Stick with It

Breaking habits and achieving goals isn’t about willpower alone – it’s about understanding how your mind works and setting it up for success.

1. Break Big Dreams into Small Steps

Achieving goals becomes manageable when you divide them into steps, goals, and dreams. The human brain thrives on achieving small milestones, which release dopamine and boost motivation. Tackling smaller, short-term objectives creates a sense of progress and satisfaction.

For example, instead of aiming to lose 20 pounds, focus on cutting junk food this week or walking every day. Studies show short-term goals lead to better results. A 2012 study on weight loss demonstrated that focusing on daily dietary goals outperformed aiming for an ambitious monthly target.

Breaking tasks into three categories—steps, goals, and dreams—helps you stay on track. If you aim to write a book, start with a step like drafting an outline. Weekly goals might involve writing a set number of words, eventually leading to completing chapters over months.

Examples

• Weight loss efforts improved with daily calorie tracking.
• Writing goals become achievable by focusing on consistent word count.
• Language learning progresses with practices like daily vocab drills.

2. Find a Supportive Community

Surround yourself with like-minded individuals to make your goals stick. Being part of a community provides encouragement, accountability, and a safe space to overcome challenges. Groups like Weight Watchers and Alcoholics Anonymous show the power of shared goals.

Social support works even in virtual spaces. For example, HOPE, an online forum for HIV testing, proved effective by offering anonymity and group encouragement. Participants had higher testing rates and ongoing engagements, showing how camaraderie impacts behavior.

Social connections are more than helpful; they are a basic human need. Positive interactions release dopamine and create a sense of warmth, tying your goals to emotional well-being.

Examples

• CrossFit gyms see better attendance due to their strong social ties.
• HOPE forum members were twice as likely to act on health advice.
• Sharing progress with friends can push you to complete fitness routines.

3. Leverage Human Nature

Human instincts like the need for connection and health can be powerful motivators. Linking goals to physical or social well-being triggers stronger responses. For instance, understanding personal risks can help behaviors change faster.

Psychologist Hal Hershfield’s work on retirement savings highlights this. When people saw aged photos of themselves, they contributed more to savings—simply because they empathized with their future selves. Personalizing goals makes them feel urgent and real.

Similarly, habits tied to survival, like quitting smoking to protect your lungs, work better when the threat feels tangible rather than vague warnings.

Examples

• Smokers respond better to clear visual evidence of lung damage.
• Retirement savings grew when future self-images were shown.
• Social rejections activate the same pain centers as physical harm.

4. Shape Your Environment for Success

Adjust your surroundings to align with your goals. The simplest changes—like removing junk food or clearing tobacco from your house—reduce temptations and make sticking to habits easier.

In a smoking cessation study, participants who removed cigarettes from their homes achieved higher quitting rates than those who didn’t. Setting up your environment for success eliminates unnecessary challenges.

Similarly, creating action plans with detailed steps helps you stay aligned. When Yale University provided road maps to clinic locations, more people got tetanus shots compared to when only general health information was given.

Examples

• Smokers quit more often when tobacco isn’t within reach.
• Road maps boosted public health participation in Yale research.
• A clutter-free, focused desk improves productivity for writing goals.

5. Harness Neurohacks to Change Behavior

A neurohack changes your thoughts and behaviors through simple yet impactful actions. For instance, holding a pencil in your teeth mimics smiling, which can lift your mood. Behavioral neurohacks influence how you think by confronting fears directly.

A 1982 study on socially anxious men asked them to chat with women for just 12 minutes. This broke their assumptions about rejection and improved confidence beyond the experiment. Confronting discomfort head-on is a game-changer.

Another method involves reinforcing identity through language. Label yourself with the identity you’re adopting, like “I’m a non-smoker” or “I’m a musician,” to strengthen commitment to your new habits.

Examples

• A pencil trick can trick your mind into feeling joy.
• Socially anxious individuals improved confidence with brief exposure therapy.
• Voters engaged more when identifying as "voters" instead of "voting."

6. Focus on Positive Motivation Over Fear

Rewards and positive reinforcement work better than fear tactics for long-term change. For example, Colorado prisons using behavior incentives saw remarkable improvements in prisoner cooperation and rehabilitation.

Fear, while effective initially, often leads to avoidance or panic. Public health campaigns, like those on safe sex, failed when focusing on fear, as many ignored the message due to overwhelming anxiety.

Goals should feel rewarding even without external prizes. Research shows that employees motivated by goal-setting outperformed those motivated by one-time financial rewards.

Examples

• Colorado prisons reduced rule violations with simple rewards.
• Safe sex campaigns highlighting fear led to counterproductive results.
• Employees stayed productive longer when goals felt personally rewarding.

7. Replace, Don’t Resist, Bad Habits

Habits are ingrained routines. The best way to overcome bad ones is by replacing them with good habits. Meditation, for instance, is an excellent replacement for anxiety-driven habits such as smoking.

David George, an Iraqi war veteran, reduced PTSD symptoms not through therapy or pills but by daily meditation. Repetition creates new mental pathways and makes habits effortless over time.

You can use positive repetitions to shift behavior. Overeating can be swapped for structured meal prepping, while frequent junk food snacking can be replaced by fresh fruits placed nearby.

Examples

• Meditation provided PTSD relief for a war veteran.
• Meal planning helps curb impulsive eating habits.
• Replacing screen time with regular reading fosters learning.

8. Recognize Your Behavior Triggers

Unwanted habits often fall into automatic, burning, and common behaviors. Automatic actions, like mindless snacking, run on autopilot. Burning ones involve compulsions, such as phone addiction. Common ones are conscious decisions, like skipping exercise.

Solutions vary by type. For automation, remove triggers and introduce alternatives—like gum for nail biters. For burning impulses, limit environmental distractions, such as keeping the phone away. Common behaviors improve with supportive accountability groups.

Examples

• Gum chewing curbed nail-biting habits.
• Turning off phones during meals reduced compulsive checking.
• Workout partners helped consistency in neglected fitness goals.

9. Celebrate the Process, Not Just Results

Derivative rewards wear off, but intrinsic satisfaction leaves lasting motivation. Completing goals should feel meaningful beyond any external prize. Achieving goals like finishing a marathon often inspires deeper personal pride over fleeting material rewards.

Studies on workplace motivation show that training and meaningful achievement drive long-term job performance better than bonuses or monetary milestones.

So connect your goals to personal growth and fulfillment to stay driven. Treat them as victories, not just stepping stones for rewards.

Examples

• Marathon runners report feeling more inspired by the experience than medals.
• Employees excelled with meaningful goals over monetary rewards.
• Hobbyists often value creating art as more motivating than selling it.

Takeaways

1. Divide your aspirations into steps, weekly goals, and long-term plans to make them achievable.
2. Join or create a community that supports your goals and offers accountability.
3. Tweak your environment to eliminate obstacles and replace bad habits with healthier alternatives.