i hope to be frequently trying out new things in my life, and i think a lot of people are constantly re-ordering and re-prioritizing habits / tasks / people in their lives too. maybe you decide you want to cut back on screen time and replace it with family time, or go to the gym more, or read a book every month, or generally do more creative things. i have a few thoughts on the process of exploring new habits below:
reflection / intentionality helps in picking what you’re changing. there is not enough time to do everything, which has some implications (a new habit is a choice to replace something else that you spend your time on). since there are so many things to do (work / health / family / friends / hobbies / etc), you have to choose what matters to you. the best way to do this is to reflect first on where your time goes (and be totally honest with yourself in your time audit), and then figure out what feels authentic to you and double down on that. sometimes an audit can be surprising / uncomfortable - i have personally realized a lot of my time goes towards things i wouldn’t consider top priorities. reflection makes it easier to act with purpose.
it’s easier to try things incrementally at first. if your goal is to become a better artist, starting with a reasonable goal like one sketch a week can help. it seems common for people to set unrealistic goals when starting out - like sketching for an hour a day - they can keep it up for a week or two but then things get busy and they stop. easing into it might help - it feels less forced because you’re not going zero-to-one really quick. once you build a baseline, you can scale it up without feeling overwhelmed. one sketch a week can mean better building blocks, then better technique, then maybe you find an art community a month or two later, etc. starting small helps you stay in the game long enough to experience growth
do the new habit every day. or maybe not every day, but at least very consistently. my mom told me that it’s easier to run every day than to run a few days a week, which seems counterintuitive but makes sense. if you run every day you can’t negotiate with yourself. if you run a few days a week it’s easy to say “i’m tired today, i’ll just run tomorrow” and have those stack up until you’re not running at all. momentum is underrated - once something becomes part of your daily rhythm, it’s like brushing your teeth (less friction / decision fatigue). each day you stick with it builds confidence because you’re hitting your goals / following through
incorporate the new habit into your identity. this has been the most helpful framework i have found recently. many people are comfortable with the way things are in their lives, even if they don’t feel “happy” it’s still natural to be resistant to change. but if you have a different vision for what your life could look like, it could help to shape your identity around your habits / what you want to change. if you view going to the gym as a chore, it’s probably going to be pretty tough. but if you switch your mentality and now think of yourself as a gym rat, going to the gym will be enjoyable, and will align nicely with the identity that you formed in your head. this might require you going deeper than just the habit (instead of just going to the gym, you might be watching videos of gym influencers, adjusting your diet, etc) because an identity shift probably won’t be super subtle. another example is if you’re trying to get better at writing, you could think of yourself as a creative person, which will make writing less of a chore, and your creativity will start to manifest in many other areas of your life.
have your friends hold you accountable. i saw someone’s guide to building up your twitter content / presence, and the first step they suggested was cool - tell your friends you’re going to start tweeting more, and have them hold you accountable. when you bring up cool thoughts / ideas, they should tell you “that would make for a great tweet, you should post it” (because they know your goal and want to help you with it). you can hit some good reinforcing loops this way, once your friends start saying “your tweets are looking great” then that story becomes real, people mirror it back to you
track what’s working and what’s not. in the same way you reflect / time-audit to figure out what changes to make, it’s probably a good idea to reflect over the weekend on what felt good last week and what didn’t. or what you didn’t do that you wanted to, etc. whenever you make changes it’s a good idea to measure the outcome and readjust. if something new you’re trying isn’t sticking, you might need to readjust the bar or move on to something else
enjoy experimenting. it’s good to measure / be outcomes oriented, it’s also better if you can find joy in the process of trying things out. you don’t have to take any of this too seriously, you’re not locked into anything, you have flexibility to explore things and figure out what feels authentic. the stuff you try teaches you new things about how you work, what you like, what gives you energy, etc. it’s useful even if you don’t do the thing again. some thing stick and some don’t but the process can feel energizing