Good Habit Triggers
Posted on October 13, 2011 by Cheryl Cope, One of Thousands of Christian Coaches on Noomii.
A good way to help yourself add in a new good habit---by using habit triggers.
Good Habit Triggers
Good habit triggers are things that you can use to “trigger” a new habit you want to start doing. They happen often enough on their own or almost automatically from you, to make a difference in starting your new habit.
Depending on how much time you spend driving and how often you want to do a particular habit, you could use stopping at a traffic light or stop sign as a habit trigger. What habit could you do and reinforce while stopped at a traffic light? Could you do kegels or other isometric muscle exercises? Could you pray for a particular person or issue? Could you thank or praise God in a particular way? What are the things that you could use a traffic light as a trigger for?
Waiting in line. What could you do while waiting in line to incorporate a good habit that you’ve been trying to add into your life? Could you do some discreet exercises like rising up and down on your toes? Could you intercede for those standing around you? Could you make a short important phone call?
Ideally the thing that you pick to do, is something that you can do every time that particular trigger happens in your life. If you can’t do it every time it loses its ability to be a good habit trigger.
Waiting for your food or right before you eat. What could you do at this time to add in a good habit? Do you need to add in the habit of giving thanks for your food? Could you remind yourself of God’s goodness or closeness? What are some things that you could do?
While on hold on the phone. Now that I’ve given you some ideas to get you started brainstorm some of your own ideas. What new habit could you incorporate into your life while on hold on the phone?
What are some other triggering events? It could be waking up in the morning, taking a shower, driving to work, making coffee, getting ready for bed—anything that recurs frequently. Now brainstorm some of your own triggering events and then corresponding habits.
Now that you have plenty of ideas, pick no more than two, to start to implement. Yes, that’s right, only two. If you try to add in too many new things at once none of them will truly become habits. Each new habit requires mental energy to get it established and we all have a limited amount of this mental energy. So just pick two and save your other ideas for a few weeks or few months down the road after your initial habits have been established.
