Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve only recently come to associate habits with being good – or at least have the potential to be something good. Strangely enough, the word ‘habit’ has always held negative connotations for me (smoking, drugs, nail-biting to name but a few).
But now I can think of habits as being positive leaps forward, it opens up a whole new concept. Since I got my head round this, I’ve adopted a few new good habits, such as making my bed in the morning (don’t laugh – this tiny change actually makes quite a big difference).
How long before you’ve nailed it?
The science is a bit vague when it comes to knowing how long you have to do something before it becomes a habit, with experts citing, in the main, anything between 21 – 66 days. I was told when my kids were babies that you had to expose them to a new food 30 times before their pallet would find it acceptable. So that would fit within those timings.
Now, I’m going to share – I’ve set my stall out to conquer two new habits:
- Drink a glass of water first thing when I get up in the morning.
I’ve known about the benefits of water in the morning for a long time, but my efforts to implement it have been sporadic at best. Until now…
2. Replace a not-so-healthy sweet treat with a piece of fruit after my lunch.
My sweet tooth craves something sweet after lunch and dinner – it actually feels like I’ve not quite finished a meal without a sweet ending (definitely one of the bad habits I was talking about at the start). But if that happens after two meals every day, that’s 14 times a week – eeeeekkk! I HAVE to change that.
I’m inviting you to follow my progress over the next 30 days. I’m putting myself out there for all to see my success and/or failure to make these habits stick. It’s not as crazy as it sounds. Research strongly suggests that making yourself accountable (in this case to you, my lovely reader) helps to keep you on track to achieve your goal. So I’m counting on your help : ) I’ll post my journey over on the Self Care Gold Facebook page
Ok, so that’s accountability.
What else can you do to give yourself the best shot at creating a new habit that will stick?
We’ll go into this in lots more depth in the membership, but for now here are my top 3 tips:
Identify your why
We all try to make changes for a reason. There’s a catalyst, something that spurs us on to thinking about and then implementing a change.What is it? What is the desired outcome?
It’s not as easy as you might think. You’ll probably need to drill down a few levels of questioning to find the root why.
Let me give you a clue – it will boil down to an emotion.
So for me, let’s take the fruit goal (no.2 above). Why do I want to make this change?
Well, I worked out that I’m eating an unhealthy, convenience sugary item 14 times a week. And that startled me!
Why? (Drill down)
Well I know the types of items I’m eating (refined sugar laden) are very unhealthy and without doubt contributing to my excess weight. But also poisoning my gut health and immune system to name just two.
So? (Drill down)
So, if I can ½ that refined sugar intake each week, I should be able to lose weight (or at least prevent more going on) AND improve my gut health, immune system, skin health etc
Why is that important to me? (Drill down)
Because if I lose weight, I’ll be more confident wearing nicer clothes (including beach/swim wear) in summer. Because as I’m getting older, I’m starting to worry about diseases that are reported to be linked to dietary causes. Because as my skin ages, it needs more care.
So, my reason; my why boils down to lack of confidence and fear – emotions.
We see tangible, measurable outcomes, but it’s the underlying emotion that will actually make the difference to you. If you can change how you feel that’s the powerful thing. More confidence can be life-changing. Reducing fear about your future health is freeing, stress-lifting and can give you a renewed sense of what’s possible for you.
Start small
Let’s face it, creating new habits and sticking to them is no walk in the park! So don’t try anything too ambitious. Start with something relatively small. I know I’m working on creating two habits at once, which I normally wouldn’t advise, but each is relatively small and kinda related so I’m hopeful that I can manage both.
Habit stack
Instead of having to remember to do things to make your new habit stick, a clever idea is to habit stack. That is to stack your new habit onto an existing action – one that you pretty much do without thinking. Piggy backing your new action onto an existing one will make it easier for you to make a connection and remember to do the new thing.
For me, when I get up, my first action is to fill the kettle for a cuppa. I’m planning to piggy back that action with filling a glass with water. During the tea-making process I’ll drink the water.
Don’t be too hard on yourself
Allow yourself to fall off the wagon a couple of times – it might be a drop in will power or you might just forget onde day to do the new habit. Making a couple of slip ups along the way won’t make any difference in the long run so don’t give yourself a hard time. What is important is that you get back on board with developing the habit asap.
Are you starting a new habit? Let me know. Hop over to our private FB Group and share your goal. If you want someone to be accountable to, ask in there – it’s a supportive, encouraging space full of like-minded women.
We’re all right behind you!
Good luck!!
xx
Top Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash