Somehow I've managed to become way more consistent over the past 3 years. I've quit drinking alcohol completely. I workout at least 3 times a week. I study Korean every day for at least 20 minutes. I wake up pretty early most days.

Before 3 years ago, it was very difficult for me to adopt habits like these and stay consistent. I tried working out but always gave up after 3 months. I tried waking up early but it never lasted. I would have never been capable of studying a foreign language every day!

So, what changed?

I think it was a shift in my motivation. Rather than forcing myself into a new habit to impress or satisfy other people, I started adopting habits for myself; for intrinsic, personal reasons.

Before the shift, when I would workout, I would set a goal to lose weight or to look buff. Both of those reasons are driven by extrinsic motivation. There's a ton of societal pressures to maintain a certain weigth and have big muscles.

My reason for working out these days is so simply so that I feel better.

Previously, I tried forcing myself to learn stuff I thought other people would be impressed by, or that would advance my career. I always burned out.

But lately, the reason I've been able to stay consistent with studying Korean is because it's something I'm truly interested in (for no other reason except pure fascination).

I drank alcohol to fit in and to relax. When I drank, I felt hungover and unmotivated at least once or twice a week. But there is so much interesting stuff I'd love to learn about and to experiment with. I quit drinking to give myself the freedom and time to work on things I want to work on.

If anyone out there is struggling with staying consistent with new habits, try thinking deeply about why you're building the new habit? Are you doing it because you think that you should? Are you doing it to impress others?

Or are you doing it for you?