𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘁 𝗮 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲, 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲:

 Many people, myself included, have multiple areas of life they would like to improve.

For example, I would like to reach more people with my coaching, get my fitness back up to before I havld Covid, and to start practicing mindfulness more consistently.

Those are just a few of the goals I find desirable and you probably have a long list yourself.

The problem is, even if we are committed to working hard on our goals, our natural tendency is to revert back to our old habits at some point. Making a permanent lifestyle change is really difficult.

Recently, I’ve come across a few research studies that (just maybe) will make these difficult lifestyle changes a little bit easier. As you’ll see, however, the approach to mastering many areas of life is somewhat counterintuitive.

Too many good intentions

If you want to master multiple habits and stick to them for good, then you need to figure out how to be consistent. How can you do that?

Well, here is one of the most robust findings from psychology research on how to actually follow through on your goals:

Research has shown that you are 2x to 3x more likely to stick with your habits if you make a specific plan for when, where, and how you will perform the behaviour. For example, in one study scientists asked people to fill out this sentence: "During the next week, I will partake in at least 20 minutes of vigorous exercise on [DAY] at [TIME OF DAY] at/in [PLACE]."

Researchers found that people who filled out this sentence were 2x to 3x more likely to actually exercise compared to a control group who did not make plans for their future behaviour. Psychologists call these specific plans "implementation intentions" because they state when, where, and how you intend to implement a particular behaviour.

However (and this is crucial to understand) follow-up research has discovered implementation intentions only work when you focus on one goal at a time.

In fact, researchers found that people who tried to accomplish multiple goals were less committed and less likely to succeed than those who focused on a single goal.

This is important, so let me repeat: 𝙙𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣, 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙖 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙝𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙧𝙖𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙙𝙙𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙤𝙘𝙪𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙖 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙖𝙡.

What happens when you focus on one thing

Here is another science-based reason to focus on one habit at a time:

When you begin practicing a new habit it requires a lot of conscious effort to remember to do it. After awhile, however, the pattern of behaviour becomes easier. Eventually, your new habit becomes a normal routine and the process is more or less mindless and automatic.

Researchers have a fancy term for this process called "automaticity." Automaticity is the ability to perform a behaviour without thinking about each step, which allows the pattern to become automatic and habitual.

But here’s the thing: automaticity only occurs as the result of lots of repetition and practice. The more reps you put in, the more automatic a behaviour becomes.

Change your life without changing your entire life

Alright, let’s review what I have suggested to you so far and figure out some practical takeaways.

1. You are 2x to 3x more likely to follow through with a habit if you make a specific plan for when, where, and how you are going to implement it. This is known as an implementation intention.

2. You should focus entirely on one habit. Research has found that implementation intentions do not work if you try to improve multiple habits at the same time.

3. Research has shown that any given habit becomes more automatic with more practice. On average, it takes at least two months for new habits to become automatic behaviors.

This brings us to the punchline of this article …

The counterintuitive insight from all of this research is that the best way to change your entire life is by not changing your entire life. Instead, it is best to focus on one specific habit, work on it until you master it, and make it an automatic part of your daily life. Then, repeat the process for the next habit.

The way to master more things in the long-run is to simply focus on one thing right now.