How to Create a New Habit ☑️

If old habits die hard, then it’s no surprise that New Year’s resolutions die easy. Not anymore! We’ve designed a simple recipe you can follow to bring any resolution to life.

Your first action should be to take the easiest possible first step. Just taking that first baby step, no matter how small, massively increases your odds of success. For example:

Resolution: Write an article 📝

First step: Buy a blank journal to brainstorm ideas in

Resolution: Learn to Salsa dance 💃🏻

First step: Google “salsa class in [your city]”

Resolution: Spend less time online 📱

First step: Install a web usage-tracking app like RescueTime

We run on routines, and each action in our routine has a trigger. Consider:

Trigger: Finished brushing teeth > Action: Turn on the shower

Trigger: Sit down on the bus > Action: Check Instagram

Trigger: Notice feeling tired > Action: Walk to the kitchen for coffee

So for your resolution, you’re going to need to build a trigger and action into your routine. Such as:

Resolution: Write an article 📝

Trigger: 6:30AM alarm > Action: Get out of bed and work on your article for 15 minutes

Resolution: Drink more water 💧

Trigger: Sit down at your desk > Action: Refill your water jug

Resolution: Spend more time in nature 🌳

Trigger: Thursday at 5PM (set a calendar reminder) > Action: Email friends about going hiking on the weekend

Bonus tip: Our willpower is a finite resource that gets tapped throughout the day. If you’re serious, set your trigger for the morning while you’re running on a full tank.

If you fall out of your resolution, how will you know? Will you magically wake up in the middle of the night and think “I forgot to start going on daily walks!”? Probably not.

You need to set-up a way to check-in with your resolution. You should do something that works with your style, but a simple approach is to create a weekly calendar reminder. Consider:

Resolution: Write an article 📝

Tracker: Weekly reminder to update how many words you’ve written on your article (e.g., in an Excel sheet)

Resolution: Give back to the community 👋🏻

Tracker: Weekly reminder to make sure you have a volunteering date on the calendar

Resolution: Eat healthy 🌽

Tracker: 9AM reminder to record what you ate yesterday

You can micromanage your routine as much as you want, but if you don’t care enough you’re going to end up with a bunch of weekly notifications that you simply ignore. Sometimes we need a reminder of why we’re doing these things. Here are some ideas:

Resolution: Write an article 📝

Motivation: Weekly reminder with motivational question

Resolution: Go camping more often ⛺️

Motivation: Order a calendar of John Muir quotes

Social pressure creates wars, topples empires and has its fingerprints all over our lives. It’s powerful, and if you can harness it for your resolution you will be in great shape. Here are some ideas:

Resolution: Write an article 📝

Social pressure: Find a friend who also wants to write an article, and make a pact to regularly write together and share progress

Resolution: Create a garden 🌼

Social pressure: Post on social media that your resolution is to create a garden, and that you’ll be sharing a photo update every week to stay accountable

Resolution: Visit friends in person more often 👫

Social pressure: Send an email to all the friends you want to see in person more often to let them know about your resolution, and ask them to call you out if you’re MIA

🔲 First step taken

🔲 Trigger built into routine

🔲 Tracker created

🔲 Motivation built into routine

🔲 Social pressure harnessed

Does this feel like a little much? If so, consider how few of us truly change our habits, let alone the direction of our lives. It’s hard work, but it’s good work, and it’s worth it.

This piece was written for Livday, a website and app for sharing things to do in San Francisco. If you’re serious about lifestyle, check out The Livday Lifestyle Weekly, a weekly email that recommends 2 activities and 1 lifestyle tip every week.