I think this is a really important [topic] because lots of smart people do themselves a disservice by not building up

Good habits always hear people say that another person is lucky because they were born smart, but I don't believe that's true [in]

University the differences in grades simply come down to who has the best study habits

The steps I'm going to outline in this video

Will actually help with changing any sort of habit, but I'm going to talk [about] everything in the context of school

Let's start by talking a bit about habits in general our habits essentially make us who [we] are so we have to choose them wisely

what we do every [day] will ultimately define whom we become

That's why it shouldn't come as a surprise [that] someone who studies and invest themselves in science every day will become a good scientist

Likewise a good writer will write every day the thing is habits take time and effort to change

Studies show [that] we actually have a limited amount of willpower when we make too many choices in a day

We actually exhaust our willpower, and this is known as ego depletion

For example consider someone who has been resisting the temptation to eat junk food all day as a result. They are diminishing their willpower

According to the theory of ego depletion if this person was to tackle a [difficult] problem

[they'll] likely give up faster than someone who was not resisting [that] same temptation all day this idea really highlights the importance of habits

Habits are automatic behaviors that we don't really need to [think] about and because of that we exhaust less willpower in the day

Now I'll outline some simple steps for building good habits the first step is planning

We need to carve out time in our schedules and really pinpoint a concrete place for the habit

According to a study published in the European [journal] of Social psychology

Habits are best implemented alongside cues for example after dinner. I'll read for 30 minutes or after breakfast

I'll go for a 30 minute walk the basic structure is if x happens I will do y a

Common example that most of us already follow is when I wake up. I'll brush my teeth

the study found that the level of automaticity which is how automatic in action feels rose asymptotically as

Participants continually perform the action there are two main implications of this

This means that the first few days two months of building a habit are the most important

During that time you really don't want to break the chain because even one day makes a huge impact on how

automatic a certain action or behavior feels

Secondly it also means that the more you perform an action the less willpower will be required to perform it again

This means that the more you do an action the easier

It is to keep doing it and the harder

It [is] to break it

This can be [a] good thing if the habits you create are good for us and a bad thing if the habits we create are

bad for us

It was also shown [that] the amount of time to form a habit

Varied for each individual although the median time to form a habit was 66 days

Individual times fell between 18 days and 254 days this is because complex habits take longer to Form than simple habits

for most participants

Missing a day of performing the habit after the first few months did not negatively contribute to forming the habit

However, other studies suggested that taking breaks as long as a week maybe something like winter break or spring break do negatively contribute

to the formation of a habit I've

Included the study in the description for those who are interested in reading it the next step is monitoring

In order to determine if a habit is changing for the better [or] for the worse

You need to have objective measurements that help us gauge our progress

We have to quantify the habit for example if we want to lose weight

We should be tracking the amount of calories. We eat and the amount of exercise we perform studies have shown [that]

[there's] a significant correlation between

Self-monitoring weight loss and exercise frequency I can say from our own personal experience that it doesn't just stop [at] exercise

Once we know the numbers associated with a habit. We can take small steps to improve them in the directions. We want

For students who want to have better study habits they may want to consider the pomodoro technique?

Which I briefly talked about in my [six] time management tips video

Pomodoro's [helped] quantify the amount of studying a student does day

Once you have this information. You can take educated steps to achieving the results you want for example

Let's consider a student who studies for palma doors a day which are each 30 minutes long

that means this student studies [2] hours total in a day if

The field that they aren't studying enough and want to build a habit of studying longer they can slowly increase their time

They can add one pomodoro or one 30-minute studying block for the first week or month

Bringing their total study time to 2 and a half hours. This is a small and manageable change

After the first week or month they can add another pomodoro

They can repeat this [cycle] until they are studying as long as they feel is a good amount of time in

Gretchen Rubens book better than before she dedicates a whole chapter towards monitoring based off her findings

She claims that accurate monitoring helps determine whether a habit is worth the time money or energy it consumes

I would also add [that] it helped us make educated small and manageable changes to improve our habits

The next step is convenience the easier is to do something the more likely we are to do it

That's why it's important to make any habit that we want to keep as convenient as [possible] in

Rubens book she finds out her sister Elizabeth uses Jenny Craig to lose weight

when she discussed it with her sister elizabeth said that was convenience that made it easy to stick to the diet if

You're not familiar with Jenny Craig

It's a dieting program in which all the meals are prepackaged for you

And all you have to do is warm up the food

The reason it's so successful is because it creates a lot of convenience for dieting

The same Rule applies to any other habit. We want to keep in order to make going to the gym easier

I pack my workout bag before I go to sleep and leave it by the front door on

My way to school the next morning

I grab the bag throw it in my back seat, and then hit the gym on the way home from school

during stressful times like exams

I find it easier to eat healthy when I cook my food in bulk

And then store leftovers in the fridge to eat the next day this way

I don't have to worry about cooking every day and can focus on studying here are some quick convenience ideas

Want to be more social but busy with school make a study group or join a club on campus

Want to study more but distracted by technology like Netflix video games Etc

disconnect all the relevant technology and give it to someone [to] hide from you make it more convenient to study and

Inconvenient [or] [you] define and set up the technology?

Want to read more?

But can't find the time use audiobooks and listen while you're brushing your teeth or driving to school or work

The last step is smart rewarding before reading rubens book I was under the assumption that rewards helped Create strong habits

for example

I would say something like I've been eating healthy all week

So I deserve this cheap meal according to Rubens findings

and I quote this type [of] reward teaches me that I wouldn't do a

Particular activity for its own sake but [only] to earn the reward

Therefore I learned to associate the activity with an imposition a deprivation or a suffering

The solution to this is [to] find a reward within the habit itself

It would be better for me to say something like I've been working out consistently for a year

I'm going to spend money on creating my own custom home gym. That's a pretty expensive reward, but it gets the idea across

the Reward reinforces the habit

Ideally a home gym would help me work out even [more] another example would be I have an attending class [and] taking good notes

So religiously [I'm] going to invest into an iPad or Microsoft surface so I can continue to do that easier again the reward

reinforces the Habit and

There you have it a simple starter's guide to creating good habits

We start with planning a habit?

Followed by monitoring it then making it convenient as possible and lastly rewarding ourselves with something that reinforces the habit

Here's an example of everything put together

When I get home from school. I will finish [6] pomodoro's over the period of two weeks

I'll boost this number to 11 pomodoro's and stay there consistently

to make this habit convenient

I'll clean my desk after every work session and have all necessary materials laid down and ready to go for the following day if

I study consistently for a month. I'll buy a new iPad to streamline my note-taking process or a new app to make me more productive

So I got some good news guys

I finally got a Facebook page and an instagram page for this Youtube channel on the Facebook page

I'm going to post my videos and make them easier to share with your friends on the Instagram page

I'm actually gonna make one picture summaries of a video when I upload it

That way even if you don't end up watching my videos for the week you can take something valuable away from the photo

So yeah be sure [to] follow me on both of those the links are on the video and in the description

Lastly don't forget to [like] comment and subscribe. Thanks for watching guys, and I'll see you next time