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in this video i'm going to show you how to fix  any habit that you've been trying to build but  

that you've been unable to stick to i'll be doing  so by going through what i like to call the habit  

troubleshooter which is a simple checklist that  you can go through every time you miss a day and  

it consists of a series of four simple questions  all of which are inspired by the atomic habits by  

james clear with that being said let's begin  question number one are you forgetting to do  

your habit if your answer is yes continue watching  if your answer is no skip to question number two  

now if you're forgetting to stick to your habit  that's a clear sign that there's something  

wrong with your cue basically the thing that  triggers you to actually start the habit and you  

can easily fix this by doing one of two things  the first thing you can do is add a visual cue  

to your environment something like a meditation  pillow on the floor a gym bag next to your door  

or even setting up a notification on your phone  this way whenever you see the queue you will  

be reminded that you should start your habit the  second thing you can do is attach your habit to a  

pre-existing one for example let's say you always  brush your teeth in the morning in which case you  

can tell yourself okay when i'm done brushing my  teeth and i have that fresh feeling in my mouth  

that's when i would go meditate the reason this  is helpful is because your pre-existing habit  

already occurs every single day so it will  always be there reminding you that you should  

be sticking to the habit that you've decided  to attach to it now that you've fixed your cue  

it's time to move on to question number two are  you remembering to do your habit but can't seem  

to motivate yourself to actually start doing it  if your answer is yes you do have problems with  

starting continue watching if your answer  is no you don't have problems with starting  

skip to question number three now if you're unable  to motivate yourself to actually start your habit  

this is a sign that your cravings are not  strong enough and you can fix this by doing  

one of two things the first thing you can do is  spend more time convincing yourself that your  

habit is important you see if you're trying  to stick to something like journaling just  

because you see some youtubers doing it you're  eventually going to wake up one day thinking  

why am i doing this and without a clear answer  you'll end up skipping days cause what's the point  

you need a strong reason why you're sticking  to a habit for example i decided to build a  

habit of bullet journaling last year as a way to  better organize my to-do's this allows me to be  

way more productive which ultimately gives me more  freedom to enjoy my life that's a pretty powerful  

why if you need help with your why go on youtube  reddit or even twitter and surround yourself with  

people who are passionate about the habit that  you're trying to build spend some time every  

week listening about all the benefits they've seen  this is gonna help sell you on the idea that this  

habit is going to change your life you gotta  believe that it truly will because once you do  

the cravings will increase the second thing you  can do to improve the craving step of your habit  

is what's called temptation bundling basically  allowing yourself to do something fun while you  

stick to your habit for example when i eat i like  to read something at the same time eating is super  

enjoyable for me as it is for most people and  reading is okay but when i combine the two i'm  

essentially piggybacking off of my desire to eat  which makes the craving for reading much stronger  

now that you've fixed your craving it's time  to move on to question number three but before  

that a quick word about the sponsors of today's  video this episode is brought to you by fabulous  

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off fabulous premium now back to the topic at  hand question number three are you starting your  

habit but it's just too hard to complete if your  answer is yes it is too hard to complete continue  

watching if your answer is no skip to question  number four now if your habit is too hard to  

complete all it means is that your routine is too  difficult this also ties back to the craving step  

of your habit the more difficult your routine  is the less likely you'll crave doing it now  

there are three things you can do here to address  the problem first you can make the beginning and  

end parts of your routine easier for example if  you're trying to build a habit of going to the  

gym but your gym is a 30 minute drive away then  that actually means that your routine is an hour  

long commute plus the time it takes to actually  work out in this situation you can opt to find the  

gym that's closer to you or get some equipment and  figure out a way to work out at home by shortening  

the time it takes to complete the habit it will  seem much easier to complete the second thing  

you can do is to create what i like to call a low  bar basically a bare minimum amount of work that  

you can do that still shows that you stuck to your  habit for the day to be honest some days i simply  

don't feel like writing but i have a low bar so as  long as i've opened up the word document and spent  

at least a minute or two reading over a draft i  consider that as a win for the day now of course  

this doesn't mean that i do this every day all  this means is that i allow myself to do less  

and as long as i'm showing up to do that bare  minimum i consider it as a win for the day this  

is extremely powerful because it makes the habits  seem much easier to do and of course i also find  

myself doing more work than i expect because i'll  often think to myself hey i already started might  

as well do a little bit more it's also important  to note that repetition is more important when it  

comes to building habits as compared to intensity  which means that reading just two pages of a book  

per day will help you build a habit of reading  faster than reading a hundred pages of a book once  

per week and finally the third thing you can do is  what's called chunking basically breaking one big  

habit into much smaller ones to make it easier to  stick to instead of telling yourself that you need  

to study for two hours straight you can break it  down into 30 minute sessions now this doesn't work  

for all habits but for the ones that do it can be  a powerful tool because by breaking the habit down  

you'll be able to reward yourself more often which  would also increase the cravings while making the  

routine easier to stick to all at the same time  now that you've made your routine easier to stick  

to it's time to move on to question number  four is your habit getting easier to stick to  

over time if your answer to this question is no  then this means that there's a problem with the  

reward aspect of your habit you see the goal when  it comes to habit building is to stick to your  

habit until it becomes fully automatic where it  feels effortless to stick to and this will never  

happen if you don't give yourself proper rewards  the more powerful the rewards are the more likely  

your brain will want to remember and strengthen  the habit that you're trying to build now there  

are three types of rewards that you need to have  the first of which i like to call an instant  

reward basically something that comes immediately  after you complete your habit instant rewards are  

usually mental as they can happen instantaneously  for example after a good writing session in the  

morning i'll think to myself wow i did a lot today  or wow i worked hard today positive thoughts like  

these usually release feel-good chemicals in  our brain which make us feel good instantly  

alternatively there are some habits like working  out that have instant rewards built into them  

you see working out releases endorphins which make  you feel good but you can also pair this up with a  

positive thought like damn that was a good workout  which will make you feel even better the second  

type of reward you need to have is your typical  reward which doesn't come instantly but maybe a  

couple of seconds or minutes after you complete  your routine i like to reward myself with food  

after my workouts and it's extremely effective  because food is one of the most powerful rewards  

out there it's hardwired into our biology if you  have a hard time coming up with good rewards just  

remember that the best rewards are things that  you already enjoy of course not including anything  

that is harmful for your health and finally the  third type of reward you need is what i like  

to call a delayed reward which is essentially a  reward that occurs days weeks or even months down  

the line an example of a delayed reward is hitting  your fitness goals at the gym this type of reward  

ties back to your reason why you're building this  habit in the first place now the best way to go  

about delivering delayed rewards is to figure  out a way to see the progress that you're making  

so if your goal is to drop 30 pounds you can  shorten the time it takes to receive your delayed  

reward from months to weeks by stepping on the  scale every week in order to keep track of your  

progress by making sure you have three types  of rewards for any particular habit your brain  

should have a much easier time making it automatic  i hope you found this video helpful if you'd like  

to download a pdf version of these four questions  you can do so by signing up for my newsletter in  

the description box below make sure to look at  it if you ever miss a day when building any of  

your future habits as it will help you figure  out what went wrong besides that guys stay tuned