Mental Resilience is not something you do when you are motivated or obsessed about a certain thing. Mental Resilience is built slowly, silently and consistently over a period of time. This allows you to walk smoothly through the rough and boring terrains of life. This article is written with all this in mind and I will be guiding you through it. I’ll explain what mental Resilience is and how daily micro habits help us build better mental resilience.
What is Mental Resilience?
Mental resilience is our ability to stay calm, composed and focused under pressure. It is the ability that makes sure you stay on track even after having so many setbacks. The ability to not give up or falter. Learning from mistakes and accepting failures as a part of the process. Making sure what you feel is not affecting what you do. Mainting all of this over a long period of time and being yourself. It doesn’t mean always being composed, but trying your best to not let the situation take your mental resilience away. Even the most efficient people fail at times.
What are Micro Habits?
Micro habits, as the name suggests, are small habitual things that you can repeat in your daily life without exerting much efforts and almost no resistance. Examples include:
- Taking a deep breath before answering a serious question.
- Doing a 5 minutes meditation every morning before breakfast.
- Writing one page of article after dinner.
- Walking 5 minutes in the morning.
- Reading 5 minutes daily.
Why Micro-habits improve mental resilience?
Habit loop stability
Habits create a stable loop of cues, effort and reward. You see a cue, then automatically do the work for that habit and get the reward of satisfaction and improvement. This creates a proper predictable pattern that makes a stable loop of productivity.
Reduced cognitive load
Since the habits are too small, the resistance and efforts are also too small. This reduces the load on your brain.
Compounding Effects
These habits maybe small but the accumulating effect is big. Like if you write one page a day, you will have written a book by the end of the year.
Harward has explained the microhabits in the same way. You can read for more details
How to build a system of Micro-habits?
This system of habits ensures that you follow a pattern that lets you complete the habitual tasks.
Start with one habit only
If you start with many habits, it will cause a load on your brain. Your brain will resist it and it will become difficult to do. To avoid this, start with a single habit and only work on this habit. Once, the habit is fully formed, you can create one more. A habit usually takes 21-60 days to form. But it mostly depends on how many times you repeat a process.
Use triggers
We often forget that we even had to do something and even if we remember, it feels like a chore. To avoid it, use cues. Something that triggers you to remember something. This is not just for mind but for body too. Like when we go to the bathroom, we don’t have to think before brushing our teeth. This is because brushing our teeth is a habit already. Going to the bathroom is what triggers brushing our teeth.
To make cues for your new habit, use something you do everyday. Like I’ll write something write after taking a shower(if you shower daily). Like, I’ll go wash the dishes right after finishing a meal. Define the cues in detail to get the most out of them. Like, I will get up in the morning, brush my teeth, wash my face, then put on my shoes, take my phone, eat an apple and go out for a run. Instead of, I’ll go for a run after waking up in the morning.
Keep intensity low
If the small habit is difficult, then make it smaller. Something is better than nothing. It is good if you work 10 hours a day but it is better if you work one hour instead of not working at all. If you struggle, keep the intensity low.
Track the progress
Tracking is one of the best ways to keep going. If you don’t see any results, you lose the motivation to do something. But tracking shows you that you have made progress.
There are two ways to track a habit. One, to track the days when you did something. Two, you track how much improvements you have made. Like, you studied one hour everyday and after a month, you can see that you have learned 3 chapters. The second way is better and shows you what you gained instead of showing you that you are just doing something.
Weekly Adjustments
Adjust your habits weekly. If they are hard and you skipped them, then make them easier. If they are too easy and you want to make more progress, then make them slightly more challenging.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Starting with too many habits
- Creating unrealistic expectations
- Not sticking to one habit and changing constantly
- Seeking motivation instead of consistency
- Not trusting the process
If you follow the habits that you have built scientifically with the system that I just explained, then you will notice how gradually you improve your mental resilience and productivity.
if you want tk read about focus and action and how it helps you, I have explained it here.