How are your New Year Resolutions going? Do you need an incentive?

Ask any millionaire, and they’ll tell you that being wealthy is a lifestyle. You’ll get the same response from fitness experts, industry leaders, and influential people. A person is only a culmination of their good and bad habits, and there is a ton of evidence to support that.      

Of course, not everybody wants to be a millionaire or to lose 40 pounds before the year ends. However, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t form new habits this year. The thing about habits is that they are very difficult to form and even harder to break, but the payoff from creating and keeping good habits is immense, and bad habits can have a truly destructive impact.       

Think about the chronic smoker who started out with two cigarettes a day and is now smoking two entire packs every single day. In the same breath, think about the person who started 2018 as an overweight individual, but has now lost all their excess weight and still goes to the gym three times a week. The difference between these people is simple: they picked up different habits at the beginning of the year.      

The science behind habit-forming has been studied for years. Researchers at Cornell University say that the average adult human being makes roughly 35,000 conscious decisions each day. 200 of these decisions are made on the choice of food alone! It is, therefore, no surprise that once we’ve reached our decision-making capacity, we automatically resort to our habits. This is why it is super important to create good habits because otherwise your default action after a long, stressful day of making decisions would be resorting to “bad habits.”     

How to Create New Healthy Habits and Make Them Stick      

On paper, forming habits is quite straightforward. Want a better-looking body? Exercise frequently. Want to be smarter than your classmates? Study more often. Want to be rich and successful? Make it a habit of managing your time and money. It sounds easy, but it isn’t because ultimately our habit-forming abilities are hinged on our willpower.       

Willpower is like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets. Adapt it to tough situations, and it gets even stronger. However, push too hard, and willpower collapses too. In the end, willpower is best used in short, effective bursts. Therefore, the best way to create new habits is by making it as simple as possible to retain the habit. How do you achieve this?      

Identify the Habit You Wish to Form, then Break It Down Into Little Steps      

If you want to achieve a specific goal by the end of the year, think about the process first. See how you can break it into bite-sized sections that you will easily remember to do each day. For example, if it’s a better body you want, focus on getting every day’s exercise done no matter what it takes. If you want to be a better writer, focus on reaching your targeted word count every day.        Focusing on the goal will only get you discouraged, but paying attention to the steps will keep you focused on doing your part every day.      

Expect Failure, and Learn From It      

The truth is that you will slip and fall along the way. There is no way around failure, but there is a surefire way to get past it, and that is to keep going. Accept failure, not as a sign of your lack of strength, but as a test of your resolve. The best part about moving on from failure is that you become so used to failing that it no longer has the power to stop you from achieving your goals.       

In 2019, try and create at least one good habit and stick with it for the rest of the year. Whether it is going to sleep earlier, working out regularly, or eating better, a good habit sticks with you for life, and you will be reaping its benefits long after your body becomes adapted to it.

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