And tips on how you can make habits stick next time.
Reason 1: Just too Big
You made your chosen habit way too big. It sounded good initially, but then you started to feel the resistance (see reason 3). It's hard to keep up big habits, so we start to rationalise and tell all kinds of lies to stop it or not even start it.
Reason 2: Relying on Motivation
You were super motivated when you wanted to start a new habit, but when you started doing it, you had motivation problems and stopped. The problem here is motivation itself. Motivation isn't something we can rely on. It comes and goes. Motivation is also formed by external factors, such as weather, music etc. Not a good idea to rely on it. Use willpower. This is an internal force and can be strengthened like a muscle.
Reason 3: Too much Resistance
The chosen habit has too many resistance points. Let's say you want to implement swimming as a habit. If you have to get to a place first that takes you 30 minutes, it's harder to keep it up, as if you have a swimming place in front of your home.
Choose a habit that has low resistance to do.
Tips to strengthen your willpower with small habits:
Choose only one thing you want to make a habit.
Make it as small as possible.
Then do it every single day (don't break your run streak).
Track your run streak on paper somewhere you see it.
Note: You are always allowed to do more than your minimum daily goal, but you are not allowed to skip days. So be sure to make it small, so it's impossible to skip. For me, it's 10 minutes of running every day, and I'm on 1400+ days, still counting. You can start with small habits too.
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