on
the couch next to your bed it's about
building and changing the environment
around you to help you get the task done
that you need to do whatever it is
whatever you choose to do try something
that will make getting the actual habit
done easier or breaking your current
habit easier you can start by asking
yourself why you haven't followed
through with this particular habit in
the past and then you can address that
particular and specific problem and go
from there one great technique that's
discussed in james clear's book called
atomic habits which is a fantastic read
if you're into habit forming and making
check it out is to anchor a new habit to
an existing one so for example if you
want to go for a run you can place your
toothbrush on top of your workout
clothes in the bathroom and that way
next time you brush your teeth in the
morning your workout clothes are
literally right there you can't ignore
them and so those two habits become
linked together this is one of my
absolute favorites something that i
learned in my first degree of university
and that has stuck with me throughout
all my years in higher education is the
importance of making appropriate goals
the general principle is that you need
to make smart goals smart is an acronym
for specific measurable achievable
relevant and timely this is so important
because all the time people set
unrealistic goals for themselves which
are never going to be completed and it
just makes the entire thing such a waste
of time causing you to give up early
i've had friends look me dead in the
face and say something like i'm gonna
study for 15 hours today or i'm gonna
write three essays which are due next
week or today or i'm gonna go to the gym
study four hours see my girlfriend meal
prep for the week and then go party in
the evening and i'm always like dude you
obviously can't do all of that just
choose one or a few tasks that are most
important to you focus on those and
complete them one at a time when making
goals you want to be really specific
about them and tied to that you want to
be really specific about what you're
trying to achieve by forming a new habit
or where you're trying to achieve by
breaking an old or bad one if you're not
then you run the risk of letting
yourself off each time and not having a
clear path of where you want to go and
be goals that are measurable help you
know exactly when you've hit the goal
that it is you're working towards so for
example if you want to study at least
two hours a day then you know how to
measure how long you're spending
studying on anki or past papers or
whatever it is your goal needs to be
achievable so that you're not setting
yourself up to fail honestly don't play
yourselves guys just make sure that
you're being realistic about the goals
that you're setting not like i'm gonna
go to the gym three times a day unless
you're an athlete or something it's
crucial for the goal to be relevant to
some life change that you want to make
and you make it personal to you and also
make sure that you set clear goals about
when you want to have achieved your
outcome if you're not clear with
yourself about all of these things then
chances are you'll find ways around your
goals and you'll cheat yourself out of
your own success i think it's easy for
me to sit here and talk about all the
ways you could form habits but the truth
is it's really tough a ton of studies
have shown how difficult it is to form
new habits and how most people struggle
to keep up with them you can't expect
all of your attempts to change or form
habits to be successful i've certainly
tried and failed to form several habits
in the last couple of years but the
point is that it's all right to try even
with all of these tips in place and fail
you have to be ready to slightly change
your path and technique and try again
it's okay to not get things right the
very first time personally i think it's
all about trying your best whatever your
best is and having the expectation that
you might fail and then it might take a
few tries to get this thing done it's a
lot easier to go into habit breaking or
making with a realistic expectation as
opposed to one that's unrealistic like
being able to get everything right first
try if you have unrealistic standards
then this might lead to you giving up
more easily or earlier on than the
required amount of effort or time that
it takes to make or break a habit try
not to give up have realistic
expectations and keep on trying i think
that the language you use internally
when thinking about habits is incredibly
important a big part of changing your
habits is about changing your thought
patterns around a new behavior you want
to start doing in your life the butt
rule is something that you can use to
change around your thinking when you're
feeling as though things aren't working
out or if you're having negative
thoughts that's getting in the way of
your success essentially you turn around
your negative thought by adding but to
the end of the thought and coming up
with a positive to lift it you might say
for example that you suck at studying x
or y topic but if you work on it tonight
then tomorrow's session is going to be
easier and you'll have a better
understanding of it next time or that
you're currently not that fit and
getting tired quite quickly so you don't
want to go to the gym because it's a
wasted effort but if you go for even one
day then you'll improve bit by bit and
you'll build up your stamina more and
more immediately with this very simple
attitude change you feel better about
the negative aspect of the tasks and
you're more encouraged to keep going
through it changing your thinking is key
to changing your habits and like i said
before you know i play these jedi mind
tricks on myself all the time ninety
percent of the challenge is just
starting and going to get the thing done
once you show up you can enter your
usual autopilot mode and just keep on
going a great thought that i got from a
matt d'avella video shout out to you
matt is this idea of the two-day rule
personally what i call it is once but
never twice the concept of the two-day
rule is to never skip the thing you're
trying to accomplish for more than two
days in a row for example if you want to
walk for 20 minutes every day as your
new habit and you miss it for one day
then that's okay but missing it for two
days in a row is not once you miss that
walk for the second day then it becomes
all too easy to tell yourself to miss a
third day and then a week and then a
month and you know before you know it
you've stopped trying to build this
habit you're back to where you started
so giving yourself that free day off of
being able to miss something lifts a lot
of weight off of your shoulders and it
means that you can have days where life
gets in the way and you're unable to
continue working on your habit and
that's fine but keeping it to one day
instead of two helps to keep you
accountable and ensures that you keep up
the habit for the long term this is the
exact technique that i use when going to
the gym i'm allowed to skip a day of
going to the gym whenever i want but i
try really hard to not allow myself to
skip too i hope this video has helped
any of you who are trying to start a new
habit or break an old one remember that
it can be tough and you're not alone and
you don't have to get everything right
the first try a lot of us struggle with
making or breaking habits but we have to
try and at least set ourselves up for
success in a great way to get off on the
right foot thank you so much for
watching i hope you enjoyed and i will
catch you in the next one peace
[Music]
oh my god there's a massive bumblebee in
there
please don't come here and i'll be so
scared
you