this episode was brought to you by fabulous an app that helps you form healthy habits the
first 100 people who click on the link will get 25 off fabulous premium improvement bill here
in this video i'm going to show you how to fix any habit that you've been trying to build but
that you've been unable to stick to i'll be doing so by going through what i like to call the habit
troubleshooter which is a simple checklist that you can go through every time you miss a day and
it consists of a series of four simple questions all of which are inspired by the atomic habits by
james clear with that being said let's begin question number one are you forgetting to do
your habit if your answer is yes continue watching if your answer is no skip to question number two
now if you're forgetting to stick to your habit that's a clear sign that there's something
wrong with your cue basically the thing that triggers you to actually start the habit and you
can easily fix this by doing one of two things the first thing you can do is add a visual cue
to your environment something like a meditation pillow on the floor a gym bag next to your door
or even setting up a notification on your phone this way whenever you see the queue you will
be reminded that you should start your habit the second thing you can do is attach your habit to a
pre-existing one for example let's say you always brush your teeth in the morning in which case you
can tell yourself okay when i'm done brushing my teeth and i have that fresh feeling in my mouth
that's when i would go meditate the reason this is helpful is because your pre-existing habit
already occurs every single day so it will always be there reminding you that you should
be sticking to the habit that you've decided to attach to it now that you've fixed your cue
it's time to move on to question number two are you remembering to do your habit but can't seem
to motivate yourself to actually start doing it if your answer is yes you do have problems with
starting continue watching if your answer is no you don't have problems with starting
skip to question number three now if you're unable to motivate yourself to actually start your habit
this is a sign that your cravings are not strong enough and you can fix this by doing
one of two things the first thing you can do is spend more time convincing yourself that your
habit is important you see if you're trying to stick to something like journaling just
because you see some youtubers doing it you're eventually going to wake up one day thinking
why am i doing this and without a clear answer you'll end up skipping days cause what's the point
you need a strong reason why you're sticking to a habit for example i decided to build a
habit of bullet journaling last year as a way to better organize my to-do's this allows me to be
way more productive which ultimately gives me more freedom to enjoy my life that's a pretty powerful
why if you need help with your why go on youtube reddit or even twitter and surround yourself with
people who are passionate about the habit that you're trying to build spend some time every
week listening about all the benefits they've seen this is gonna help sell you on the idea that this
habit is going to change your life you gotta believe that it truly will because once you do
the cravings will increase the second thing you can do to improve the craving step of your habit
is what's called temptation bundling basically allowing yourself to do something fun while you
stick to your habit for example when i eat i like to read something at the same time eating is super
enjoyable for me as it is for most people and reading is okay but when i combine the two i'm
essentially piggybacking off of my desire to eat which makes the craving for reading much stronger
now that you've fixed your craving it's time to move on to question number three but before
that a quick word about the sponsors of today's video this episode is brought to you by fabulous
one of the best apps on the market when it comes to building and sticking to habits fabulous uses
behavior science and they have a proven track record of creating long lasting change there
are two ways you can use this app if you have a clear idea of which habits you want to build then
you can opt for the self-guided approach here you can pick amongst hundreds of recommended habits
and use fabulous's built-in notification system as a way to remind yourself to stick to them on
the other hand if you need some guidance on which habits to start with you can opt for the guided
approach fabulous has built-in programs designed to help you reach your objectives simply tell them
what you want and they'll tell you which habits you should work on the guided approach also has
a built-in coaching system which you can listen to three times per day guiding you all throughout
the day you'll also be able to join a community where you can take part in challenges and stay
accountable with other users this will help you increase the cravings for sticking to the habit
fabulous is 100 personalized customizing the entire experience to suit your needs
start building your ideal daily routine today the first 100 people who click on the link will get 25
off fabulous premium now back to the topic at hand question number three are you starting your
habit but it's just too hard to complete if your answer is yes it is too hard to complete continue
watching if your answer is no skip to question number four now if your habit is too hard to
