Building a new habit

According to researchers at Duke University, habits account for about 40 percent of our behaviors on any given day.

1. Start with an incredibly small habit.

Make it so easy you can’t say no.
—Leo Babauta

2. Increase your habit in very small ways.

Success is a few simple disciplines, practiced every day; while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day.

—Jim Rohn

3. As you build up, break habits into chunks.

Rather than starting with 50 pushups per day, start with 5 pushups per day.
Rather than trying to meditate for 10 minutes per day, start by meditating
for one minute per day. Make it easy enough that you can get it done
without motivation.

4. When you slip, get back on track quickly.

The best way to improve your self-control is to see how and why you lose control.
—Kelly McGonigal

5. Be patient. Stick to a pace you can sustain.

Learning to be patient is perhaps the most critical skill of all. You can make incredible progress if you are consistent and patient. 

If you are adding weight in the gym, you should probably go slower than you think. If you are adding daily sales calls to your business strategy, you should probably start with fewer than you expect to handle. Patience is everything.