How Do You Make Those New Productivity Habits Stick?
Every business owner needs to develop habits that would increase their productivity at work for the success of their venture. While there are plenty of resources online about the specific productivity-boosting routines to follow, the most crucial part isn’t often mentioned. And that’s how to make them stick. In this article, you’ll discover the various strategies on how to make a better commitment for changing your daily routine.
1. Practice new habits one at a time
Start small. Making a huge lifestyle change on such short notice makes the commitment hard to fulfill. If you want to wake up early, start by setting your alarm to go off at 8 am. Then work from there until you won’t find yourself groaning at the thought of waking up at 5 am.
2. Make it daily
Consistency is the key to making a habit stick. Those who put intervals during the habit-building process are doomed to fail. Instead of waking up early during the weekdays for the office, rise early during the weekends as well.
3. Commit to a month
Give yourself at least 30 days to welcome change. That is all you need to make habits automatic. It will be hard during the initial conditioning phase which is the first week. But as long as you keep your focus inward, you’ll be able to endure shifts in your daily routine until they become comfortable to do.
4. Play to your strengths and weaknesses
Past successes and failures are great assets for facing new goals. They can help you in creating strategies to make habit-building easier and for avoiding hurdles or excuses when adopting a new routine.
5. Keep track
There are plenty of tools you can use to track your habit-building progress. There’s your home’s calendar, your personal journal, and phone applications ready to be downloaded. The purpose of tracking your progress is to motivate you in sticking to the new routine, especially if you’re doing well. And if you make some mistakes, it can inspire you to commit even harder.
6. Be patient
Habits aren’t built overnight. Most people already know this yet still are impatient when forming new habits. As a result, they abandon their efforts during the initial conditioning phase, choose another set of habits to follow, repeat the cycle, and waste a lot of time. Remember, commit to a month first before trying anything else.
7. Get a partner
Having a partner is a great way to make yourself even more accountable for sticking to a new routine. They can also motivate and remind you about the changes you need to adopt. In solopreneurship, family members are the best habit-building partners you can choose because they’re always near you. Otherwise, invite a friend or colleague that also wants to commit to the same goals as you.
8. Use a trigger
A trigger works like a signal that you should start doing something. They can either be a sound, visual cue, or action. For example, you can set a song or sound to play to signal you should start working or take a break. Triggers can also be used for the purpose of stopping an action like an alarm or finger-snapping once you lose focus at work and start procrastinating.
Forming habits for productivity at home and work are hard especially if the environments are filled with tempting elements for procrastination. They’re also difficult to commit to without motivating factors. That’s why at home and at the office, avoid clutter and keep devices out of reach.
Your phone is your #1 cause of distraction. It should be on silent mode and placed inside your workstation’s drawer. And lastly, set rewards for completing habit-building tasks. This will make you look forward to completing the new routines you need to follow.
Read more blog posts to boost your productivity here!