Have you ever suddenly wanted to start good habits at the beginning of the year? Either it’s exercising, doing something creative, or just regularly tidying your room. Well, you’re not alone. According to a survey conducted by NPR and The Marist Poll in 2018, 44% of American adults say that they were likely to start a positive habit after the big day. But, somewhat interestingly, another research suggests that only 20% of those people stay with their positive habit, at least for a habit of working out. Why is that?
Everything we do starts from a desire, and desires are generally based on a need. In 1954, Abraham Maslow proposed a hierarchy of which types of self-needs are arranged. As a person, we need to fulfill the bottom level before we can move on to work on the upper level. Otherwise, the deficit of low-level needs can be a distraction in fulfilling the upper level.
For me, exercising & working out fills out the safety needs. As I’ve had asthma since I was little, I noticed that one thing that makes my asthma rarely recur is if I am physically active from time to time. So for me, if I’m not exercising, the safety of my health is at risk.
From this, I want to advise if you want to start new good habits on another big occasion. Learn what your low-level needs are, and see if they are being met. If not, maybe they are the ones distracting you from fulfilling your upper-level needs. And try changing your focus to fulfill them first.