PEAK: The Best Time to Change a Habit (It’s Not January 1st)

Back in 2013, I started a new full-time job at Heidrick & Struggles (H&S), a global management consulting firm. For the four prior years, I had set my own schedule and worked on my own as a speaker, author, and coach.

By accepting this new role with H&S, my work schedule and morning routine would change. I decided to use this as an opportunity to cultivate a habit that had previously eluded me: exercising before work instead of after.

Before I started my new job, I planned my ideal morning routine and included a morning workout in my pre-work schedule. It became part of my new routine.

Over a decade later (and back working on my own again), my early-morning exercise habit is still going strong.

Many of our habits are linked to cues from our environment and schedule. When your life changes, that’s a great time to establish new routines because your environment and schedule will be changing.

Like me, you might find it easier to adopt a new habit during a larger transition than a more stable period. Science has proven this as well.

For example, in an experiment led by Dr. Todd F. Heatherton of Dartmouth College, people trying to make various changes in their lives were studied. Researchers found that over 35% of successful changes were associated with a move to a new location.¹

Many life changes are voluntary and positive. Examples include moving to a new home, starting a new job, becoming a parent, moving in with a significant other, getting married, and so on.

However, each of us will also experience negative, involuntary life changes, including physical injuries, break-ups, and the loss of friends and loved ones.

Think about a recent life change (positive or negative) that you experienced. Did you use it as an opportunity to change some habits, or did you carry your old habits with you into the next phase of your life?

Unfortunately, some people bring old, negative habits from job to job, home to home, and relationship to relationship. They fail to leverage the positive potential of major life changes.

The stronger approach is to use each life change as an opportunity to step back, evaluate your habits, and decide what you will start or stop doing as you move forward. I refer to this strategy as “hiding” new habits.

Next time, you experience a major life change (for better or worse), ask yourself what habits you would like to start or stop doing. Then, put a strategy in place to make it happen.

Hiding a habit inside a larger transition can be easier than trying to change during a more stable period.

While you can form new habits whenever you want, the best time to change your behavior is when your environment or schedule changes.

Here is another takeaway: always consider how you can change and optimize your environment and schedule to support your ideal behavior. 

References

1. Chip Heath and Dan Heath. Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, (New York: Broadway Books, 2010), 208; Todd F. Heatherton et al., “Personal Accounts of Successful Versus Failed Attempts at Life Change,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 20 (1994), 664-675.

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