The habits lesson took me the longest to learn. Personal development has always been a subject the piqued my interest. However, I was looking for the silver (I should say magic) bullet. One solution that would solve all my problems. Like many people, I was looking for a quick fix to deep root personal problems. After trying almost every diet I could find to lose weight, I was frustrated. Nothing seems to work until I discovered the habits blueprint.
What is the Habits Blueprint?
I started reading and researching about personal success. I recognized a recurring pattern. One of the patterns was that it takes about 21 to 30 days to form a habit. Habits will become your lifestyle in about 90 days if you do it daily. Social scientists say that it takes anything from 18 to 274 days to form a habit. The sweet spot is 66 days. The number is not the same for everyone, for some it happens quickly and others it takes more time. However, the truth is if you do an action for long enough, sooner or later it will become automatic (habit).
This was the foundation of the 90 Day Movement. My first experiment of the 90 Day Movement was the #90DaysWithoutSugar Challenge. I decided to go 90 days without processed sugar or foods. The results were startling. I lost 13 kilograms in three months (first time in my life), dropped two pant sizes, and started running marathon regularly. This would have been enough but…
I started sharing these principles with close friends and people on Twitter. I designed the #90DaysWithoutSugar Program based on the habits blueprint. In the first year, more than 5000 people signed up. They lost weight, defeated sugar addictions, and started developing sustainable health habits.
The 90 Day Movement is growing daily. Many people are pledging to go 90 days without processed foods and sugar. Most of them are applying the habits blueprint to get results. The Habits blueprint is the game-changer. I did not create the habits blueprint, I only discovered. It has always been there, hidden in plain sight.
7 Steps That Make Up the Habits Blueprint.
These seven steps will work for building any type of habit. I will be referring to physical health habits. However, if you want to build habits in your spiritual, relationships, career, and personal finances you can also apply the principles. It may easier to develop habits in other areas.
Purpose.
Habits start with purpose or a strong why. Every transformation starts with a meaningful purpose. Many people have identified their goals but have not identified why those goals are important. The road to building habits is filled with many challenges. Goals will not be enough; people need an internal motivator. That internal motivator is a strong why.
A study found that people who had a deeper reason for losing weight than just losing weight managed to lose weight and keep it off for the long-term. Building habits or starting change initiatives because everyone is doing is not a strong why. You will quit when things get tough and when challenges arise. When you want to change any area in your life, ask yourself, why is changing this area important in my life? Why is it important to lose weight? Why do I want to be healthy?
Goals.
Goals and plans are key to changing and building habits. Good habits grow through proper care, preparation, and planning. Bad habits grow because of neglect. Once you choose one or two areas you want to change, identify your goals. Choosing to have an extra focus on those two areas does not mean you neglect all the other areas. It just means you are giving the problem areas extra focus. Balance in life is important as success in one area does not justify failure in another area.
Your goals need to present, positive and personal. An example of such a goal is, “I hit 12% bodyfat and run marathons under 4 hours before the end of 31 December 2020. Your health, career and finances goals are easier to make specific. Spiritual, Mental, and relationship goals are harder to quantify.
It is very hard for people to focus on too many goals at the same time. I would advise you set five to seven goals and have 2 to 3 that you are focusing extra time on. It is better to achieve 80% of two to three goals than just 30% of five goals. Your attention, energy, and time are limited. Focus on priorities
Breakdown Your Goals Into Milestones.
Goal setting is the fun part. It is very easy to identify what you want to achieve. The challenge is breaking those lofty and inspirational goals into weekly objectives and daily actions (habits). Start breaking down your goals into doable steps.
If my goal is to hit 12% body fat and run marathons under 4 hours. This is how I may breakdown that goal.
I will:
- Run 3-4 times a week.
- Do high-intensity interval training 3 times a week
- Eat healthy meals and have 2-3 cheat meals a week
- Complete a 21-kilometer race every 2 months.
