1 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:09,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning, 2 00:00:11,080 --> 00:00:16,919 Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's 3 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:21,000 Speaker 1: tip is about how not to forget little habits that 4 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 1: you would like to build into life. By being smarter 5 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: both about choosing habits and creating cues to do them, 6 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:33,640 Speaker 1: you can keep a streak going far longer than you 7 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:40,280 Speaker 1: might otherwise. I am a big fan of small daily habits. 8 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:43,400 Speaker 1: For the past few years, I've done a little bit 9 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:45,800 Speaker 1: of writing and a little bit of reading something big 10 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:51,840 Speaker 1: every day, well almost every day. I aimed to read 11 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:54,200 Speaker 1: the three hundred and sixty one chapters of War and 12 00:00:54,280 --> 00:00:58,120 Speaker 1: Peace one chapter a day in twenty twenty one, and 13 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:03,640 Speaker 1: I did indeed end on December twenty seventh. However, I 14 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:07,120 Speaker 1: also aimed to write one vignette from a character's day 15 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:11,480 Speaker 1: every day in twenty twenty two. At some point in 16 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:15,000 Speaker 1: December I noticed that my numbering was off, and sure enough, 17 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:19,679 Speaker 1: my December thirty first entry was numbered three hundred sixty four. 18 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:24,680 Speaker 1: So I guess I must have forgot on one day. Whoops. 19 00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:28,120 Speaker 1: It can happen. But if you do want to do 20 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:32,560 Speaker 1: a big project broken down into daily steps, being as 21 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:37,760 Speaker 1: consistent as possible can help cement the habit. Part of 22 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:41,760 Speaker 1: that is figuring out how not to forget the habit. 23 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:46,600 Speaker 1: How can you be sure that every single day you 24 00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:49,480 Speaker 1: will remember to do whatever you have set a goal 25 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:54,120 Speaker 1: to do. Life can get busy. We do what we 26 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 1: absolutely have to do, but sometimes we can lose track 27 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:02,800 Speaker 1: of the things we want to do, or our circumstances 28 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:07,200 Speaker 1: change on a particular day and our normal cues can't 29 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:13,000 Speaker 1: help us. What then, the first step to not forgetting 30 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:17,880 Speaker 1: turns out to be choosing well. When people say that 31 00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:21,320 Speaker 1: they have trouble sticking with things, I often bring up 32 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:25,960 Speaker 1: tooth brushing. Many people who claim to have trouble with 33 00:02:26,080 --> 00:02:31,679 Speaker 1: habits do manage to brush their teeth quite frequently. Indeed, 34 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:35,120 Speaker 1: they may have multi year streaks going of brushing their 35 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:38,640 Speaker 1: teeth at least once a day, if not more. So. 36 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:42,240 Speaker 1: It's not that they can't stick with a habit, It's 37 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:45,919 Speaker 1: just that to stick with other habits, those habits need 38 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:50,640 Speaker 1: to be more like brushing your teeth. That is, the 39 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:55,040 Speaker 1: habit shouldn't take much time. It should be reasonably pleasant 40 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 1: or at least feel good afterwards. You have a set 41 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:03,080 Speaker 1: time to do it, and if you leave your normal routines, 42 00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:08,120 Speaker 1: you take your equipment with you. Ideally, you also don't 43 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:12,280 Speaker 1: view this habit itself as a particularly big deal. It 44 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:16,760 Speaker 1: is just part of life, and when that is the case, 45 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:23,280 Speaker 1: things can run pretty much in perpetuity. Obviously, a great 46 00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:27,160 Speaker 1: many habits do not share all of those features. I 47 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:29,120 Speaker 1: like to tell the story of how when I was 48 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:32,160 Speaker 1: on a cruise once the cruise director got up and 49 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:35,560 Speaker 1: told us that all diets were officially kicked to the curb. 50 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:38,640 Speaker 1: I guess he meant that we should feel free to 51 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:41,640 Speaker 1: stop our good eating habits, whatever those happened to be. 52 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:45,640 Speaker 1: But he didn't get up and tell us to kick 53 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:49,320 Speaker 1: oral hygiene to the curb, or that, hey, we were 54 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:52,720 Speaker 1: having fun, so we should feel free to stop brushing 55 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:55,880 Speaker 1: our teeth. Indeed, I think people would have found that 56 00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:59,880 Speaker 1: a little weird. No one above the age of ten 57 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:03,760 Speaker 1: or so gets upset about brushing their teeth on vacation. 