The 8 Strategies To Build Your Good Habits and Break Your Bad Ones

Consistency Is Not The Key

I keep hearing everyone say “Consistency is key” and “You won’t get anywhere if you are not consistent”. The problem I have with this statement is, 

WE ALL KNOW THIS

Part of everyone's goals is to become more consistent and do things every day 

But some motivational speakers would rather spend their time telling you all about the importance of consistency 

Instead of genuinely helping you by telling you how you can become consistent  

So while they spend their time telling you “consistency is key” and “you won’t get anywhere if you're not consistent 

I’m here to tell you consistency is not key

Consistency is more like a lock, Something that we are trying to unlock, open and achieve, 

So if consistency isn't the key, What is?

Discipline

Similarly to consistency, this is another keyword that so many people like to stress the importance of 

But not enough people want to explain how to actually achieve this

So we at BoxRope decided to skip the motivational pep talk about becoming your true self and instead arm you with all the information you will need

To break all of your bad habits and replace them with good ones.

Differentiating Habits

The first step in breaking bad habits and building good ones is to recognize all of the habits that you have or want and categorize them into 1 of 3 types of habits

Good habits 

These are the habits that you want to build. 

You build these because they will strengthen your overall health, be it physical, mental, or emotional, and will positively affect your boxing.

Bad habits

These are the habits that you want to break, 

They will hinder your progress and weaken your physical, mental, and emotional health. 

Bullshit habits 

These are tricky 

They are habits that are disguised as good habits when in reality they contribute nothing or actively undermine your efforts. For this reason, they are technically bad habits but I gave them their own category because you must be cautious of them

So how do you determine which category each of your habits is in?

Well, first of all, you can research the positive and negative effects of each habit but generally, that isn't enough

Because a lot of people are either biased or have done just as little research as you and suddenly believe they're an expert

This is known as the Dunning Kruger effect and I am not going to go into detail about it but feel free to do your own research (it might help the mental aspect of your boxing)

Anyways the best thing you can do after researching is finding a quiet space, sit down with a pen and paper, and write down…

• What the habit is
• How much time will it take
• What are the positive results I will get
• How long am I willing to test this habit
• Is there a better habit that can achieve the same result

And do this for each of your habits. The point of this is to understand what the habit is and how it will affect you. The reason you need to be alone is to prevent any outside bias because you can’t keep listening to what everyone else thinks/does and then expect a better result. 

For example, A bullshit habit I keep hearing everyone rant about is meditation because it clears the mind and relieves stress. While this may be true…

Anyone who self-analyses will realize that you could replace meditation with ice baths or cold showers and experience all of the mental aspects plus it reduces inflammation, boosts the immunity system, and will take a fraction of the time.

This is one example and if you are someone who has been meditating

Keep in mind that you will put some habits in the wrong category 

Even though this may affect your journey, what will be your determining factor for overall success is your ability to self-analyze and effectively make changes based on your experience. Aka your ability to adapt

6 Strategies For Building Good Habits And Breaking Old Ones

So now that you have figured out and chosen which habits are going to strengthen you and help you achieve your goals

Also which habits are going to weaken you and negatively affect your goals

How do you actually build/break those habits to become a consistent person?

 

1. Change your words, change your identity

By changing our words and identifying as the person we want to become, we create a stronger sense of self and commitment. 

For example, if your struggle is with alcohol and someone offers you a drink while trying to quit alcohol, 

Instead of saying, "No thanks, I'm trying to quit," say, "No thanks, I don't drink alcohol."

See how the first statement tells the person that you do want it but you are trying to overcome urges. See how this leads to that person(who doesn't believe alcohol is bad) trying to convince you to give in to the urges

And can you see how telling that you dont drink alcohol signifies that there is no urge whatsoever?

Isn't it fascinating how simply changing the way your sentence ss phrased can completely change how people respond to the message you are trying to give?

But not only does changing the phrase change how people respond

It also changes how you see and think of yourself, so next time you get the seemingly uncontrollable urges 

You can simply say to yourself “No because that's not who I am”

2. Know your why 

Now you changed your identity, you must understand the reasons behind the new identity and how it is going to help build/break habits. 

This is because developing a new habit will require you to go through the struggle 

And knowing your "why" helps you to understand why you are going through this pain. So you can remain disciplined and achieve your goals 

As Tony Robbins said, "Change happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change." 

So, by keeping our purpose in mind, we have a compelling reason to push through difficulties and endure the pain.

3. Systems instead of goals

Using systems instead of goals can be a more realistic approach to personal growth and achievement. 

While goals focus on specific outcomes, 

Systems emphasize the processes and actions that lead to those outcomes. 

Rather than fixating on a singular endpoint, systems prioritize consistent progress and continuous improvement. 

