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How Good Habits Make Skill Learning Easier
Create the right habits to learn on auto-pilot
“People do not decide their futures; they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures.” F. M. Alexander
We are creatures of habit. As much as 95 per cent of what we do occurs automatically or in reaction to a demand or an activity. In the short-term, it can be irritating to have all these habits that hinder your progress. But if you use them correctly, you can also make habits work to your advantage, to make skill learning easier.
What is one thing you wish you did every day? Here are some ideas: write a blog post, learn a skill, exercise, read a chapter of a book or eat more healthy food.
In the beginning, it isn’t straightforward to do these things because they are not yet a regular part of your life. But if you start doing something every day, for a more extended period, it eventually will turn into a habit (the exact number of days to establish a habit varies a lot, but it is somewhere between 18–254 days according to this study). At some point, it will become easier to do the action (e.g. exercise) than to do not do it. Since you usually do it every day, deciding not to do something will be harder than just doing it.
