Buzz
Breaking old habits is tough. You’ve likely experienced this when you promised to eat only salads, only to give in a few days later. Forming new habits requires time. A lot of time. For me, turning my habits into scheduled calendar events made a significant impact. Here’s how this could work for you.
In a perfect world, we'd effortlessly create habits that lead us to success. But reality often has other plans, as building new habits demands consistent effort and repetition. The real challenge, though, is simply remembering to stick to the routine every single day.
Enter Technology!
Things got much easier when I began delegating these reminders to my calendar’s alert function, which syncs across all my devices. Since I already fill my weekly calendar with essential tasks and reminders, it makes perfect sense to add a habit I want to improve as well. Whenever I need to, say, take my creatine supplement, the reminder buzzes on my phone and I follow through (especially when it takes just a minute).
Sounds simple, right? Except there are just a few steps to follow before we can schedule any new habit. While we’ve previously discussed a similar strategy for simple habits, mine is more tailored to health and fitness. Here's the first task to tackle:
Deconstruct the Habit
The time you allocate in your calendar needs to be honored (otherwise, chaos will reign). When the alert goes off, it’s time to take action. What you set as the appointment reminder matters.
The trick is to break down the habit into its smallest actionable step and schedule that on your calendar. Avoid vague goals like “Get better at eating breakfast” because there’s nothing specific to act on daily. Instead, something more precise like, “Prepare overnight oats for tomorrow’s breakfast” will be much more effective.
In other words, identify a manageable, low-effort entry point for practicing the habit consistently, even if it feels tough at first. The beauty of breaking the habit down into the simplest, repeatable action is that it allows you to build the core skills that will help you improve and master the habit in its entirety over time.
Determine the Time and Frequency
Ask yourself how often you’d realistically like to practice this habit. Considering your personal quirks and schedule, pinpoint a time or day (or both!) that fits best for you to commit and take action. Even if you’re aiming high, set the bar low enough to stick to this frequency over the long haul. As you improve, you can gradually increase it.
For example, if your goal is to make overnight oats, you could probably dedicate around 15 minutes before bed on a Sunday night to prep. If your habit is something like working out more regularly, you might want to start with reminders three or four times a week, either in the morning or evening (depending on what suits you).
Set the Main Action Items in Your Calendar
Now it’s time to schedule the actual alerts. This is where the messaging comes in. From my experience, reminders in the form of commands or questions are usually more effective.
Family dinner at home tonight. versus Prepare a home-cooked meal with the family.
Have you exercised today? versus What actions have you taken so far to achieve your goal of 3 workouts a week?
What to Do When You Ignore Your Reminders
Many calendars let you set up multiple alerts, but usually one will do the trick. The challenge with using appointment alerts to build habits is that, over time, you might become desensitized to them.
It’s crucial to honestly evaluate your progress with the habit. If you consistently ignore your alerts and fail to take action, there could be a number of reasons why that’s happening:
The task is too complex and not the smallest, repeatable step you can take. Break it down further.
The timing and frequency might be off; try a different time slot and decrease the frequency.
You’ve associated the alert sound with something else, which might cause you to ignore it. Consider assigning a specific sound for your habit reminders.
Keep in mind, for this to work, you need to commit to acting on every alert when it pops up. If you slack off too much, turning it into a routine will become more challenging.
Help Cement the Habit
Eventually, I notice I begin the habit even before the alerts arrive. At that point, I either delete the reminders or scale back their frequency to bi-weekly or monthly for a light nudge. I consider it a success as long as the habit has found its place in my routine—no need for perfection.
Here are a few tips to further solidify that habit:
Set follow-up alerts. Create additional reminders that support your primary habit. For example, if you aim to write in your journal every night, you might set up reminders like, “Reflect on the highs and lows of my day” followed by, “What did you write about tonight?”
Hold yourself accountable. You can have someone else keep you accountable, or turn it into a game by rating your progress each week. Give yourself a 0 for Didn’t do anything or a 5 for Absolutely crushed it!
Focus on one habit at a time. Developing one new habit is challenging enough—trying to juggle several at once will only overwhelm you. Don’t do it.
Ensure your life is in balance. Excess stress and personal obligations can sabotage your habit-building efforts. For instance, if you’re aiming to improve your sleep habits, it’s unlikely to work if you’re working 80 hours a week and handling family responsibilities. It’s best to wait for (or create) a situation that aligns better with your goals.
That said, if you happen to miss a few alerts here and there, don’t throw in the towel just yet. Those minor setbacks won’t significantly affect your long-term progress—so long as you don’t completely quit.
Be Patient
It’s often said that it takes 21 days to form a habit.
A study in the European Journal of Social Psychology challenged that notion, revealing that it could take much longer—anywhere from 18 to 254 days, depending on the habit, the individual, and their circumstances. That’s anywhere from 2 to 8 months. Ultimately, don’t fixate on exact timelines; focus on making consistent (not perfect) progress over a long period of time.
If you're struggling to establish healthier habits, try turning them into scheduled appointments that you have to keep, because you're prioritizing your well-being. With time, it will become more natural.
Image credit: sdecoret (Shutterstock).
