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How are habits formed? Unfortunately, no persuasion works on our brain. Habits, both good and bad, are formed in a pattern. And knowing it, you can consciously manage your behavior: make habitual what you want, and refuse unnecessary things.
As a qigong teacher, at seminars I regularly meet people who do not believe in their willpower: “My wife forced me to come to gymnastics for the spine, but I feel that I will not do it regularly, it’s impossible – every day … No!”
And even the understanding that classes should take only 15 minutes a day is not encouraging for everyone. You have to get up, allocate time, get together … Indeed, if you do any exercises solely on willpower, there will not be enough motivation for a long time. Willpower weakens over time: something distracts, interferes. We get sick, we get late, we get tired.
How do these amazing people who do sports / yoga / qigong or any other practices every day appear? I have a triathlete friend who, when asked why he goes to the gym three times a week, and the rest of the days he runs, swims or rides a bike, answers with one word: “Habit”. As simple, natural and inevitable as brushing your teeth.
How can we make habitual what we need, but is not given very easily? Here are a few tricks.
1.What am I doing?
Write down everything you do. This idea came from the arsenal of nutritionists. When you need to find out what prevents the patient from losing weight, nutritionists suggest registering everything eaten on paper for a week.
“I only eat salad, but I can’t lose weight,” patients say, then they begin to write down all the snacks – and it becomes clear what is the reason for being overweight. As a rule, there is tea between salads (with a sandwich or cookies), then a snack with colleagues, in the evening a girlfriend came in with a pie, and her husband brought chips …
We do a lot of things unconsciously. Due to which there is an illusion of a full-fledged diet, or employment, or something else that prevents you from including healthy habits in your schedule. To understand when you have free time for body practice, simply write down what you do during the week. Morning – wake up, shower, breakfast, going to work, and so on.
You will be surprised how much time you spend on surfing social networks, watching TV and other activities that are enough to cut down and get the necessary time resource for new activities.
2. One habit at a time
Deciding to change life for the better, do not grab everything at once. Despite the fact that multifunctionality is still in fashion in the world, modern research confirms that our brain is not capable of doing everything at the same time. We work much more efficiently when we have the opportunity to concentrate on one task.
Make a list of the habits you want to implement into your life and choose the one that is most relevant. When it moves from the category of volitional decision-making to habit mode, it will be possible to take on the next task.
3. Schedule a marathon
For something to become a habit, it must be practiced every day for two months. This is the time it takes for our brain to accept the inevitable fact: now it’s forever!
The human brain is arranged very wisely: it strives for stability. To make something habitual, you need to build new neural connections. And this is an energy-intensive process. “Shall we build? the brain doubts, analyzing the new activity of its owner. Or will it fall off soon, like fitness, English lessons and morning runs? Let’s wait and see, maybe everything will work out.”
Therefore, if you want to make gymnastics a habit, then do it – albeit a little, but every day. For my students who come to the seminar “Youth and Health of the Spine”, I recommend doing exercises for 15 minutes a day and “C grade” so that there is no feeling “I’m done!”
Let there be a desire to do the exercises tomorrow. It’s not perfect, but it’s tolerable. And remember: if you miss even one day in two months, the results “reset” and you start over. So for the next two months, willpower will be needed in full.
4. Positive results
While you are doing tasks on willpower, train yourself to look for something pleasant in every practice, to “hunt” for new sensations. During and after classes, note flexibility, relaxation, lightness, mobility. Register them all day long. And the next time laziness wins, remember these pleasant sensations. Promise yourself: now we will suffer a little (overcoming laziness), but then it will be cool.
5. Heavy artillery
It is known that habits are best formed with the support of like-minded people. Therefore, when forming positive habits, be sure to seek the help of those who face the same tasks.
One of the effective ways, tested on the basis of our school, is common marathons, in which you make a promise, say, to train every day. Find like-minded people, make a common group in the messenger and report every day when and how you worked out, share the pleasant sensations from the practice.
Agree that you pay a fine for the missed day. No other punishment works as effectively. Just think – 15 minutes of classes or a fine of 1000 rubles. It seems not such a huge amount of money, but … In just 15 minutes of practice. It is better to gather courage and save.
The money collected as a result of the marathon can be given to charity or create a fund to support relatives / friends – in case they need financial assistance.