The average person makes over 30,000 decisions every day. It’s exhausting just thinking about it. It’s no wonder we get overwhelmed, stuck in decision paralysis, find it difficult to move forward and keep putting things off until tomorrow. With so many decisions, something has to give. Usually, it’s the thing that feels too big or too difficult. How often do you default to the easy task? Or the quick task?
The more decisions we can make automatically, the more energy we free up for new decisions, or more difficult decisions. Over the last few months, I’ve started eating two breakfasts. Porridge when I’m working from home, overnight oats when I’m not. There’s very little difference between the two, other than one’s hot and one’s cold. But I never think about breakfast. That decision was already made months ago.
Studying habits and coaching people to build habits that work with their life has led me to believe that they are the solution to many people’s inaction and overwhelm. The trick is in the steps you take; they need to be small and that’s where most people I’ve worked with go wrong. Small is tiny, less than two minutes.
The problem is that this feels inconsequential. People don’t believe it will work. And yet, it does. Once you’ve got the small step, the next thing is to pair it with something you already do each day. This can take a bit of creative thinking because they are automatic, so you don’t think about doing them. That’s the point. The existing habit or task acts as your prompt for your new habit. You do your existing habit, then your new one.
‘After I [X], I will [Y]’. This formula where X is your existing habit and Y is your new habit, takes pretty much everything you’ve read about habits and puts it into one actionable sentence.
For 15 years and more I was a stop-start runner. More stops than starts, if I’m honest. Then I removed the decision of whether I was going to run and started running every day. And I run early, first thing before I do anything else. No decisions required. After I get up, I will go for a run.
What decisions could you make once and then repeat on autopilot each day? And what would you do with that energy?
I work with people who keep putting things off until tomorrow, people who are overwhelmed with decision fatigue, stuck with their goals, not moving forward. We look at their life, and we spot patterns and opportunities to create habits. Then, we use behaviour design to build the habit.
I’m running a workshop in Glasgow on 24 March, 1000-1300 where I’ll show you how to identify places in your life where some well-constructed habits can help you and how to build them in a way that sticks. Come with something you’re stuck with and leave with a realistic plan that’s unique to you.
Limited spaces. Book your place now: https://app.forumm.to/event/313166cc-82ed-4310-8285-29fe6cbdffe2
