How to FINALLY keep a New Year’s fitness resolution

By 1st February, gyms are empty, and resolutions are forgotten. Why? Because most of us treat change like a sprint when it’s actually a design problem. A design of our habits and rituals.

What we want to do and what we find ourselves doing, through habitual behaviours, are often two separate things. This is where a focused attempt to make and break habits can have a profound effect on our lives.

But what is a habit? How can you successfully make and keep one?

What is a habit?

A habit is essentially a mental shortcut. It’s a behaviour that has been repeated enough times to become automatic. You do this to save time and energy, turning conscious choices into programmed decisions that can be done. These habits are built by exposing ourselves to rewards for our behaviours, whether that be physical or emotional rewards, resulting in that behaviour being repeated. This cycle continues until it becomes a mindless task that we do without realising, like clicking tongs together when you pick them up or turning on the TV when you sit on the sofa. While some habits appear to be so simple and mindless, actively creating a new habit can be difficult, faced with the obstacles of your prior habits and rituals.

Why are habits so hard to keep?

With any new habits, they only stick if they provide immediate satisfaction. It needs to be something that you feel rewarded by. Likewise, if there is no reward or a negative outcome, you will not want to repeat the behaviour. For example, you touch a hot pan and burn yourself, which creates a pain response. You are therefore unlikely to repeat that behaviour, as in the moment, but also in the long term, it gave you no reward. 

If we apply that logic to exercise, a lack of exercise habits is due to a lack of rewards. If there is no feeling of improvement or enjoyment, then it will not be an activity that anyone will want to come back to. 

Humans also love to follow the “all or nothing” rule, whereby they are either all in or not at all. This is commonly how people create their exercise resolutions, whereby they commit to more time than they have available, as they feel that is what is required to see any results, and subsequently feel like the time committed is not being immediately rewarded with the results desired. People who don’t commit to exercise haven’t found pleasure or reward in the method they have chosen. To effectively create a habit, especially with exercise, you must find the enjoyment and reward.

How to form a successful habit

We now understand that behaviours must have a reward to be repeated. Now, we look into how to form this into a habit that can last. This can be understood in two ways: how habits are formed, and how to build and maintain a habit.

How habits are formed

James Clear, the author of the bestselling book “Atomic Habits”, helped develop the practical framework for creating a successful habit. This involves four elements:

Cue: A distinct moment that triggers a behaviour

Example: You sit on the sofa

Craving: The motivational force behind every habit

Example: Your desire to be entertained

Response: The subsequent behaviour that happens

Example: You turn on the TV

Reward: The positive feeling that the behaviour brings

Example: You are now being entertained

How to build and maintain a habit

The habit creation framework is an excellent way of understanding how a habit can be formed. However, you need to apply it correctly to maintain the habit.

The key is to start small. Make the habit (or response) so easy and accessible that on your least motivated day, you will still complete it. This is why resolutions typically fail, as your motivation on the 1st January doesn't reflect how you feel in the remainder of that month, let alone the year.

Let's apply this to exercise. Rather than committing to doing a few hours a week, start with 5 minutes of anything that you enjoy doing. Take walking, for example. Incorporate this with something you enjoy, such as listening to new music or a podcast. Even better, try doing it with someone else. Anything to make you come away from the activity and think to yourself, “huh… that was kind of fun”. 

To build on this habit, again, start small. Small changes will compound over time and feel digestible. Big changes feel drastic and may push you too far beyond what is sustainable. Building this habit at a pace you can sustain is key to creating a successful one. Applying this to our previous example, once you have done 5 minutes, maybe try 10 minutes, but not 30 minutes. Remember, make the change manageable.

This graphic below shows what a 1% change each day results in over time, both in a way that will work for you, but also against you. 

Practical example of forming an exercise habit

So, now you understand how a habit can be formed, let's apply this to how to form an exercise habit. For this, we will use our previous example of walking; however, you may think of your own example.

Cue: The cue needs to be obvious. Make your cue for exercising something you already do (known as ‘habit stacking’). For example, every day, once you have poured your coffee, you will take it with you for a 5-minute walk. You have associated your desired behaviour with a very obvious, clear cue, the pouring of the coffee. 

Craving: The craving needs to be attractive. You need to associate it with something you enjoy doing. In this case, you will only listen to your favourite podcast while out on a walk. Therefore, your new behaviour is helping you fulfil your craving.

Response: Your response needs to be easy. The act of going for a walk needs to be without friction. Put your shoes by the door. Have an umbrella and a coat to hand in case it rains. If you leave all your items spread across the house, in the back of cupboards, hidden away, it makes it far too easy to stop responding to the cue and craving. 

Reward: Make sure you have something you feel rewarded by. Maybe it's the fresh air that gives you a mood boost. Maybe track your habits on a calendar, giving a big tick on every day that you complete it. Something that will make you come to the end of it feeling good and keen to repeat it.

Progression: Progression should be working you towards your goal. Let's assume you want to be more active, and this is your start.

Once the walk becomes a habit, why not increase the distance? Then, why not change your route so you walk to the gym and back? When you go, have a look to see if they have any classes on. Once you have got into the habit of walking to the gym, look into signing up to one of the classes, so one time per week, you walk to the gym to do a class. Once this becomes a habit and is solidified in your routine, maybe try twice per week, with a different class. You can see how, over time, this short act of walking for 5-minutes has built into a strong exercise habit that is embedded in your routine.

While this exact example may not be suited to you and your goals, it is clear to see that by starting small and having clear cues and rewards, exercise habits can progress to form something that exists beyond January. 

If you want to learn more about how to build and maintain a habit, I would thoroughly recommend reading the aforementioned book “Atomic Habits” for a more in-depth understanding of how to create and maintain habits that last.