Habit Building System I Wish I Had Learned Sooner

What if you could stick to your habits in the  long run by using a few simple principles?  For most people, this sounds like a bit of a  pipe dream, but it is actually quite simple.  All you need to do is a little bit  of creativity plus a habit-building   system which I’m about to share with you. One of the main reasons why people never stick   to their habits is because they are using the  wrong system for building habits! You know what   I’m talking about, right? Those habits that didn’t  last even for a week, let alone for years! But if   you’re guilty of this, don’t worry; because you’re  not alone and a lot of people are doing this.  This video is not about Atomic  Habits or Tiny Habits! Rather,   It’s about a habit-building system that’s even  better than Atomic Habits and Tiny Habits!  And also, using this system, you can evaluate  your progress and you can calculate the   corresponding score for each period of time. This system has more than 4 steps. So,   make sure to do each step one after another. First of all, you should think of (up to) 3   most important habits you wanna build.  For example, suppose that those habits   are writing, reading and exercising. Now you should choose different   alternatives for each habit. But what do I mean  by “alternatives?” For example, going for a walk,   running, and doing core exercises can  be some alternatives for exercising.  Choosing different alternatives is  for flexibility purposes. For example,   suppose that you are a writer, and you chose your  habit as writing x number of words each day! But   what about those days when you have finished  your book, and now it’s time to edit?! So as   you can see, in those days, your priority is not  writing, rather it’s editing. That is to say,   the writing process involves a lot  more than just writing. So you see,   in order to be able to stick to your habit,  sometimes and for some habits, you need to define   different alternatives. This would give you more  opportunities to be consistent with your habits.
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After defining different alternatives, then for  each alliterative, you need to define 4 versions:   the “show up” version, the “easy” version,  “medium” version, and the “hard” version.   The purpose of the “show-up” version is to keep  your habit alive. Because if your habit survives,   then you can expand it later. And in our writing example,   for example, 50, 500 and 1500 can be good  choices for the easy, medium, and hard versions.  So, you should do the same process for each  alternative. I mean for each alternative,   you should define 4 versions which are  the “show up” version, the “easy” version,   “medium” version and the “hard” version. And now, maybe you ask how can we track our habits   using this system? I’m going to talk about the  best way to track your habits. But before that,   I should note 2 important things. First of all, for some habits,   you can have different alternatives. But  for some other habits, you can have only   one alternative, for example like reading. Secondly, maybe for some alternatives,   you don’t have the “easy” version, the “medium”  version, or the “hard” version. For example,   going to a gym. To my opinion, it doesn’t have  any “easy” version. Because going to a gym,   by itself is at least “medium”. So, now let’s talk about how to   track your progress and also how to calculate  the performance score of each period of time.   And these scores, not only help you to compare  your performance with other time periods,   but also, it makes the process more fun and  like a game, which is called gamification.  So for doing so, the first idea that may pop  into your mind is using different colors for   different versions. For example, “blue” for  the “show up” version and for example “red”   for the “hard” version and etc. But there is a  big problem with doing so. Because for example,   suppose that in the morning, you have done the  “show up” version and you have put, for example, a   blue X on your calendar or on your habit tracker.  But later in that day, you have done more of that   habit, so you need to change the color, which  it wouldn’t be easy. So, here’s my suggestion:  If you have shown up for that habit, put a red X  on your habit tracker. Then if you have done the   “easy” version, put one dot below the Big X. For  the “medium” version, put two dots, and finally,   put 3 dots below the Big X for the “hard” version. But let’s talk about the game-changing part of   this system which helps you to make the  process of building habits more fun.  So, here are the rules on  how to calculate your scores:  Rule #1: Each version has the following scores. “Show-Up” 1 point. “Easy” 2 points.   “Medium” 3 points. And “Hard” 4 points. Rule #2: If you show up every day without missing   any day in this 40-day period, you will get 40  points at the end of this Success Cycle Period!  This rule encourages you to at least  show up and keep your habit alive.
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Stephen Guise calls this system the  Elastic Habits. Although I have done   a lot of customizations, not a lot but I have done   some customizations in order to make  it better and present it in this video,   but Stephen Guise explains more about it  in his book which is called Elastic Habits. But if you have enjoyed this video,  I would really appreciate it,   if you tap the “like” button. Because it really  helps the channel with the YouTube Algorithm.  Now I really suggest you to watch  this video which is on the screen now.