These are process goals. They will help you breakdown your goals into a process. When you repeat this process, you will reach your bigger goal quicker. The rule of thumb is to be stubborn with your goals but be flexible with your plans, life happens.
Transform Your Goals and Plans Into Daily Habits
Many people can do steps 1 to 3 with some ease. The complications start when they are supposed to transform their goals into daily action. Pareto Law says that 80% of our results come from 20% of our actions. The key is finding which actions you need to focus on to get results. Gary Keller in his book, “The One Thing”, says that our progress is based on finding one thing we can do that will bring most of the results. That one thing may not be the only thing we need to do but will start a domino effect in achieving our goals. Gary Keller is echoed by Charles Duhigg, author of “The Power of Habit”. He writes about keystone habits, which are small changes that start a chain reaction and help us to develop other habits.
Transforming your goal and plans into daily habits means identifying one small action to do daily. You focus on this action until you have mastered it. Find one small and doable action. In the #90DaysWithoutSugar, that one action was avoiding processed sugar and foods. I could not drink soda beverages, this caused me to develop the habit of drinking 2 liters of water. I could not eat junk food, this helped develop the habit of eating healthy. This led to me starting to run more often. This one daily habit of avoiding processed sugar and foods helped me to develop other health habits. Ideas of daily actions you can start to work on your health area. Drinking two liters of water, adding vegetables to every meal, not eating after 19:00 or avoiding processed sugar. Choose one and master it.
Stay Consistent.
Healthy living is a life-long journey. People expect to get healthy from a couple of healthy meals. We have been building unhealthy habits for many years. It will not take a couple of months to change those habits. You might not form habits or achieve your health goals in one month. Results take time to show.
Stick with your process until it becomes automatic. Remember how hard it was when you were learning how to drive a car? You had to take the radio down so that you could concentrate on the surroundings. You could only focus on one thing at a time. However, you stuck to the process and drove every day. After a couple of months, driving became your second nature. If you keep on eating health and exercising, it will become your second nature. Do not quit after you fail, get up, and keep trying.
Fine-tuning The Process.
Growth is part of being a human being. Therefore, finetuning the habit process is important. There is always room for improvement in the way you are doing your habits. Stephen Covey compared learning to sharpening the saw. A man was walking in the forest and saw someone cutting trees with a blunt ax, the man asked the person cutting the trees to sharpen his ax. He told him that he is too busy to sharpen the saw. If the man could have taken some time off to sharpen his saw, he would cut more trees.
There are always more ways of accomplishing your habits. Keep reading and researching about nutrition and exercise. Getting good results by applying the first five steps may make us arrogant. We may start using a blunt ax to achieve our goals. Sharpen your ax. Be a student in that area. Read books, watch videos, and join clubs.
Building Accountability.
The final step of the habits blueprint is accountability. What do Alcohol Anonymous, Running Clubs, and Book Memberships have in common? They are a group of like-minded people who have similar goals, meeting and holding each other accountable to make those goals happen.
The first six steps are private and personal decisions. Getting a community, mentor or an accountability partner may help you track progress and help you stay committed to your goals. One of the reasons people with a personal trainer go to the gym more often is that someone is holding them accountable.
A study with 267 participants found out that people who formulate action commitments and send their actions commitments and weekly progress report to a supportive friend achieved their goals than people who do not have any accountability system. The study showed the positive effect of writing your goals down, accountability, and public commitment.
A word of caution, accountability is a magic wand. Poor self-discipline will not survive any accountability system. Step one to six needs to be firmly in place before you seek accountability. Identify people or a community that will hold you accountable to build healthy habits.
These are the seven simple steps of the habits blueprint. I say simple because they are not mysterious. They are only difficult to apply consistently. Once you master these steps you can change any habit in your life, no matter how long it takes. Remember that habits are learned best when we are moving. Do not wait until you are perfect in all these steps. Identify your initial desires in each step and start doing something. You will learn most of the things as you are doing them. Start changing your habits today. Change your habits and changes your life.