Is It Best To Learn One Thing At A Time

Many people, myself included, have multiple areas of life they would like to improve. For example, I would like to reach more people with my writing, to lift heavier weights at the gym, and to first practicing mindfulness more consistently. Those are just a few of the goals I observe desirable and you probably accept a long list yourself.

The problem is, fifty-fifty if nosotros are committed to working hard on our goals, our natural trend is to revert dorsum to our old habits at some point. Making a permanent lifestyle change is really difficult.

Recently, I've come across a few research studies that (just maybe) volition make these difficult lifestyle changes a picayune bit easier. As you'll encounter, however, the approach to mastering many areas of life is somewhat counterintuitive.

Too Many Good Intentions

If you desire to primary multiple habits and stick to them for good, so you need to figure out how to be consistent. How tin you exercise that?

Well, here is one of the most robust findings from psychology research on how to actually follow through on your goals:

Enquiry has shown that you are 2x to 3x more than likely to stick with your habits if you lot make a specific plan for when, where, and how you will perform the beliefs. For example, in ane study scientists asked people to fill out this judgement: "During the next week, I volition partake in at least 20 minutes of vigorous exercise on [24-hour interval] at [TIME OF Day] at/in [Identify]."

Researchers plant that people who filled out this sentence were 2x to 3x more probable to actually exercise compared to a control group who did not make plans for their future behavior. Psychologists call these specific plans "implementation intentions" because they state when, where, and how yous intend to implement a detail behavior.

This finding is well proven and has been repeated in hundreds studies beyond a broad range of areas. For instance, implementation intentions have been institute to increment the odds that people volition start exercising, begin recycling, stick with studying, and fifty-fifty stop smoking.

However (and this is crucial to understand) follow-up research has discovered implementation intentions only work when you focus on one thing at a fourth dimension. In fact, researchers plant that people who tried to accomplish multiple goals were less committed and less likely to succeed than those who focused on a single goal. 1

This is important, so permit me repeat: developing a specific plan for when, where, and how you will stick to a new habit will dramatically increase the odds that you will actually follow through, but simply if you focus on one thing.

One goal

What Happens When You Focus on One Matter

Hither is another science-based reason to focus on one thing at a time:

When you begin practicing a new habit it requires a lot of witting try to remember to do information technology. After awhile, however, the pattern of beliefs becomes easier. Eventually, your new habit becomes a normal routine and the process is more or less mindless and automatic.

Researchers have a fancy term for this process called "automaticity." Automaticity is the ability to perform a beliefs without thinking nearly each footstep, which allows the design to get automatic and habitual.

But here'southward the thing: automaticity merely occurs as the result of lots of repetition and practice. The more reps you put in, the more automated a behavior becomes.

For example, this chart shows how long it takes for people to make a habit out of taking a 10-minute walk later breakfast. In the beginning, the caste of automaticity is very depression. After thirty days, the habit is becoming fairly routine. After 60 days, the process is almost every bit automatic as information technology can become. 2

Habit automaticity for walking

The most important affair to annotation is that in that location is some "tipping signal" at which new habits become more than or less automatic. The time it takes to build a addiction depends on many factors including how hard the habit is, what your environment is like, your genetics, and more.

That said, the study cited above found the boilerplate addiction takes about 66 days to become automatic. (Don't put likewise much stock in that number. The range in the study was very wide and the simply reasonable conclusion you should make is that it volition take months for new habits to go sticky.)

If you lot want more than practical ideas for breaking bad habits and creating good habits, check out my grade The Habits Academy, apremier grooming platform for organizations and individuals that are interested in building improve habits in life and piece of work.

Change Your Life Without Changing Your Unabridged Life

Alright, let's review what I accept suggested to y'all so far and effigy out some practical takeaways.

You lot are 2x to 3x more probable to follow through with a addiction if you make a specific plan for when, where, and how you are going to implement it. This is known every bit an implementation intention.
You should focus entirely on one matter. Inquiry has plant that implementation intentions do not work if y'all try to improve multiple habits at the same time.
Inquiry has shown that whatever given habit becomes more automatic with more exercise. On average, information technology takes at least two months for new habits to get automatic behaviors.

This brings us to the punchline of this commodity…

The counterintuitive insight from all of this research is that the best way to change your entire life is past non changing your unabridged life. Instead, it is best to focus on i specific habit, work on it until you master it, and brand information technology an automatic part of your daily life. Then, repeat the process for the side by side habit. 3

The way to master more than things in the long-run is to but focus on one thing right now.