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You are here: Home / Goal Setting / Creative Habit Naming – Part 1

Creative Habit Naming – Part 1

November 15, 2006 by Gleb Reys 11 Comments

I’ve recently acquired yet another healthy habit – doing ab crunches just before my morning shower. I’m so happy with my results that I just have to share with you some of the methodology used in the process of working this habit out. Particularly, I would like to talk about the art of creative habit naming, which I personally find incredibly rewarding.

Everyone faces a moment where a particular habit stops being attractive up to the point of giving it up. There are obviously different reasons for ending up like this, but mastering your habits can get a whole lot easier by employing a very simple yet useful technique: creative habit naming.

I haven’t seen anything written on this topic, and so mostly I had to try different approaches myself. If you know of any author covering the topic of creative habit naming in a book or a blog, please let me know.

The idea is pretty simple: when you’re working out a particular habit, every little helps to stay motivated and interested enough. When it comes to mastering habits, creative habit naming is a very effective way of making your life easier.

By picking a thoughtful name for your new habit, you can dramatically improve your chances of mastering it, simply because every time you come back to thoughts of the habit, you will reiterate the motivational name you gave it and automatically gain benefit from this.

Naming a habit may not seem terribly important, but it actually means a lot and holds a key to your success. What I offer you is not a revolutionary new approach which will make your habit feel easier to master, but it will make it seem easier and appear more attractive, which will help you stay on top of things.

I’ve identified three main directions in creative habit naming: motivation, progress tracking and positive affirmations.

Today, I’m going to cover the first topic – getting motivation through naming your habits wisely and creatively.

You can’t have too much motivation. No matter what you do, you and your positive outcome will only benefit from any motivation you find in and for the process.

I find it very easy to name my habits in such a way that they become quite motivational. This helps me benefit from the habit even more, and generally makes my experience of working out a habit a much easier and more pleasant process.

Here are the three most useful ways to name your habit and get additional motivation from doing this:

Goal Statement

This is one of the easiest way to stay motivated: always remember your goal. If it’s an impressive enough a goal, you will get additional pleasure in repeating it every time you work on your habit, trust me!

It really is up to you to decide what your habits naming style is going to be, you can be funny, serious, playful, cheerful – you name it. Anything goes, as long as you’re clearly stating your goal.

Here are just a few examples of using goal statements in naming a habit:

  • Enjoying life on a daily basis, no matter what.
  • Becoming a better father to your kids
  • Getting fit in an easy and healthy way

Major focus

Another aspect of naming your habits for motivation is maintaining a focus. In many cases, it’s too subtle a difference from stating your goal, but you can actually use your habit’s name to serve both of these purposes. For example:

  • Becoming indecently rich while not killing yourself with work.
  • Meeting new people while not forgetting about the friends you already have
  • Building a better relationship with your partner by paying more attention and keeping your own promises.

Benefits and value

This is the last highly motivational way of naming a habit I want to cover today. It is aimed to remind you of why your habit is so cool and what exactly you are getting from regularly committing to it.

Here are just a few examples:

  • Learn a new language so that you can enjoy talking to natives when travelling.
  • Getting fit to enjoy a healthier and therefore longer life
  • Read more books to grow personally and gain knowledge

Have I left something out? Please leave your thoughts on this topic in comments area, I would live to learn your approaches to creative habit naming. Thanks in advance!

Filed Under: Goal Setting, Mastering Habits

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Mikhail Subach says

    November 17, 2006 at 5:44 am

    Great idea, Gleb! I think that habits are rather important way for personal development, but have never thought about giving them motivational names!

    Reply
  2. Gleb Reys says

    November 17, 2006 at 10:22 am

    My point exactly, Mikhail!

    I also think many of us have used this approach before, but hopefully will start doing it more often and more consciously after my explanations.

    See you around! All the best!
    Gleb

    Reply
  3. kristian hahndel says

    July 31, 2007 at 4:35 pm

    Hey Great Blog, Gleb!
    Habits are definately the key to success. I personally believe what we consistenly do habitually ends up create the person we become in the future. Weather that is financially, emotionally, physically or spiritually. You definately have the tools to that will help us all implement the habits we desire. Great post i think this will benefit alot of people.
    best regards
    Kristian Hahndel
    http://www.myselfhelpstore.com

    Reply
  4. K Amber says

    October 9, 2007 at 10:11 am

    For goal setting I use a consistent set of tools. My visualisation is done Alpha mind where I do not allow fear and doubt to set in. Just me and my dreams.. then I allow the universe to bring me my opportunities for me to take action. Very simple method. I work along with a visualization track that tell my mind what to I. All I have to do is to just follow. And that works everytime
    K Amber

    Reply
  5. Gleb Reys says

    October 9, 2007 at 11:40 am

    Thanks for the suggestion! Never tried Alpha mind myself, sounds like an interesting approach!

    Reply
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Trackbacks

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    November 22, 2006 at 11:37 am

    […] I was reading an article written by Gleb Reys ‘Creative habit naming’ and I thought it was a great idea. It got me thinking about how else we could develop habits so that they don’t become a chore for us. […]

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  3. reikiblogger » Blog Archive » Carnival of healing #63.. Living and Dying says:
    December 10, 2006 at 2:44 am

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    February 12, 2007 at 8:57 pm

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