How to develop a new, productive habit

When you find a pattern of mistakes, disrupting that pattern often involves making a new, more productive habit. For example, when I ran into trouble keeping all my tasks and meetings straight, I adopted the Getting Things Done method. It took a number of weeks till the method was ingrained in my daily routine.

Building a new habit isn't easy - we can slip up even if we know the habit is in our best interests. That's because building a habit - i.e., making something automatic - requires a lot of cognitive energy, something our brain actively tries to conserve. But it can be done. These tips came from a post on the Penguin Books blog by author Kelly McGonigal. She is the author of The Willpower Instinct. For more explanation, see the original post.

1. Choose a tiny habit - changing one small thing at a time is easier than trying to make a huge change all at once. 
2. "I will" power is stronger than "I won't" - focus on positive changes rather than negative ones.
3. Find your "want" power - reminding yourself why you are making this change will help you maintain your enthusiasm.
4. Expect resistance - part of you will question what you are doing; use that as fuel to continue, not as a reason to stop
5. Forgive your mistakes - you won't be perfect, and beating yourself up will only make it easier to give up on what you are trying to do.

I am reminding the folks trying 3Minute Journal that the journaling habit will also take time, and that these lessons may help.