Simple Hacks for Students to Build Good Habits

You want to know why my can of candy that used to be filled to the brim with gummies is empty? It's because I kept this can in the car and I would eat the gummies at every red light.

Now they're all gone. 

In my Leadership Mastermind classes, my students have been practicing the executive leadership skill of goal-setting and habit-building. In this video, I share a few of my favorite hacks for building a good habit and breaking a bad one. Several of these are inspired by James Clear's book, Atomic Habits. He outlines four laws to build a good habit...

The Four Laws of Building a Good Habit

The first law is to make it obvious.

The second law is to make it attractive.

The third law is to make it easy.

The fourth law is to make it satisfying.

Habit-Stacking: Make It Obvious

One of my favorite ways to make a good habit obvious is called habit-stacking. The idea here is to link a new habit with an existing one. For example, after I push the start button on my coffee machine in the morning, I will do 20 push ups on my yoga mat. Or after I brush my teeth, I will write in my journal for 20 minutes. The idea is to use a habit that is already established to stack your new habit on top of it, or after it.

Another one of my favorite ways to make a good habit obvious is by optimizing your environment. That's what I did when I took my gummy candy container out of my car. By taking it out of my car, I optimized the environment in my car so that I would stop eating gummy bears at every red light. (Now this could be considered breaking a bad habit, but it's also creating a new, good habit.)

Another personal example of optimizing my environment is replacing my Diet Coke in the afternoon with sparkling water. By putting sparkling water in the fridge next to the Diet Coke, I at least give myself the option of forgoing the caffeine that I don't need to satisfy my craving for something fizzy in the afternoon. Not every time, but probably 80% of the time I'll choose the water over the soda.

Student Examples of Optimizing Your Environment

How can you, as students, optimize your environment? A student of mine has optimized his sleeping environment by putting his phone in another room so that he's not tempted to mindlessly scroll while he's supposed to be trying to go to sleep.

Another student of mine that I mentor has decided to put her iPhone on colorblind mode, which turns all the icons black and white to make it less tempting for her to click on the icons when she is trying to get her homework done.

Make It Attractive

How else can you create a new good habit? You can make it attractive, and one way you can make a new habit attractive is by pairing it with something that you already have to do.

Pair with Other Activities/Goals

For example, I am trying to create the habit of taking a walk around my neighborhood more consistently. Something that I already have to do is return phone calls, so I could pair those two habits: I could return that phone call while I am taking a walk around the neighborhood.

One of the students I mentor has set a spiritual goal for herself this semester to do a daily devotional. I asked her, "When can you do that devotional while you're doing something you already need to do?" She said she could use the audio feature on the Bible App (by YouVersion) to listen to a devotional while she's getting ready for school in the morning, instead of listening to music, which is what she usually listens to while she's getting ready for school. So similar to habit-stacking, you take something you're already doing and you use that to get yourself to do something else that you want to do.

Join a Community of Like-Minded People

Another great way to make a new habit attractive is by joining a culture, a community, an environment where your desired habit is actually the normal behavior in that environment. For example, for students who want a deeper relationship with God this year, one of the best ways that you can form that habit and reach that goal is to join a youth group or commit to going to church consistently. Why? Because in a youth group and at church, you find that it's actually normal to pray. It's normal to read the Bible. It's normal to talk about faith and to share about each other's personal walks with the Lord. So that's an example of how to be in an environment that normalizes the new habit that you want to build.

Make It Easy

The next way you can create a good new habit is to make it easy. This one is so important, and this is why James Clear's title of his book is Atomic Habits. "Atomic" means small, easy, and quick actions. He calls them tiny, "one-percent actions" that, over time, compound and will multiply into progress.

The 2-Minute Rule

To make an action easy, you can pick an action that can be done in less than two minutes (aka, The 2-Minute Rule). For example, if your goal is to deepen your relationship with God, ask yourself, "What habit can I build that can be done in less than two minutes, that if done consistently over time, will lead to a deeper relationship with God?" 

You could say a prayer in less than two minutes. You could read five verses in your Bible in less than two minutes. You could write one verse in your journal in less than two minutes. If you make it easy, you make it impossible to make an excuse to not do it, and you make failure almost impossible. THAT makes it super easy.

For me, I'm trying to get into better shape. I'm trying to overcome physical laziness. So what can I do in two minutes or less? I could get on my yoga mat and do 20 push-ups, sit-ups, or squats. Those are all easy and quick actions that are in the direction of my goals.

Master the Entry Point

Now, it's not possible to complete every habit it in under two minutes. What you want to think about is the entry point to that habit which can be done in under two minutes.

For example, it's not possible to take a walk around the neighborhood in less than two minutes. But what can be done in under two minutes to get yourself to take that walk is to put your walking shoes on. It's not possible to complete a homework assignment in less than two minutes. But you can build the habit of closing all your tabs and moving to the kitchen instead of staying in your bedroom. You can set yourself up for homework success in under two minutes. It's not possible to practice your instrument in less than two minutes. But what you can do in under two minutes is set up your music and your instrument and sit down. THAT is the habit--not practicing the instrument, but setting up the music and instrument and sitting down. That's the entry point that will set you up to go through the practice, to go through with the run, to go through with the homework assignment that you need to complete.

Reduce Friction

Another favorite strategy of mine to make building a new habit easy is to reduce friction. That means to reduce the number of steps between you and doing the habit. For me, that means leaving my yoga mat out in my office so that when I want to get down on the mat and do my sit-ups and push-ups and squats, it's already there. How can you reduce the number of steps to execute your desired action?

Use Automated Tools

Another favorite hack to make a new habit easy to build is to use automated tools to help you. My favorite one is the cell phone. My phone alarm is set to do my exercises, walk the dog, call parents back, and check in with my students. Those are all good habits that I'm trying to build on a consistent basis so that they become more normal to remember to do. I use my alarm to remind myself what to do throughout the day. When the phone alarm goes off, that's my trigger to execute what it is that I want to do.

I've heard of people literally writing down on a post-it note what their goals are for the day, taking a picture of it, and using that as the wallpaper on their cell phone, so that every time they look at their phone, they're reminded of their priorities for the day.

Make It Satisfying

The last way you can create a good habit is to make it satisfying. One of the best ways to do this is to find a friend who will hold you gently accountable and who will support you in your good habit. For example, my neighbor's friend drives over to her house every day, and they walk the neighborhood together - the exact same route every single day. That's one way my neighbor has found to make her daily exercise satisfying.

I've done this with friends. I bring a friend to meet up with me at a coffee shop so that we can get into the habit of sharing what is really going on in our lives. Self-care! I do love writing in my journal by myself, but I also benefit in different ways when I'm verbalizing what I'm learning, what I'm thinking about, what I'm praying about, to a friend, which makes self-reflection and self-care more satisfying.

What are some things that you can do to make your habit more satisfying?

Conclusion: Breaking Bad Habits

In closing, it might be obvious, but I think it's worth mentioning that if you're trying to break a bad habit, you simply do the opposite of what you would do to build a good habit. So if building a good habit means to make it obvious, make it easy, make it attractive, and make it satisfying, then breaking a bad habit means to make it invisible, to make it difficult, to make it unattractive, and to make it unsatisfying.

Those are some of my favorite habit hacks for building good habits and breaking bad ones. Remember, the key to success is consistency and making small changes over time. Don't try to overhaul your entire life in one day. Instead, focus on one habit at a time and use these strategies to make each one stick.

For more information about how students can work with Brenda throughout the school year, visit www.weleadthis.com. Subscribe to her YouTube Channel for free education about Christian Leadership Development for students :)