“First we make our habits, then our habits make us.” - Charles C. Noble
It’s such a simple concept, yet it’s something we don’t always do. It’s not exceedingly difficult to do, and yet I think it’s something that would make a world of difference in anyone’s life.
Break your goals into habits, and focus on putting those habits into autopilot.
Last week when I wrote my Ultimate Guide to Motivation, there were a number of questions about my belief that having One Goal to focus on is much more powerful than having many goals. There were questions about my personal goals (such as running a marathon, eliminating debt, and so on) and how I was able to achieve them while working on different projects, and so forth. How can you have one goal that takes a long time, and still work on smaller projects at the same time?
These are excellent questions, and my answer takes a little explaining: I try to turn my goals into habits, and in doing so, I put my goals on autopilot. Turning a goal into a habit means really focusing on it, intensely, for at least a month, to the exclusion of all else. The more you can focus on it, the more it’ll be on autopilot.
But once you put it on autopilot, once a habit is firmly established, you don’t really have to focus on it much. You’ll still do it, but because it’s a habit, you only have to use minimal focus to maintain that habit. The goal becomes on autopilot, and you can focus on your next goal or project or habit.
My Marathon Example
Let’s look at my marathon goal as an example. I was just starting out in running, and I had the brilliant idea to run a marathon within a year. (Btw, that’s not the brightest idea — you should run for a couple years before attempting marathon training, or it’ll be much, much more difficult for you.) So that was my goal, and it was my main focus for awhile.
But in order to achieve that goal, I broke it down into two habits:
- I had to make running a daily habit (while following a training plan I found online).
- I had to report to people in order to have accountability — I did this through family, friends and coworkers, through a blog, and through a column in my local newspaper every two weeks. With this accountability, there’s no way I would stop running.
The daily running habit took about a month to form. I focused on this exclusively for about a month, and didn’t have any other goals, projects or habits that were my main focuses. I did other work projects, but they kinda took a backburner to running.
The accountability habit took a couple months, mainly because I didn’t focus on it too much while I was building the running habit. But it stuck, and for that first year of running, I would report to people I knew and blog about my running every day (this was in Blogger blog that has since been deleted), and I would write a column every two weeks for my local paper.
Once those two habits were firmly entrenched, my marathon goal was pretty much on autopilot. I could focus on my debt reduction goal (as an example) without having to worry too much about the marathon. I still had to do the work, of course, but it didn’t require constant focus.
And eventually, I ran the marathon. I was able to achieve this because, all year long, I had the daily running habit and daily accountability habit. I put my marathon goal into autopilot, and that made it much easier — instead of struggling with it daily for an entire year, I focused on it for one month (well, actually two) and was able to accomplish it while focusing on new habits and goals.
“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” - Jim Ryun
Other Applications
This works for many other types of goals, of course. For example:
- Debt reduction: I turned this goal into a few different habits, including creating a monthly spending plan, learning to stick to the spending plan, and making automatic debt and savings payments. Once these habits were on autopilot, debt elimination was a sure bet.
- Weight loss: The daily exercise habit was an important first step. Then I got into healthier eating habits, one at a time. Recently I added the habit of tracking my calories, and that’s helped a lot.
- Writing a book: This was simply setting a time to write, and making myself write during that time, no matter what. Once you have that habit, the book will come.
- Getting organized: This is three main habits — designating a spot for everything I own, putting things in their designated spots immediately, and doing a daily processing of your inbox(es).
As you can see, just about any goal can be turned into habits if you think it through. Let’s look more into how to do that.
How to Turn A Goal Into Habits
It’s a pretty simple process, but let’s go over it step-by-step:
- You goal should be written out very clearly. The better you can visualize your goal, the easier this will be.
- Think about the steps needed to get to your goal. There may be many.
- Can the goal be accomplished with a series (2-4) of daily or weekly actions? For example, to save money, you will need to make a savings deposit every payday, before you pay your bills. Through that regular action, the goal will eventually be accomplished. Figure this out, and that’s your habit or series of habits.
- Figure out the amount of the habit will need to be done to get you to your goal by your timeline. By “amount”, I mean that you have to figure out quantity times frequency to get your desired result. For example, I can run every single day but not be prepared to run a marathon if I don’t do enough miles or long runs. So if I’m going to run every day, I have to also know how far (and any other things such as different workouts on different days). If I’m going to have a savings deposit every week, I need to know how much is necessary for each deposit in order to reach my goal. Figure out this “amount” for your habit and make a schedule.
- Focus on the first habit for at least one month, to the exclusion of all else. Don’t worry about the other two habits (for example) while you’re trying to form the first habit. For more on forming habits, this article is good place to start.
- If more than one habit is necessary, start on the second habit after a month or so, then on the third, and so on, focusing on one habit at a time until each is firmly ingrained.
- After all the necessary habits are ingrained, your goal is on autopilot. You will still need to focus on them somewhat, but to a lesser extent. If any of the habit gets derailed, you’ll have to focus on that habit again for one month.
- After you’re on autopilot, you can focus on a new goal and set of habits.
