WEBVTT - How not to forget your habits

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 2>Today's tip is about how not to forget little habits

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<v Speaker 2>that you would like to build into life. By being

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<v Speaker 2>smarter both about choosing habits and creating cues to do them,

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<v Speaker 2>you can keep a streak going far longer than you

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<v Speaker 2>might otherwise. I am a big fan of small daily habits.

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<v Speaker 2>For the past few years, I've done a little bit

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<v Speaker 2>of writing and a little bit of reading something big

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<v Speaker 2>every day, well almost every day. I aimed to read

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<v Speaker 2>the three hundred and sixty one chapters of War and

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<v Speaker 2>Peace one chapter a day in twenty twenty one, and

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<v Speaker 2>I did indeed end on December twenty seventh. However, I

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<v Speaker 2>also aimed to write one vignette from a character's day

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<v Speaker 2>every day in twenty twenty two. At some point in

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<v Speaker 2>December I noticed that my numbering was off, and sure enough,

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<v Speaker 2>my December thirty first entry was numbered three hundred sixty four.

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<v Speaker 2>So I guess I must have forgot on one day. Whoops.

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<v Speaker 2>It can happen. But if you do want to do

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<v Speaker 2>a big project broken down into daily steps, being as

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<v Speaker 2>consistent as possible can help cement the habit. Part of

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<v Speaker 2>that is figuring out how not to forget the habit.

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<v Speaker 2>How can you be sure that every single day you

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<v Speaker 2>will remember to do whatever you have set a goal

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<v Speaker 2>to do. Life can get busy. We do what we

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<v Speaker 2>absolutely have to do, but sometimes we can lose track

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<v Speaker 2>of the things we want to do, or our circumstances

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<v Speaker 2>change on a particular day and our normal cues can't

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<v Speaker 2>help us. What then, the first step to not forgetting

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<v Speaker 2>turns out to be choosing well. When people say that

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<v Speaker 2>they have trouble sticking with things, I often bring up

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<v Speaker 2>tooth brushing. Many people who claim to have trouble with

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<v Speaker 2>habits do manage to brush their teeth quite frequently. Indeed,

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<v Speaker 2>they may have multi year streaks going of brushing their

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<v Speaker 2>teeth at least once a day, if not more.

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<v Speaker 1>So.

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<v Speaker 2>It's not that they can't stick with a habit, It's

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<v Speaker 2>just that to stick with other habits, those habits need

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<v Speaker 2>to be more like brushing your teeth. That is, the

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<v Speaker 2>habit shouldn't take much time. It should be reasonably pleasant

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<v Speaker 2>or at least feel good afterwards. You have a set

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<v Speaker 2>time to do it, and if you leave your normal routines,

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<v Speaker 2>you take your equipment with you. Ideally, you also don't

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<v Speaker 2>view this habit itself as a particularly big deal. It

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<v Speaker 2>is just part of life, and when that is the case,

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<v Speaker 2>things can run pretty much in perpetuity. Obviously, a great

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<v Speaker 2>many habits do not share all of those features. I

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<v Speaker 2>like to tell the story of how when I was

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<v Speaker 2>on a cruise once the cruise director got up and

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<v Speaker 2>told us that all diets were officially kicked to the curb.

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<v Speaker 2>I guess he meant that we should feel free to

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<v Speaker 2>stop our good eating habits, whatever those happened to be.

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<v Speaker 2>But he didn't get up and tell us to kick

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<v Speaker 2>oral hygiene to the curb, or that, hey, we were

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<v Speaker 2>having fun, so we should feel free to stop brushing

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<v Speaker 2>our teeth. Indeed, I think people would have found that

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<v Speaker 2>a little weird. No one above the age of ten

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<v Speaker 2>or so gets upset about brushing their teeth on vacation.

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<v Speaker 2>So if you want to build a new daily habit,

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<v Speaker 2>it needs to be like that.

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<v Speaker 1>Reading one very.

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<v Speaker 2>Short chapter in a big book, or writing two lines

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<v Speaker 2>of poetry, maybe meditating for four minutes. If it inspires

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<v Speaker 2>a lot of resistance, it probably won't happen, and you

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<v Speaker 2>will find ways to forget. But once you have chosen well,

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<v Speaker 2>remembering is more about taking some practical steps. You need

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<v Speaker 2>something to trigger mindfulness that you intend to do the habit.

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<v Speaker 2>One good option is to choose a general time or queue.

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<v Speaker 2>Maybe it could be with your morning coffee, Unless your

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<v Speaker 2>morning coffee is more of an uncertain thing. Maybe you

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<v Speaker 2>could tie it too brushing your teeth first thing at

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<v Speaker 2>your desk, and then figure out what the queue will

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<v Speaker 2>be on weekends. Since a truly daily it should happen

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<v Speaker 2>on Saturday and Sunday too, Perhaps you can set a

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<v Speaker 2>recurring alarm and then make a decision. If it can't

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<v Speaker 2>happen at the alarm time, you immediately reset the alarm

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<v Speaker 2>for a later time when you will make that decision again.

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<v Speaker 2>Then it helps to have some way to track compliance.

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<v Speaker 2>With reading a big book, this is somewhat apparent. Are

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<v Speaker 2>you farther along than you were a few days ago?

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<v Speaker 2>Or if you are writing daily entries in a word file,

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<v Speaker 2>you can see how many entries there are. But for

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<v Speaker 2>some things like meditating, maybe you record somewhere when you've

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<v Speaker 2>done it, put it on your to do list for

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<v Speaker 2>the day to remind yourself of it. I put rituals

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<v Speaker 2>on my daily to do lists and cross that word

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<v Speaker 2>off when I've written lines in my poems and read

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<v Speaker 2>my ten pages of Jane Austen, which is this year's project.

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<v Speaker 2>And yes I will note if I have done it

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<v Speaker 2>on weekends too. A weekend to do list doesn't need

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<v Speaker 2>to look like a weekday to do lift. But you

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<v Speaker 2>probably have some intentions for the day, so better to

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<v Speaker 2>remember them than not remember them. Or maybe you get

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<v Speaker 2>an app that will remind you each day to say

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<v Speaker 2>you've done something. Most of us do look at our

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<v Speaker 2>phones on weekends, just as we do on weekdays, so

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<v Speaker 2>you can forget, but it will be harder. In any case,

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<v Speaker 2>adapting a new habit can be challenging. Sometimes we don't

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<v Speaker 2>feel like doing things, But with some habits, it's also

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<v Speaker 2>just possible to forget. Setting things up so it is

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<v Speaker 2>harder to forget means that is less likely to happen,

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<v Speaker 2>and eventually the habit will become just like brushing your teeth.

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<v Speaker 2>In the meantime, this is Laura, Thanks for listening, and

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<v Speaker 2>here's to making the most of our time.

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you You can

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<v Speaker 1>send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just

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<v Speaker 1>connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before

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<v Speaker 1>Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four then Breakfast pod.

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<v Speaker 1>You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com that before Breakfast is spelled

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<v Speaker 1>out with all the letters. Thanks so much, should I

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<v Speaker 1>look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a

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