How I Learned to Build Positive Habits that Stick | “Associative Habits”
Index:
1) Intro
2)Examples
3) Set Habits on Set Days
4) Designated Spaces
5) Reconditioning Sentences
6) Focus on Identity
7) Learn more!
Associative Habits based on Pre-existent Habits.
Right off the bat, summarise each point that you’ll be speaking about in the video.
Base habits around making your morning coffee, waking up, making breakfast, brushing your teeth, etc.
Your brain learns everything by association, correlating previous knowledge and memories with new knowledge and experiences.
Like an ever-expanding mind-map.
A lot of this happens during the REM sleep cycle, where memories are connected to one another and neurotransmitters to do with them, and what’s been learned in the previous day, are strengthened.
So if you can keep this in mind when designing your habits and “systems” in life, you’re gonna have substantially more luck in actually keeping them up than people who’re just executing positive habits irregularly.
Examples of Associative Habits
That’s it.
Set Habits on Set Days.
I always record my YT video on a Saturday, unless some serious unforeseen thing occurs.
I always do yoga every 2nd day, which continues even if I miss a day.
I visualise every other day, which continues even if I miss a day.
For me, this means that I need to perform certain Associative Habits on these specific days of the week.
If I hear myself making excuses, I know that they’re bullshit and that I should take that as an opportunity to challenge my mind and to do the thing anyway.
Designated Spaces.
I only work at my desk.
I only sleep in my bed.
I’m only entertained in the lounge-room or anywhere that isn’t the two aforementioned locations.
Location is something else that’s incredibly significant to how habits are shaped.
So the more that you perform an Associative Habit in a particular location, the more that neural pathways related to those habits will be instilled, and being at that location will serve as a cue for you to follow through with the whole set of habits.
Reconditioning Sentences to use with them.
Before you start an Associative Habit for work or for study, remind yourself of the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction you'll feel when you complete it. Say, “Nice. I’m so glad I’m the kind of person who gets sh*t tons of study done because they enjoy the feeling of actively making progress. I’ve known people who prefer to [insert something you enjoy but is unproductive and takes up a lot of your time. For example, ‘watch tv shows’.] That’d suck”.
Before you start an Associative Habit for working out or doing yoga, remind yourself of how strong and capable you are, and how good you'll feel after you're done. Say, “I’m so glad that I embrace my natural desire to become more powerful and physically harder to kill. Plus, I love the release of endorphins in my veins. I’ve known people that are scared to challenge their bodies and think it’s only painful. They think that sitting around, watching movies and scrolling on Tiktok will make them happier than working out and becoming harder to kill like I’m doing. How unfortunate for them”.
Before you start an Associative Habit based on eating a healthy meal, remind yourself of the benefits of eating healthy and how good your body will feel after you've finished eating. Say, “I’m so glad that I enjoy nourishing literally the only vessel I’ll ever have control over in this lifetime. I’ve known people that just eat random sh*t that they think of or that’s convenient, and their body’s becoming weaker and weaker over time because of that. It’s great to genuinely love eating healthy foods”.
Focus on Identity
Link card to original video you did on Associative Habits.
Now you need to fully shift your perspective on building habits.
It’s not about what they are, or where they’ll take you, it’s about the kind of person that they make you for engaging with them frequently and consistently.
If you need help both understanding how to fix your entire life-focus onto identity, instead of goals, and what action to take, I have a Webinar which would explain the majority of the stuff that you’d need to know.
Check it out and then you can let me know via email or something, how you liked it.
That’s it!
Join the Peaky Pines Email Community, for more information on building positive habits and eliminating ones that don’t benefit you!
Plus, you can talk to other young people (The Peaky People) who’re trying to become the best version of themselves too.