Self Growth Part 1: Habits that stick

Big plans often fail because they depend on motivation, and motivation comes and goes. Habits that stick start tiny, hang off something you already do, and get easier with repetition.

Start smaller than seems useful

Ishaan wants to practise coding problems every day before placements. His first plan, two hours every night, lasted four days. His second plan was to open one problem after dinner. He kept it up for a month, and most days he did more than one.

A tiny habit is hard to skip. Once it's automatic, you can grow it.

Attach it to something you already do

Write it as "After I ..., I will ...":

• After I finish dinner, I'll open one coding problem.
• After I make my morning tea, I'll read one page of my notes.
• After I sit down on the metro, I'll watch one lecture video.

Psychologists call these if-then plans, and many studies have found they make people more likely to follow through. The cue does the remembering for you.

Make it easy, and the distractions hard

• Leave the book on your pillow, or the guitar out of its case.
• Keep your phone in another room while you study (Part 2).
• Set out what you'll need the night before.

Track it, and don't miss twice

A tick on a calendar is enough. In a well-known study at University College London, missing a single day didn't hold people back much, but people who skipped often were less likely to show the habit forming. So if you miss a day, get straight back to it the next.

How long it takes

Not 21 days. In that same study, the typical time for a new daily habit to feel automatic was about 66 days, and for some people it took far longer. The 21-day figure comes from a 1960 self-help book by a plastic surgeon, not from habit research. Give a new habit a couple of months before you judge it.

Try it

Pick one habit you keep putting off. Shrink it until it takes under two minutes, write it as "After I ..., I will ...", and tick a calendar every day for the next two weeks.

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Next: Self Growth Part 2: Focus despite your phone