“Habits are at first cobwebs, then cables.” - Spanish proverb
译文:
自动驾驶仪：怎样把你的目标变成习惯
“首先我们养成习惯，习惯再改变我们。”- Charles C. Noble
这虽然是个简单的概念，但是我们仍然无法经常做到。它不是那么的特别地难做到，我认为它对我们每个人的生活都关系重大。
把你的目标变成习惯，集中于把那些习惯变成自动驾驶仪。
上周我在写“动机的基本指南”一书时，我脑海里出现了关于我相信的集中于一个目标比有许多目标要有效得多的一系列的问题。有许多问题是关于我的个人目标的（比如跑马拉松，还清债务，等等）。我怎么能在忙于不同的目标的同时完成它们等。你怎么能在忙于一些小目标的同时怀着一个需要那么常时间完成的目标？
这些问题都非常好，我的答案可以作出一些解释：我试图把我的目标变成习惯，为了达到这目标，我把我的目标变成自动驾驶仪。把目标变成习惯意味着真正的集中精神，一心一意的至少一个月的投入，排斥其他所有的一切。你关注投入得越多，它就越能接近于自动驾驶仪。
但是一旦它成了自动驾驶仪，一旦牢牢的形成了习惯，就不需要过于多的关注它。你仍然要努力，因为它已是一个习惯，但是你只需花较少的精力去维持这个习惯。目标变成了自动驾驶仪，你就可以关注于你的下一个目标或者工作项目或者习惯。
以我的马拉松为例
我们来以我的马拉松目标为例。在我刚开始跑的时候，我想了这样一个在一年之内跑完马拉松的好主意。（但是直到现在，我发现那不是个好主意-当你参加马拉松训练时你必须先跑好几年，可能这对于你来说会是非常的困难。）这就是我当时的目标，是我那个时段的主要目标。
但是为了完成那个目标，我把它分解成2个习惯：
我必须把跑步变成每天的一个习惯（与此同时，要按照我在网上找到的一个训练计划进行。）
为了尽责任我必须向人们汇报-我通过家人，朋友，同事，通过博客，还通过我两周一次的当地报刊的专栏向大家汇报。有了这份责任，我没有停止跑步的理由。
我需要大约1个月的时间形成每天跑步的习惯。1个月内我专门集中的关注于这个目标，没有别的任何目标，项目或者习惯来集中于。我也做别的工作项目，但是它们跟我跑步一点关系也没有。
这个义务习惯花了我几个月的时间，主要是因为在我建立这个跑步习惯时我没有全身心的投入。但是出了点问题，在第一年跑马拉松的的时候我会向人们报道我知道的，在博客上写骂我每天跑的事情（这在部落博客上报道已经被删除了），同时我也会在我的每两周一次的当地报纸的专栏上写下我跑的事情。
一旦我的2个习惯已经形成了，我的马拉松目标也就非常的接近自动驾驶仪了。我能集中关注削减我的债务目标（作为一个例子）而不用担心我的马拉松。当然我仍然需要工作，但是我不用一直的集中关注。
终于，我参加了马拉松。我有能力达到这个目标，因为一整年我天天都在保持着跑的习惯，养成责任跑的习惯。我把马拉松变成自动驾驶仪，这使它变得更加容易-我集中1个月关注（事实上2个月）投入，有能力在集中于新习惯和目标的同时完成它而不是一整年的日常辛苦奋斗。
“动机是你行动的源泉。习惯是维持它前进的动力。” - Jim Ryun
其余的应用
当然这在别的形式的目标也能有效。比如：
削减债务：我把这一目标变成许多不同的习惯，包括列一个月支出计划，学着坚守这个支出计划，做个自动债务和储蓄计划。一旦这些习惯变成了自动驾驶仪，债务的削减就是必然的结果了。
减肥：第一个重要的步骤就是养成每天锻炼的习惯。接着养成健康饮食的习惯，一餐一次。一旦你养成习惯，就胜利在望了。
有序的组织安排：这是3个只要的习惯-为我所拥有的东西制定个特定的地方，马上把这些东西放在特定的场所，每日清楚你的收件箱。
由此所见，你只要一直想着你的目标你就可以把任何目标变成习惯。让我们来看看更多的关于怎样做到它的吧。
怎样把一个目标变成习惯
这是个非常简单的步骤，但是我们还是一步一步的来看：
你的目标必须非常清楚的写出来。你的目标越能形象化，那么你就越能实现它。想象那些能实你目标完成步骤。可能会有许多。
这个目标能在一系列的（2-4）日或周行动中完成吗？例如，为了节约钱，你可能需要有个日常开支计划，在理付款前，通过这一行为，你的目标就有可能最终的完成。要弄清楚原因，这就是你的习惯或者系列的习惯所铸成的。弄清楚你需要在时间轴内完成的目标的特定习惯。说“定量”，我是说完成目标所需的定量时间。比如，如果我没有跑足够的公里或者参加长跑我就不能准备马拉松了而稚嫩每天小跑一下了。因此如果我每天都要跑，我必须知道路程有多远（就比如说别的如不同天的不同健身计划）。如果我要存款，我就必须知道为达成目标每次存多少是必要的。弄清晨达成你目标的定量，做一个计划。
至少得花1个月的时间集中于你的第一个习惯，别的一切都除外。当你试图形成你的第一个习惯时，不用担心别的两个习惯（比如）。要形成习惯，这篇文章是最好的出发点。
如果不止一个习惯是必要的，那么过了大约一个月你就可以开始你的第二个习惯了。接着第三个，等等，一次关注于一个习惯直到每一个习惯牢牢的扎根在你的心里。
当所有的必要习惯都已深深扎根在你心里以后，你的目标就已经接近于自动驾驶仪了。你需要关注它们几分，但是程度要浅些。如果你的任何习惯出轨了，你不得不重新花1个月的时间关注它。
当你已经达到了自动驾驶仪，你可以关注于新目标，建立新习惯。
“习惯开始很乱，但是接着就顺理成章了。”-西班牙俗语。