MAKE IT A HABIT

At most times we want change. Change for the better. It would be so much better if I could lose 10 pounds, it would be so much better if I found time to read , it would be so much better if I could hang out with friends and laugh. I mean really laugh. We carry on with our lives but always hunger for change. Change for a better Body Mass Index (BMI), change for better intellectual capabilities, change for better relationships.

When we cannot make those changes we conclude that we are not being able to do so because we are overworked, stressed and most importantly, are not motivated. Maybe high motivation will change the scenario? Say, here is Tara. She wants to make her BMI perfect. Once in a while she stands on the weighing machine, that too after the shower and invariably the score shows that she is a couple of kgs above her ideal weight. Tara feels down. Only last week she had reached a kg less than the ideal. While she moves on with her work or cuddling her cat, she unmindfully grabs the chanachur container and before she realizes she has had three handfuls of chanachur.

How, but how can Tara maintain her ideal weight? She puffs herself up with motivation. What is better than to make resolutions? New Year's resolution, Poila Baishakh resolution, Birthday resolution. Being the ideal weight gets priority on all occasions. But why does Tara not achieve what she wants?

Researchers say the best way to change a behavior is to bring it within the world of one's habit. Just going through the day in any person's life involves certain "must dos". Like having three meals a day, having  morning tea, saying your prayers five times a day or doing your puja, combing  your hair, brushing your teeth, taking a bath or shower.

Research says the best time to introduce another habit to your life, is to do the thing you want to do, "after" your habit of regular routine. And to start with, your habit has to be small. Say you want to start your exercises. Start with a small habit. After you step out of the shower, start with two push-ups. Soon you will see that those two push-ups have become ten. You continue to challenge yourself; that is human nature. You could extend your act of push-ups to after brushing your teeth as well.

One way to remain healthy is to have "x" glasses of water in a day. Tara has the bottle of water and the hot mug of tea set on her table in the morning. They say you take two/ three glasses of water in the morning (on empty stomach). Tara has a huge problem of resisting that hot sip of tea when it is standing right next to the glass of water. So why not place the glass and a bottle full of water beside your basin in the bathroom? So right after you have brushed your teeth, you do the three glasses without the hot mug of tea teasing and testing you.

Remember, adding on SMALL habits make the BIG change. And also remember it is doing the new habit AFTER the regular one that makes your new habit more effective. Happy habits!

The writer is Managing Director, Asiatic 3 Sixty