When you think of the word “habit,” I’ll bet you instantly think of something bad for you. Smoking, drug use, and binge eating may come to mind.
What about good habits? Things like regular exercise, saying “please” and “thank you,” and brushing your teeth? There are many lists of good habits online, and these lists can make us smile and say, “Well, of course I should do all these things.”
Knowing we should do these things and actually doing them are two pretty unrelated realities! And, these lists lead to an obvious question: What’s the best way to build good habits?
Turns out that this is a huge research topic with plenty of written information and advice. Here are a few resources to check out to learn more about what current science tells us about building good habits:
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. This is an informative and entertaining read on the subject. I highly recommend it!
The Habits Academy: James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, has a training course on building good habits.
“How to Crush Your Habits in the New Year With the Help of Science” was a Smarter Living article in the New York Times right around New Year’s of this year which offers a good overview of various ideas on building good habits plus links to resources.
Wouldn’t it be great if everyone in our society built good habits instead of dangerous ones? We could transform the world! My hope is that every person decides on a meaningful goal for their life and then builds strong, daily habits to work toward achieving that goal.
