It is quite interesting to observe the absurdity and irrationality of human behaviour sometimes. One particular behaviour that comes to mind is the proclivity of human beings to concoct long lists of new habits and goals that are meant to be adopted and/or achieved in the new year, only for the same people to be caught up in the same self destructive patterns of being a few days later like some sort of ‘snap-back effect’ (as the famous surgeon Maxwell Maltz’ beautifully coined this phenomena in the ‘60s.). While this article may already sound it was written by a pompous, ‘holier-than-thou’ individual, I assure you that it is purely motivated by an individual whose life goal is to help others develop a coherent sense of self. This article will help you understand the psychology behind habits and bring forth the three foundational habits that every individual must have before attempting to attain any other long-term goals and/or habits.
Although it may sound obvious, I find it extremely helpful to break concepts down to the fundamentals as it aids in developing a clearer perspective. The first question one must ask oneself is, ‘what is a habit?’. New York Times Bestseller & author of The Power Of Habit, Charles Duhigg defines a habit as a behaviour that initially, starts as a choice and over-time morphs into an unconscious pattern. An important point put forward in this book is that all habits are essentially structured the same in what is called a Habit Loop. Simply put there is the trigger(cue), subsequently followed by the routine(Behaviour) and lastly the reward.
Now that we have understood what habits are and how they work, let us finally delve deep into the 3 habits I think are absolutely crucial to be developed to have a kick-ass 2021:
- READ
We live in a very superficial society. The advent of social media allows individuals to exhibit how ignorant they are. We have a choice between what self-help expert Robin Sharma explains as superficiality vs granularity. The term ‘superficiality’ connotes a lack of thoroughness while granularity is the opposite. Most people want to start a business, master a craft or change the world but very few understand the mindset needed to accomplish your dreams. Whatever craft or business you are trying to venture into, you need to absorb a gargantuan amount of information whether it be books, articles and or podcasts to advance yourself in your particular domain of interest. You need to understand that granularity triumphs over superficiality every time and allows you to dominate every time
- PUT YOURSELF IN UNCOMFORTABLE SITUATIONS AND DO NOT BE AFRAID TO TRY SOMETHING NEW
This habit is drawn from the Stoic 101 cookbook. People tend to undermine the value of putting yourself in difficult and novel situations. Stoicism is a school of thought with origins that trace back to the 3rd century BC. The stoics realised that hardships, mishaps and setbacks are but an opportunity for individuals to develop themselves and as the ancient philosopher Seneca puts it, ‘ fire is the test of gold, adversity, of strong men’. The stoics even go as far as to claim that true happiness is found in facing adversity
The well renowned psychologist Jordan Peterson explains in a podcast with Joe Rogan that novel situations induce a substrata of advantages most people are not even aware of. One advantage as he simply puts it, is that there is new evidence that points towards the fact that novel situations actually stimulates your genes to code for new proteins that build new neural structures. Pretty cool huh? This has serious implications as it means that not only do novel situations make us more informed but essentially we are unlocking more bits of our potential from the intracellular level up.
- Exercise
The mind and body are so intricately connected that the 19th century Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard states that , ‘a disorganisation in one shows itself in the other’ . Most people are aware on the benefits of exercise so and I will cover an important benefit that most people do not know of. The American Physician Alexander Lowen explains that exercise helps to shape character and helps one act with the natural aggression that life requires.
While there are numerous more habits, I could have set forth, these are the main habits I think will do wonders for those individuals who inculcate these habits this year.
