Yesterday’s post revealed the importance and challenges behind establishing and maintaining good habits. It also ended with a promise that I would reveal the steps necessary to make use of life structuring to do this.

1. Pick your habit. Whether it be reading 30 minutes a day, writing, drawing, exercising, or anything your heart desires, pick it. Once you have chosen, envision the benefits that it will bring about. Close your eyes and picture yourself already having established the habit.
2. Pick your zone. Your zone should be unique to the habit you are trying to establish. It should be free of distraction and oriented around the task you have to accomplish. If you are working out, your zone would be the gym. If you are trying to draw, read, or write, a coffeeshop with a pair of headphones would be your setting.
3. Pick your time. Pick a designated time to practice your habit. It does not have to be every day; it can be once a week at a certain time. Schedule no other plans during this time and allow nothing else to take precedence. Treat it like a doctor’s appointment. This ensures the “I had a busy day” excuse cannot be used.
4. Stick with it. To properly establish the habit as something that can be maintained, do this for about a month. Eventually, your subconscious mind will become addicted to the habit and will stop resisting. He will actually start to help!
5. Work on flexibility. After the habit has rooted itself in solid ground, you need to work on flexibility. While life structuring is a useful tool for starting habits, it becomes impractical after long periods of time. When first working on flexibility, still set a time during which no other things will be scheduled. Try switching your chosen time, pushing it back an hour here and there. Eventually, a designated time will not be necessary.