complete all it means is that your routine is too difficult this also ties back to the craving step
of your habit the more difficult your routine is the less likely you'll crave doing it now
there are three things you can do here to address the problem first you can make the beginning and
end parts of your routine easier for example if you're trying to build a habit of going to the
gym but your gym is a 30 minute drive away then that actually means that your routine is an hour
long commute plus the time it takes to actually work out in this situation you can opt to find the
gym that's closer to you or get some equipment and figure out a way to work out at home by shortening
the time it takes to complete the habit it will seem much easier to complete the second thing
you can do is to create what i like to call a low bar basically a bare minimum amount of work that
you can do that still shows that you stuck to your habit for the day to be honest some days i simply
don't feel like writing but i have a low bar so as long as i've opened up the word document and spent
at least a minute or two reading over a draft i consider that as a win for the day now of course
this doesn't mean that i do this every day all this means is that i allow myself to do less
and as long as i'm showing up to do that bare minimum i consider it as a win for the day this
is extremely powerful because it makes the habits seem much easier to do and of course i also find
myself doing more work than i expect because i'll often think to myself hey i already started might
as well do a little bit more it's also important to note that repetition is more important when it
comes to building habits as compared to intensity which means that reading just two pages of a book
per day will help you build a habit of reading faster than reading a hundred pages of a book once
per week and finally the third thing you can do is what's called chunking basically breaking one big
habit into much smaller ones to make it easier to stick to instead of telling yourself that you need
to study for two hours straight you can break it down into 30 minute sessions now this doesn't work
for all habits but for the ones that do it can be a powerful tool because by breaking the habit down
you'll be able to reward yourself more often which would also increase the cravings while making the
routine easier to stick to all at the same time now that you've made your routine easier to stick
to it's time to move on to question number four is your habit getting easier to stick to
over time if your answer to this question is no then this means that there's a problem with the
reward aspect of your habit you see the goal when it comes to habit building is to stick to your
habit until it becomes fully automatic where it feels effortless to stick to and this will never
happen if you don't give yourself proper rewards the more powerful the rewards are the more likely
your brain will want to remember and strengthen the habit that you're trying to build now there
are three types of rewards that you need to have the first of which i like to call an instant
reward basically something that comes immediately after you complete your habit instant rewards are
usually mental as they can happen instantaneously for example after a good writing session in the
morning i'll think to myself wow i did a lot today or wow i worked hard today positive thoughts like
these usually release feel-good chemicals in our brain which make us feel good instantly
alternatively there are some habits like working out that have instant rewards built into them
you see working out releases endorphins which make you feel good but you can also pair this up with a
positive thought like damn that was a good workout which will make you feel even better the second
type of reward you need to have is your typical reward which doesn't come instantly but maybe a
couple of seconds or minutes after you complete your routine i like to reward myself with food
after my workouts and it's extremely effective because food is one of the most powerful rewards
out there it's hardwired into our biology if you have a hard time coming up with good rewards just
remember that the best rewards are things that you already enjoy of course not including anything
that is harmful for your health and finally the third type of reward you need is what i like
to call a delayed reward which is essentially a reward that occurs days weeks or even months down
the line an example of a delayed reward is hitting your fitness goals at the gym this type of reward
ties back to your reason why you're building this habit in the first place now the best way to go
about delivering delayed rewards is to figure out a way to see the progress that you're making
so if your goal is to drop 30 pounds you can shorten the time it takes to receive your delayed
reward from months to weeks by stepping on the scale every week in order to keep track of your
progress by making sure you have three types of rewards for any particular habit your brain
should have a much easier time making it automatic i hope you found this video helpful if you'd like
to download a pdf version of these four questions you can do so by signing up for my newsletter in
the description box below make sure to look at it if you ever miss a day when building any of
your future habits as it will help you figure out what went wrong besides that guys stay tuned