Since the beginning of the confinement you have surely tried to get into yoga, sports, better cooking or other activities. Have you maintained this habit?

The habit, whether good or bad, is defined by a way of behaving or acting acquired through learning and repetition, giving rise to automatisms. To build a habit, some people talk about 21 days, others about 66 days or more. In reality, even if these deadlines have some truth in them, a habit depends above all on its type (whether it is pleasant or not), on the action plan to integrate it and above all on regularity. In order to establish it, it is fundamental to base it on important pillars of trigger, routine and reward.

Setting up a trigger
The first way to develop a new habit is to anchor it to a trigger, to something you're already doing. It could be simply waking up, eating, showering. Normally, you wake up, eat and wash every day. Implanting a habit to a routine event that you are unlikely to change helps to reinforce its inking.

Associate the new habit with an existing one
This time it is no longer a question of associating the new habit with a fixed time of day, but with another habit already present. And if you enjoy it, it's even better. Sport, for example, is one of the most difficult reflexes to implement because it requires a lot of effort. To make anchoring easier, it can be useful to combine this new practice with music that you particularly like and that you listen to regularly. For cooking, you can try to start by preparing the food you are used to cooking. This will allow you to appreciate what you have prepared while at the same time allowing you to diversify and improve your talents. Also, if like many Belgians you are fond of coffee or tea, you can make time available to read a few pages of a book.

Set small goals and focus on one habit
Putting oneself into action is the act that requires the most effort, so one must start with voluntarily very low objectives. If you want to establish reading as a new habit, start by reading 5 pages a day or less and increase over time. The same applies to all other activities: start with 5 minutes of sport, meditation, yoga, very simple dishes, etc. Also, very important: if you want to start a new habit, be sure to start one at a time.

Minimize distractions
When doing your new routine, get as far away as possible from all possible distractions such as: social networks, emails, children, parents or friends. These elements are potentially "start-up frictions", disruptive.

Use habit tracking
In order to motivate you in your new habit, try to keep track of your progress. This can be done on a calendar or through a mobile application. Loop - Habits Tracking on Android and Productive - Task List on iOS.

Don't get discouraged and expect resistance.
If you forget, or you can't carry out your new habit one day, it doesn't matter. It won't affect your results if you don't give up. It's obvious that events in life will prevent you from performing your routine. The most important thing is to bounce back, stick with it and start over.

Also, expect resistance. The brain likes comfort and its habits already ingrained. Therefore, when faced with new habits, it will resist. So it's up to you to hold on and do whatever you think is right for you.