How to Form New Habits (and Keep Them!)
- Chelsea Galloway
- Dec 6, 2024
- 3 min read
It's no secret that habits are not easy to form. It takes time and dedication and persistence to be able to achieve a new habit and add it to your daily routine. It took me years to be able to be consistent with exercising, and it took a lot of trial and error to get where I am today. Let's dive into some helpful tips that you can use to begin working towards habit formation:
Give Yourself the Opportunity to Succeed
We set ourselves up for success by taking away the object or stimulus that reinforces the bad habit. For example, if you know that going to the gym in the morning will be challenging, set out your shoes by the door to make it easier to just leave out the door. Or if you know that you want to eat healthier, making meals ahead of time would save you a lot of time and stress throughout the week. There are many ways to consciously add in a new habit to your week, you just have to figure out what will get you to actually do the work.
Be Patient with Yourself
We can never expect ourselves to just adopt new habits quickly, as much as we would like to believe otherwise, we like to stay in our comfort zones. If you are adding in a new habit, that directly affects your current comfort zone. It's important to recognize this within yourself and acknowledge that it may take time to adjust and to set yourself up for success. If you knew your best friend was starting a new fitness routine and missed a day or a week, would you be kind and understanding and encouraging? Or would you be condescending and rude? The chances are (if you are truly caring about the other person), you would choose to be understanding and motivate them to keep going! Talk to yourself the way you would a close friend.
Make Choices
I know decisions can sound scary! Every day we wake up and make so many decisions before we even leave the house, what do I eat, what do I wear, what am I doing today, who do I have to care for today...the list is seemingly never ending. In this particular instance, I'm talking about choosing to commit to your habit each day. It won't magically happen at first, the only way to make the change is to actively choose to do the task you set out to. Whenever we began a routine, we all started out with doing it one time, made decisions to do it again and one day it was so ingrained that we didn't even have to think about it anymore.
Scheduling is Your Friend
If you want to start something, note it in a calendar! Just like a doctors appointment you would schedule, try the same tactic with your new goal. You want to put your new habit into that level of importance so it cannot be brushed off so easily. When we actually make a schedule, it reinforces the idea of the new habit. It can also be a good idea to pre-book yourself for at least a month to help with not only fitting the time into your schedule but also to know that you have a task coming up.
It will always be easier to not change anything about yourself, but if you want to achieve growth and gain strength and confidence, it will always be worth it to dive into something challenging. Give yourself the best opportunity by making things easy for yourself (i.e. preparing things ahead of time, scheduling time in to your day) and know that you won't be perfect right away. And, if you need extra motivation or problem solving, reach out to me! :) Now get out there and kill it!
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