How to start something new in life - 2023 Guide
Is it that time of your life, where you ask yourself how to start new things? This thought likely pops up, when you have forgotten how it feels like seeing the world unfolding in front of you. Discovering something new in life every day, like the days back in childhood. The reality is, that we find ourselves too often in the dusty routine. Doing the same every week, all year long. But hey, it’s never too late to start something new and today we’ll make headway towards new and fresh beginnings!
How to start something new:
3 easy steps
1.
Start today
Whatever it is, that you’d like to start. It’s essential to take one step forward today already. Whether it be booking an appointment for a test training, doing one yoga pose, or preparing a vegetarian recipe. Starting new things often times fail due to a “let’s start tomorrow”-mentality. Provide yourself a quick win by starting something new today!
2.
Build the habit first
Building a habit doesn’t come from making big leaps in the beginning. Consistency is the key to starting something new. Consistency is built by doing little, simple steps at first and increasing volume over time. James Clear advocates, that a new habit should not take longer than 2 minutes to finish. When you feel confident in sticking with your new thing, increase the duration.
A 2021 study shows that a new habit is manifested in about two months. The golden rule is to never miss twice. Find the balance between too easy and too challenging. Make sure, that you don’t overdo it until it became fully part of your life.
Want to go wild?
Tickling your new thing on a habit tracker every time you have finished it is super satisfying. Not only does it feel good, but it also increases your chance of sticking to it.
3.
Find people who share your new thing
Everything can be better together. Finding people who also want to start something new increases excitement and success. Sharing your new passion with somebody is a rewarding journey and can even build great relationships. Where are the people meeting that do the same you’d like to do?
Why you should start something new
The fact that most of us dwell in memories, how great life was back in the days makes it clear: We love to try out new hobbies, countries, a different street back home, the restaurant we are were talking about for so long, the café around the corner and so on. The list is endless.
There is even a term for our urge for new things: Neophilia is the level of urgency for new experiences. And now the even better news: People who live their neophilistic inclinations live a healthier and happier life. Our mood gets elevated just by thinking about doing something new. Surely this urge has to be balanced with a great routine.
But hands down: most of us live just their daily routine, craving for novelty. This craving is usually compensated with cheap satisfaction like social media, Netflix or newspaper. However, this is not real! Your body and you know exactly that this kind of novelty is not the true novelty you desire.
Why it can be hard to start something new
Entering adulthood brings many responsibilities. Over time, without a notice, our mental capacity is fully used. I really enjoy technology these days, because it gives warnings and notifications when a resource is depleted or has reached its capacity. But we don’t have this mechanism for our motivation and willpower. It can be hard to recognize our body’s signs for exhaustion, overwhelm and procrastination. Reasons for that are:
Too many activities in life
It’s very likely, that you are already fully booked with responsibilities and other activities. University, workout, your job, your kids, family, the usual issues – this is not an exception. Many of us are fixed on the wall with things that need attention.
Unfinished old things
Unfinished chapters often corrupt our ability to start new things. Overdue feelings and expectations influence the present tremendously and can lock you out of the realm of happiness.
Ineffective time management
Did you ever ask yourself why we never learned highly applicable knowledge in school? Like taxes, or mental health? Time management is one of them. Knowing to properly manage your time can increase life quality tremendously. On the other side, being dictated by your environment does exact opposite. You’ll be surprised by how far you can go with an all-out time management protocol.
Excessive instant gratification
Blessing and curse at the same time: Humanity got too good in pushing the buttons in our brain. Those buttons that make us feel good immediately. Unfortunately, this knowledge is mostly used against us. It prevents us from doing the things that are really meaningful to us. Permanent availability, being able to watch whatever movie we want 24/7, food in every corner – all of this feels great, but it comes with a big price tag. There is no dopamine left anymore, for the things we actually want to do.
Stuck in the comfort zone
Nobody would deny that life in the comfort zone feels cozy and safe. However, you are not put on this planet to feel cozy and safe all the time. Several surveys have been conducted with dying people and most of them confessed two things: they didn’t love and didn’t live enough. That’s what they dramatically regret. Don’t make the mistake and dedicate your life to the bubble.
Forgot how to be persistent
Now, we have to be honest about one thing: Starting a new habit, goal or relationship comes with a need for persistency. Even though everybody knows this, we tend to forget that persistence is a muscle to be trained and not some knowledge to be absorbed.
Decision fatigue
Why is it more likely that somebody works out in the morning, than in the evening? Simple reason: Our capability to make quality decisions diminishes over the course the day. This leads to poor decisions the longer the day gets. Research shows, the less decisions we have to make over the course of the day, the better the quality of the decisions becomes. Planning ahead for what you will cook, what you will wear and what you will do over the course of the day increases your possibilities massively.
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