Guest Post: Strategies for Forming a New Habit

Today, we really have a treat. We have a guest post by: Vincent Balestrieri from the Autism Movement Project

BJ Fogg is a Stanford professor who studies habit formation. People have difficulty developing new, healthy habits for a variety of reasons. One strategy that I've found particularly useful is to pair a new habit with a specific time and location. In the winter of 2019 I decided that I wanted to practice yoga and meditation daily as opposed to a few times a week which I had been doing for years prior. It's now been two years and I've been extremely consistent in my practice, missing only a few days each year. One strategy that helped me get into the habit and also remain consistent is pairing my practice with a specific time and location. I practice every night before bed (time) and my mat stays rolled out on the floor in my room (location). Keeping the mat rolled out also minimizes the effort required to engage in the behavior and is an environmental cue to practice. It's difficult to form a new habit when too much effort is required. It is also difficult to form new habits when a task is perceived as too difficult. For that reason, I shifted my daily practice to 30 minutes as opposed to the 90 minute classes I was taking 2-3 times weekly prior to that. I knew that 90 minutes daily was an unrealistic expectation and would likely lead to me giving up on daily practice. These concepts are not only simple, but they're also generalizable and applicable to many habits. Think about how you might employ some of these strategies to a new behavior or habit you'd like to engage in. In my experience, a well thought out strategy with an environment set up for success trumps motivation or determination.