Do you have healthy habits?
Do you pay any attention to your habits?
It may seem like habits aren’t very important, but the truth is they can
change your life. All of the small
things you do are what add up and make the big things happen.
But first, let’s do a quick check in. Did you decide if you have what it takes to try
that new hobby, career or to pursue your dreams? Did you think about it at all? I hope it helped you to realize that you can
do it, so long as you get started NOW!
Okay let’s get back to talking about your habits.
Stick to learning one habit at a time!
Consider picking one habit at a time and sticking with it,
until you have developed a regular routine.
Often times we try to attack 10 different things at once, and don’t see
any results; the lack of results causes you to give up. It’s so frustrating to feel like you have a
bunch of balls in the air and see all of them drop. If nothing seems to be working for you, I get
it, I’ve been there. Matter of fact I
still struggle trying to eliminate certain habits! It’s easy to be exhausted and feel like you
are a failure, because you went all in and were trying so hard at everything, yet
nothing panned out like you wanted it to.
There is nothing wrong with you and you aren’t a failure. Sometimes you just have to fix the process
and it will make it easier to be successful.
You will find relief by routinely practicing one habit at a
time. The times in my life where I have
seen the most progress is when I focused on one habit or goal at a time. I picked one thing and stuck with it until I
didn’t have to think about it anymore.
The truth is, in the beginning you must focus on one thing and one thing
only. Don’t be tempted to do everything
at once. Consider doing that habit at
the same time every day, so it becomes part of your routine. Vince Lombardi says “Success demands
singleness of purpose.” Your one purpose
is making that habit part of your routine.
I previously tried to create a running habit but didn’t have any consistency. I randomly created a running habit, by running at the same time every day. I also put on my running clothes after work, no matter what, whether I felt like running or not. It helped me to make it a routine. If you want to read more about how I trained for my first Marathon, click here.
Celebrate your small wins.
Celebrate small wins as you accomplish them! Make a chart or something you can refer to,
so you can celebrate when you conquer a habit.
Maybe you do the habit for 10 days in a row, and give yourself a small
reward. That reward may even be to relax
or take time for self-care.
Another option is to use Jerry Seinfeld’s Don’t break the chain method. In this method you have a calendar and you put an X through every day that you complete the desired habit. If you miss one day of your habit, try not to miss the next day. Once you see that chain of completing several days in a row, it gets harder to give up on your desired result. It’s a reminder of how far you have come and can also be used to reward yourself. Remember to determine the amount of days that need to have X’s through them, and reward yourself when you hit that number. Maybe you even highlight that date on the calendar, so you know how close you’re getting to your goal.
Have a system to measure your progress on your habits!
It will be easier to measure your progress, if you have a system in place, to see your results. James Clear is a guru at creating habits. He recently wrote an article saying you are more likely to be successful at creating habits if you have physical reminders to do your tasks. He gave an example of having paper clips and two containers. Place all of the paper clips in one container and none in the other container. Every time you complete the desired habit put a paperclip in the other container. This encourages you to keep doing it. It also helps to see your progress when you see the paperclips piling up. It’s a form of positive re-enforcement.
Keep your new habit simple.
Keeping your new habit simple, helps to prevent you from you
dreading doing it! Pick a habit you want
to create and the pick the simplest version of that habit. For example, say you want to start working
out on a regular basis. Make a plan to
work out for 5 minutes every day for 30 days.
Your only mission is to get to the gym and exercise for 5 minutes. Once you develop that habit you can extend it
to 10 minutes and then keep extending the time out further and further!
Complete your habit for at least 21 days in a row!
In his book “Focus” Jack Canfield suggests you try a task for 21 days in a row. He cautions that some bad habits are deep rooted and may take longer to overcome. Jack states “If you have been doing something repeatedly for thirty years you may not be able to let go of it in a few short weeks. Acknowledge the fact that a deeply entrenched habit has long roots. It’s like trying to sever a multi-stranded fiber that has molded itself, over time, into a single powerful rope. It’s very hard to break.” For example, if you had low self-confidence all of your life, you can’t expect it to change overnight! After 21 days pass, evaluate how you feel. Do you still feel drawn to that bad habit? If so, it’s even more important to push on. Don’t stop, and don’t break the chain of success that you have already experienced. Beware, you may think you solved the problem only for it to creep back in, when you’re stressed out. For now, focus on hitting the 21-day mark, and then evaluate how you feel.
It takes time and energy to turn a new habit into a routine. Once you make it a habit it won’t require as much brain power for you to keep doing habit and will eventually become second nature! Keep the big picture in mind, because the small decisions you make day in and day out lead to the big results! Greatness doesn’t happen on a whim; it is the result of a series of habits that are consistently executed.
Today: Identify 1 bad habit that you want to get rid of and
1 good habit that you want to keep. I
will be checking on you next week! You can also post this in our Facebook
group!
Marie
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