The simple secret to creating new habits

Molecular Thoughts

It has been 11 days into the 100 day blogging challenge. With this post, I will be 11 for 11. It isn’t a huge win, but it is a win and I am fairly happy with it.

I remember when I first started this challenge. My first thought was, “Damn, this is going to be hard. I’ve never blogged more than once a week.” It was true. In fact, I would often skip months.

And now I am doing it!

The biggest surprise so far is how easy it was to make blogging a habit. That’s right. It is actually fairly easy.

Here’s how I did it.

Before this challenge, this was my inner monologue:

“I know that I like writing, and I know that writing will be good for me. I also know that sharing my thoughts and starting some dialogue online could be good for my career. If possible, I really want to blog once a week.”

You know what I told myself this time?

“Shoot, this challenge is going to be a commitment, but I know I can do it. I will blog every day, and won’t go to sleep until a post is published every day.”

You see that?

The simple secret here is that internally, I told myself that I will do it. I made it a reality within my head. Psychologically, we have a need for our thoughts and actions to be self consistent. Once something becomes a reality in your head, it becomes much easier to take the actions to conform with the reality. It may not be easy, but it gets easier because you already believe that you are going to do it.

It sounds simple, but it most cases, it works. (Obviously, I say most because there are cases that are super difficult involving drugs, mental illnesses, etc.)

Think about it. How many times have you begun a new habit by saying you want something?

“I want to work out more. I want to read more. I want to date more. Yadda yadda yadda..”

I’ve said similar things to myself many times and failed. The truth of the matter is that every time I failed, it is because I didn’t really want these things. If I did, I would have done them.

That’s it!

Change your wants to wills. Believe it, and then take the actions that make sense.

You’ll be surprised how powerful it is. I am surprised every single time I do it.

…and now, I can finally go to sleep 🙂

P.S. This is post number #11 in a 100 day blogging challenge. See you tomorrow!

Follow me on Twitter @alexshye.

Check out my current project Soulmix, your daily mix of food for the soul. Request an invite now for free access to the private beta!

8 thoughts on “The simple secret to creating new habits

  1. This article is great, but my biggest challenge is getting motivated to wake up early in the morning! Once I’m out of bed, I can get stuff done, but getting up early is the big challenge 🙂 Any tips on this? Perhaps you could write an article about that tomorrow 🙂

    • Thanks Wayne.

      Hahah, good luck on that one, and hope to figure it out!

      If there is one thing I have never figured out, it is how to wake up early. It has been enough of a problem in my life where I’ve done some Googling and am fairly sure that I have Delayed Phase Sleep Syndrome. That may be another blog post, but more like a post about dealing with my problems 🙂

    • Yup, that is exactly it! Having the will to do stuff matters for so much more than just habits. Been thinking about writing more about that.

      Thanks for dropping by Adam!

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