58 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:08,120 Speaker 1: So if you want to build a new daily habit, 59 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 1: it needs to be like that. Reading one very short 60 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:15,600 Speaker 1: chapter in a big book, or writing two lines of poetry, 61 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:19,920 Speaker 1: maybe meditating for four minutes. If it inspires a lot 62 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:24,640 Speaker 1: of resistance, it probably won't happen, and you will find 63 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:29,799 Speaker 1: ways to forget. But once you have chosen, well, remembering 64 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:33,880 Speaker 1: is more about taking some practical steps. You need something 65 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:37,760 Speaker 1: to trigger mindfulness that you intend to do the habit. 66 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:43,040 Speaker 1: One good option is to choose a general time or queue. 67 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:47,320 Speaker 1: Maybe it could be with your morning coffee. Unless your 68 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:50,839 Speaker 1: morning coffee is more of an uncertain thing, maybe you 69 00:04:50,839 --> 00:04:53,960 Speaker 1: could tie it too brushing your teeth first thing at 70 00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:56,240 Speaker 1: your desk, and then figure out what the queue will 71 00:04:56,240 --> 00:05:01,040 Speaker 1: be on weekends. Since a truly daily ha it should 72 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:04,880 Speaker 1: happen on Saturday and Sunday too, perhaps you can set 73 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:08,479 Speaker 1: a recurring alarm and then make a decision. If it 74 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:11,960 Speaker 1: can't happen at the alarm time, you immediately reset the 75 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:14,800 Speaker 1: alarm for a later time when you will make that 76 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:18,599 Speaker 1: decision again. Then it helps to have some way to 77 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:23,320 Speaker 1: track compliance. With reading a big book, this is somewhat apparent. 78 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:26,960 Speaker 1: Are you farther along than you were a few days ago? 79 00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:29,839 Speaker 1: Or if you are writing daily entries in a word file, 80 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:33,000 Speaker 1: you can see how many entries there are. But for 81 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:36,479 Speaker 1: some things like meditating, maybe you record somewhere when you've 82 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:39,080 Speaker 1: done it, put it on your to do list for 83 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:43,120 Speaker 1: the day. To remind yourself of it. I put rituals 84 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:45,720 Speaker 1: on my daily to do lists and cross that word 85 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:48,800 Speaker 1: off when I've written lines in my poems and read 86 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:51,760 Speaker 1: my ten pages of Jane Austen, which is this year's project. 87 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:54,800 Speaker 1: And yes I will note if I have done it 88 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:58,600 Speaker 1: on weekends too. A weekend to do list doesn't need 89 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:01,320 Speaker 1: to look like a weekday to do lift. But you 90 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:05,839 Speaker 1: probably have some intentions for the day, so better to 91 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:10,480 Speaker 1: remember them than not remember them. Or maybe you get 92 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:12,760 Speaker 1: an app that will remind you each day to say 93 00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:15,720 Speaker 1: you've done something. Most of us do look at our 94 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:18,680 Speaker 1: phones on weekends, just as we do on weekdays, so 95 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:23,599 Speaker 1: you can forget, but it will be harder. In any case, 96 00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:28,360 Speaker 1: adapting a new habit can be challenging. Sometimes we don't 97 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:31,760 Speaker 1: feel like doing things, But with some habits, it's also 98 00:06:31,839 --> 00:06:35,520 Speaker 1: just possible to forget. Setting things up so it is 99 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:38,480 Speaker 1: harder to forget means that is less likely to happen, 100 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:44,120 Speaker 1: and eventually the habit will become just like brushing your teeth. 101 00:06:45,839 --> 00:06:51,120 Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura, Thanks for listening, and 102 00:06:51,240 --> 00:07:01,080 Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, 103 00:07:01,279 --> 00:07:03,359 Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me 104 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:07,039 Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with 105 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:11,520 Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. 106 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:17,440 Speaker 1: That's b E the number four then Breakfast pod. You 107 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:20,960 Speaker 1: can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts. 108 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:24,360 Speaker 1: At iHeartMedia dot com that before Breakfast is spelled out 109 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:26,840 Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, should I look 110 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:35,160 Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production 111 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:40,600 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 112 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:50,640 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.