This is a YouTube video titled "The Secret To Developing A New Habit" containing a conversation recorded in September 2020 between Rong and Ask AI Mark. They discuss strategies for building new habits by linking them to existing behaviors, sharing personal routines and insights on habit formation.
Any behavior needs a trigger. So a trigger could be you just remember, oh, I remember I read in Mark Hyman's book that I shouldn't meditate, right? Oh, I must meditate today. Sure, that works. It just happens to be a very unreliable form of trigger because you're reliant on your memory. The next best form of trigger is a post-it note, like a note you put on your fridge or in your laptop screen. So when you open it, you've got a prompt to actually do a certain behavior. That's better than your memory, but it's not as good as the best one, which is when you stick on your new behavior onto an existing behavior that you already do without thinking about it. Basically, you stick it on to a habit. And that's the secret because what do I do every morning? I've not been to a gym now, I don't think, for about two years, Mark, but I work out every day. So what do I do each morning? Well, I make coffee. I like coffee. And I weigh out my coffee beans. I pour it into the frame. I pour the water on and it brews for four to five minutes. In those four to five minutes, I don't go on Instagram. I don't go on my emails. I do a body weight workout in my kitchen, in my pajamas.
Right? So- I'm not sure I could do that before coffee though. That's the problem. Hey, they might need a coffee.
Yes, Mark, that's a really good point, right? So this is very individual. I have figured out what works for me. That's the perfect time in the day for me to do it. So I'd like to think I'm in pretty good shape and I think five minutes of strength training every day, consistently done every single day, I don't think I've missed a day in about two or three years. I honestly don't feel I missed a day because I don't miss a day about brushing my teeth. I don't forget to brush my teeth. No, I've created a habit around brushing my teeth. I don't forget to have my morning coffee. So because I'm not forgetting to have my morning coffee, well, I don't need a prompt to remind me, oh, Rong, you forgot to have coffee today.
Right?
No, I'm gonna have that. And I suspect many people listening to.
This also have something in the morning that they wanna do.
Right?
So yeah, I have a similar, I have a similar thing. I have a shower that is in the top of my house, which is a barn. So, to get from the water heater downstairs, upstairs takes like a few minutes, like five minutes. And I'm like, well, you know, I'm waiting for the shower to heat up. I take a shower most days. I'm just gonna do like push-ups because I really hate push-ups. And it was like about 10 years ago and I started like, okay, I'm just gonna do like a few push-ups before my shower. I'll start with 10. And now I'm like up to 50 push-ups. And it's like, I always get triggered. I'm like, oh, I'm taking a shower.
The water's heating. What am I gonna do? Wait around?
And it's this perfect moment. And I think that's what you're talking about connecting it to an existing behavior.
Yeah, it because you've got to remember a habit is a behavior that you're doing without thinking about it. So if you connect it to an existing behavior, you're already going to do that habit anyway. And then you need to take you're taking memory out of the equation.
