Ability is highly underrated as a lever in driving behavior change. If something is too difficult or arduous, you won’t do it. A couple of strategies that can help.
Instead of “start flossing every night,” do something like “floss one tooth.”
Instead of a 20 minutes of daily gratitude journaling, do something like “When I wake up I’ll say to myself, ‘Today is going to be a great day.’”
Instead of hitting 10,000 steps, do something like “walk one block.”
Instead of working out 3x a week for an hour, start with something like “do 2 pushups each morning.”
It might sound silly. But the point is to make it so small you don’t have to rely on motivation or willpower to do it. They habits are so small that your ability to do them is very high. And by anchoring them on an existing behavior, you create the trigger necessary to prompt completion.
If you find that you still struggle, consider making it even easier. James Clear talks about reducing scope but sticking to the schedule. Building the streak matters more than the duration.
You probably have a big list of things you want to change. But that doesn’t mean you have to do it all at once.
If you try to tackle too many habits at a time, you risk reducing your ability to accomplish any of them. Especially if you’re just getting started with habit formation, consider adopting only one habit at a time.
This is again why I love 10 year visions so much. It allows me to simultaneously think bigger but also be more gentle with myself. I have time. Better to adopt one new habit each month (or even each quarter) and actually succeed at it vs. trying to do 12 at once.