Habit Change – is it a struggle or a welcome development?
Have you been trying to change a particular habit without success?
This post takes a look at changing to healthy lifestyle habits.
We all have times in our lives when we intentionally want to change our behaviour for the better and create new habits for ourselves.
This could be getting in the habit of eating healthier and drinking more water.
It could also be moving more, taking the dog for a daily walk, work-related, emotional, or spiritual.
There are so many areas in your life that could be improved upon and made easier if you created new habits.
Getting into the habit of doing something is often easier said than done.
We seem to acquire bad habits without any effort, but getting into a “good” habit can be a little more challenging.
Let’s break it down into a three step process that makes it easy to follow until you have internalized the new behaviour and made it a true habit.
This is till it becomes something you do automatically without having to think, like brushing your teeth.
The first step is to decide what you want that new habit to be.
Be as specific as possible. Don’t just tell yourself you want to exercise more.
Instead, say something like “I will go for a 30-minute walk every single day”
Deciding what your new habit will be and committing to when and how you’re going to do it, is half the battle.
The next few days should be smooth sailing.
You’re motivated and excited to get this done.
Sticking to your new habit isn’t an issue, but a few days in you’ll notice that it’s easy to slip back into old habits.
Maybe it’s raining and you don’t really want to go out and walk.
Or maybe your day just gets away from you.
It’s important to have a daily reminder.
Set an alert on your phone or add the new habit to your daily to-do list for a while.
You can see why this is our favourite, all you need to do is use the available tool in your hand, which is your phone!
This brings us to the last step.
It takes some time before a new behaviour becomes a true habit.
Until then, a routine will work to your best advantage.
Even before the new behaviour becomes automatic, a routine will help you get it done without having to spend a lot of willpower or relying on daily reminders.
Make that daily walk part of your after-dinner routine.
Change from grabbing a snack at the vending machine at work at 10:00 in the morning to packing a healthy snack.
Have you noticed that it gets harder to make decisions toward the end of the day?
You’re too tired to figure out what to have for dinner or what to watch on TV.
That’s because we all have a finite amount of decisions that we can make in any given day.
Knowing that helps you prioritize.
You can cut out a lot of decision-making by implementing habits and routines.
That way, you save them for the important stuff.
It also frees your brain space for more creative and productive thinking.
Routines are a great tool that simplifies your life and cuts out a lot of daily stress.
Chances are you already have a morning routine.
You get up, get your coffee, tea/ chocolate as the case may be, read the paper or check your email.
Then fix some toast before heading into the shower. Let’s expand on that.
If you create a “uniform” for yourself, you don’t even have to think about what to wear.
You just grab a pair of pants, a shirt, or a skirt, tights & sweater, and off you go.
Implement some routines into your workday wherever possible.
Meal planning helps you figure out what meals to fix and eat.
A cleaning schedule makes sure you stay on track with your household chores without you having to spend any valuable decision-making skills in the process.
Wrap your day up with a bedtime routine that not only helps when you’re too tired to make smart choices, it also helps you fall asleep more easily.
Also, come up with a few calming things that help you slow down and get ready for sleep.
Read a book, listen to some music or wind down with a cup of herbal tea.
What works for your toddler works for you as well.
You can start by doing a few chores that make the next morning easier.
Making sure the kitchen is clean and the children’s school things are in order are great examples.
It starts with writing with a pen and a piece of paper, why not think about parts of your day and week that you can turn into routines?
Write them down and create daily to-do lists for yourself until you’ve established these new habits and routines.
Spending a little bit of time creating routines and habits will make your day run a lot smoother.
You might just find yourself less stressed and get more done during your productive hours. And that’s a beautiful thing.
It allows you to save plenty of decision-making for the fun stuff like figuring out what park to go to, what family movie to watch, or what board game to play.
Congratulations!
Decide to create the new habit, practice the routine until it’s second nature and you’ll be well on your way to forming a new good habit.
Don’t forget to leave a comment on the area you are working on, cheers.