So when you hear those motivational speakers talking about how “you need to stay disciplined and concentrate on your goals” what they really mean is

You need to identify your goals and then implement a system of daily actions to ensure consistent improvement

By implementing effective systems, we require slightly less disciplined because we have chosen tasks with a specific “why”, so we never have to second guess whether the task is worth it or not. 

With systems in place, we also shift our focus from the end result to the present moment, embracing the journey and finding fulfillment in the process itself. This concept is best summarised by the quote…

“The man who loves walking will walk further than the man who loves the destination.”

Ultimately, using systems will encourage you to create sustainable and long-lasting success, as long as you continuously refine and optimize your approach, adapting to new circumstances and consistently moving forward.

4. Routines and schedules

Now that you have identified how you are going to achieve your goals, the next step is to maximize the efficiency that you complete these systems

You do this with routines and schedules which provide you with a structure and also an easy way to keep yourself accountable as there is no room for excuses

But there are 2 kinds of routines that you must be aware of in order to fully maximize your efficiency and get the most out of this strategy

5. Time-dedicated routine  

These are routines that you do over a given time span. Examples of these are daily tasks, morning routines, and anything that must be repeated in a certain time frame.

These types of routines will build your consistency, keep you accountable and ensure that you are constantly improving in the given time span.

However, there are some negatives. 

Firstly consistent action requires discipline and even though there are things we can do to make it slightly easier, you must come to terms with the fact that you will need to give it your all and push yourself during times of great hardship.

Secondly, these routines (especially morning routines) are full of bullshit habits that make you feel like you are improving when in reality it is a form of mental masturbation. Basically, you will feel excited and like you have progressed when in reality nothing has changed and you are no closer to achieving your goals

Finally, they can make you complacent. As you progress your situation is going to change. As your situations change so will your priorities and suddenly the perfect schedule is no longer effective at completing all of your new tasks. This is why it is important to constantly self-evaluate yourself so that you can quickly adapt and improve to the next stages of achieving your goal

6. Task dedicated routine

These are linked to the next strategy used to build/break habits.

However, they are the complete opposite of time-dedicated routines 

So they won’t improve your consistency and they won’t lead to constant improvement

Instead, these types of routines are designed to ease the amount of discipline needed to build a habit

Although they can lead to complacency if you're not careful

So what are task-dedicated routines and how can I use them to build/break habits

7. Habit stacking

The proper term for task-dedicated routines is habit stacking

Habit stacking is defined as… 

“Building new habits by associating them with existing ones.”

 By stacking a new habit on top of an old habit, we create a trigger that reminds us to perform the desired action. 

For instance, if we want to stretch more before training and have a habit of drinking pre-workout, we can tell ourselves, 

"After I drink my pre-workout, I must spend at least 10 minutes stretching." 

This subconsciously associates a habit that we already have with a habit that we want to build which makes it easier to adopt these new habits.

This can also be used in a similar but different way to break habits

For instance, if you want to stop drinking and you also hate running, you can tell yourself

“The day after I drink, I must go for a 5km run regardless of how hungover I am”

It is important to remember that the punishment must be considerably worse than giving into the action

This gives you the ability to rationalize and make the bad habit seem less desirable due to the extreme punishment

8. Make the good easy and the bad hard

Finally, to make the process of building/breaking habits more attainable, 

You should make the good habits as easy as possible and the bad habits as hard as possible

The primary objective at this stage is not to achieve instant results, but rather to cultivate the habit itself. 

For example, if you wanted to start running 5 kilometers every day, you might begin with simply running around the block every day. Then after a week, you can up it to 2 blocks, the following week might be 2km and you can keep adding 1km or 500m every week until you reach 5km.

By starting with small and easily attainable targets, one effectively diminishes any obstacles or resistance that may hinder progress 

Plus by the time they reach 5 kilometers, the habit has already been going for at least 6 weeks and so there will already be a noticeable change in your fitness

On the other hand, you need as many obstacles and resistance as possible in order to get rid of bad habits

For example, if you want to stop mindlessly scrolling through social media then you can log out and delete the app every time you finish using it. That way the next time you feel the urge to mindlessly scroll,

You are forced to redownload the app and type out your username and password, making the action far more inconvenient than pleasurable. Over time this inconvenience will be associated with the habit and you will no longer feel the urge to take part in that particular habit.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the commonly heard statement "Consistency is key" may oversimplify the process of achieving success. 

While consistency certainly plays a crucial role, it is not the sole determinant of reaching our goals. Instead, the real key lies in discipline.

It's true that many motivational speakers emphasize the importance of consistency without providing practical guidance on how to actually become consistent. 

However, to make genuine progress, we need more than just motivational pep talks. We need concrete strategies that empower us to break old habits and build new ones.

By employing practical strategies, differentiating between habits, and focusing on disciplined action, 

We can break old patterns, build new habits, and ultimately achieve our goals in the easiest and most efficient ways possible.

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