One thing I learnt #28: New habits – Focus on the outcome and you may achieve it once. Focus on the system behind it and you’re set for life

We were having dinner at a friend’s house the other night with a group of friends. ‘Oh, no wine for me please, I’m doing dry Venganuary!’ declared proudly one of them. Double whammy, I thought. Fair enough, we gave the thumbs up, the supportive friends we all are. That was 7pm. By 10pm, our beloved friend was arguing about covid rules (is there anything else to argue about these days?) louder than a jackhammer, with a giant piece of cheese in hand, having gulped four glasses of red in the space of twenty minutes.

That sent me into a frenzy of behaviour change investigation. Being a coach, I know a thing or two about long-lasting habit formation, so I never understood the obsession with January goal setting and new year resolutions. January is hands-down the most miserable month of the year, so why would you make it even harder by setting difficult to reach, short-term goals that you know are impossible to achieve even on the best of days?  

You see, whether you are a CFO trying to make your employees fill out their timesheets, a manager who aims to instil new behaviours to your team or someone who wants to improve your level of health or everyday performance, there are some fundamental behavioural principles that can facilitate long-term habit formation, that we all seem to have gotten wrong. Here are a few for you to play with and try out next time you’re thinking of new habits – all backed by scientific research: 

1. Focus on the outcome (e.g. lose weight) and you may achieve it once. Focus on the system behind it (e.g. an everyday healthy regime), and you’re set for life.
2. Designing an environment that facilitates the new habit is possibly the most critical, yet most overlooked, factor. You want to change eating habits? Start with what you put in your fridge and cupboard. You want to fight national obesity? Start with how you design the high-street and how many junk food outlets there are. You want your employees to fill out timesheets? Start with the tool you provide and how user-friendly it is (you probably have figured out by now that, being a consultant, timesheets is a sore spot for me) 
3. What is tracked, is being done. Seeing and celebrating progress reinforces the feeling of success, which, in turn, reinforces motivation. It’s all down to pure chemical reaction and the release of dopamine (motivation hormone) every time we make something happen. 
4. Speaking of progress, it’s easier to move forward when you set small, tiny and very specific steps, instead of big, lofty aspirations. Be honest with your ability to complete a task: if you’ve never meditated before, forcing yourself to sit still for thirty minutes is madness. Start with 2 minutes and build from it.  
5. Design rituals around the desired behaviour that you find enjoyable and attractive, to reinforce the motivation to do something. Think of it as ritualistic prompts. I, for example, have a special candle as a prompt for my morning QiGong practice, a bamboo notebook with the most wonderful texture for my journal writing and a hazelnut infused coffee preparation for my blog writing on Sunday mornings. 

Spelling out all these principles makes me want to do something about this dry Venguary incident. I think I will set out a monthly dinner party with alcohol-free cocktails and yummy vegan food and invite my friend. What do you think, will this work? 

My favourite habit-forming books and resources: 

• https://tinyhabits.com/
• https://jamesclear.com/habits
• https://gretchenrubin.com/books/the-four-tendencies/intro/
• https://youtu.be/Wcs2PFz5q6g
• https://www.bluezones.com/