Most habits are created by accident.

When nature calls, you find yourself unconsciously reaching for your phone and scrolling Instagram before you’ve even sat down. The same thing happens before bed, somehow, without making any conscious decision, you’re already lying there watching YouTube.

These are triggers.

And I think that’s really all habits are: behaviors that grow out of them. Stack enough habits together, and eventually you get a routine.

I’ve been on a gap year preparing for college admissions, and building a routine has been one of my biggest struggles. I had something decent going… until a really bad breakup reset everything to zero.

For two months, I rotted on my bed. Wasting time, doing nothing. Just hoping that the feeling of heartbreak will pass.

But it did pass eventually.

I slowly got back on my feet, and in doing so, I learned something:

It’s really difficult to build a habit—and eventually a routine—through pure mental strength alone. But we can use what I like to call triggers to help us.

Here’s what that looked like for me.

I wanted to build the habit of going to the gym. So for a few days, I’d wake up, brush my teeth, have breakfast, then crack open a can of Mango Loco Monster Energy. After that, I’d force myself to head to the gym.

After a few weeks of consciously repeating that pattern, something changed.

Once I finished my can of Monster, my brain automatically wanted to go to the gym. I didn’t have to talk myself into it anymore.

The drink did the work. It became the trigger.

Another example would be reading.

I’ve always had the habit of taking a shower right after finishing a gym session. So I turned showering into another trigger. The moment I step out, I grab a book and start reading.

I started with just five minutes a day, then added fifteen seconds every day until I hit my goal of fifteen minutes.

The shower doesn’t just clean my body at this point—it signals to my brain that it’s time to read.

Triggers aren’t just how habits form by accident.

They can also be how you build them on purpose.

← Bloggy