Karia - Steps for Building Habits that Stick

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Akash Karia #1 Bestselling Author of
How Successful People Think Differently

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction
How to Build Habits that Stick

Chapter 1
The Magic of Small Habits

Chapter 2
The Remarkable Power of Keystone Habits

Chapter 3
The 66-Day Challenge

Chapter 4
Step One: Choose Your Keystone Habit

Chapter 5
Step Two: Create a Mini Habit

Chapter 6
Step Three: Choose a Reward

Chapter 7
Step Four: Use an If-Then Strategy

Chapter 8
Step Five: Be a Realistic Optimist

Chapter 9
Step Six: Choose an Accountability Partner

Chapter 10
Step Seven: Shape Your Environment to Encourage the Behavior

Chapter 11
Step Eight: Create a Chain

Chapter 12
Step Nine: Persist

Chapter 13
Wrap Up

Introduction

HOW TO BUILD HABITS THAT STICK

If youre like most people, you probably harbor countless goals and aspirations: finally getting that promotion at work, eating a more balanced diet, saving money, losing weight, or being a more engaged parent. Prepared to make a major life change and with your sights set squarely on perfection, you failif not immediately, within the first few weeks.

Overwhelmed by the pressure of establishing several ambitious new habits at once, you throw your hands up in surrender, sit your two-year-old in front of Frozen for the third time this week, and break your three-day healthy eating streak as you sink your teeth into a double chocolate brownie.

Before youre too hard on yourself, though, take a moment to realize that this pattern is far more common than you may think. In fact, its pretty safe to say that the majority of people setting lofty goals like eliminating debt, quitting smoking, or losing significant amounts of weight dont actually achieve them. You are not the problem.

To provide some evidence in case you arent convinced, lets take a look at the success rate of New Years resolutions in America. A study conducted by the University of Scranton found that only 8% of those who make New Years resolutions on any given year actually achieve them. Interestingly, nearly one in four Americans who participate in setting New Years resolutions have never successfully achieved them. While some may chalk it up to the many distractions of the indulgent American culture, Id like to argue that similar results would be discovered in communities across the world.

The trouble with lofty goals like promotions, weight loss, and getting out of debt is that they often require major changes to our existing habits.

So why is it so difficult to introduce new habits into our daily routines?

Well, as it turns out, our modern-day understanding of the brain teaches us that large-scale behavioral changes are no easy feat. In fact, that 30-pound weight-loss goal youve just established for yourself may be setting you up to fail.

I know the path to personal transformation is starting to sound pretty hopeless, so heres the good news: It doesnt have to be difficult. The trick is having a sound strategy and manageable goals that wont drain all of your willpower. So instead of setting big, New Years resolution-scale goals, were going to learn how to target keystone habits, and in just ten minutes a day, create major transformations in your life.

That may sound like a big promise to make, but its one that well keep. By the end of this book, in addition to gaining a whole new understanding of habits, youll be able to use them effectively to spark personal change.

YOUR FREE GIFT

As a way of saying thank you for your purchase, Id like to offer you a free bonus package worth $297. This bonus package contains eBooks, videos and audiotapes on how to overcome procrastination and triple your productivity. You can download the free bonus here: www.AkashKaria.com/FREE

Get your free gifts worth $297 here:
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ABOUT AKASH KARIA

Akash Karia is a peak performance coach who has trained over 50,000 people worldwide, from bankers in Hong Kong to senior executives in Thailand to government members in Dubai. He writes short, high-impact books on peak performance and psychology, and has twice been ranked as the #1 Most Popular Business & Money Author on Amazon.

Akash is a wonderful professional speaker who has a great message, is motivating, inspiring and interactive at the same time, so if youre thinking of hiring a speaker for any reason at any time, please be sure to hire Akash because hell do a wonderful job for you!

~ Brian Tracy, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame, #1 Bestselling Author ofMaximum Achievement

Akash is a phenomenal coach! The information I gained in just a few short hours is priceless.

~ Fatema Dewji, Director of Marketing for billion-dollar conglomerate, MeTL

Akash is a very effective, inspiring and energetic speaker!

~ Azim Jamal, Nautilus Gold Award Winner

Akash is THE best coach Ive ever had!

~ Eric Laughton, Certified John Maxwell Trainer

Subject to availability, Akash conducts keynotes, workshops and seminars internationally. Get in touch with him on www.AkashKaria.com/Speaking (or via Akash@AkashKaria.com / akash.speaker@gmail.com).

Chapter 1

THE MAGIC OF SMALL HABITS

THE HIDDEN AGENCY OF HABITS

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty of small habits and how they can make your goals easier to achieve, its important to understand the presence and sheer power of habits in our everyday lives.

Many of the things we do on a daily basisstopping for coffee before work, reading the newspaper, taking a shower, exercising, watching TV, having a snackare habits so programmed in our neurological pathways that we dont even know they exist. We move through our day like a plane on autopilot, automatically responding to the happenings of daily life based on the habits weve learned over time.

A short anecdote from the late American author David Foster Wallace illustrates this idea rather nicely. During his commencement speech at Kenyon College, Wallace said:

There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, Morning, boys, hows the water? The two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, What the hell is water?

The idea is that even though the fish are surrounded by water every moment of their lives, they are unaware of its existence. The water is so much a part of their everyday reality that it goes unnoticedor, as Wallace mentioned later in his speech, is hidden in plain sight all around.

Human habits can be explained in much the same way. Although typically unseen and unnoticed by us, our habits are powerful enough to impact our decision-making and drive our daily activities. In fact, Duke University researchers found that more than 40% of our actions are unconscious habits. This idea validates the saying old habits die hard and explains why new habits often are exceedingly difficult to establish.