As the new year approaches and we begin to think about goals and resolutions, we all aim to have healthier and more positive habits, Creating good habits allows you to develop these goals and resolutions into automatic behaviors that you do naturally as part of your day to day life. How do you choose those new goals and turn them into healthy habits? List out the habits you’d like to adopt and then follow the tips below in order to move your goals into automatic pilot.
1. Believe that you can build new habits
This is the first step, believing you can. You may have tried and failed several times before in transitioning from a goal to habit, however, stop telling yourself you cannot do it. While some people may have an easier time creating new habits, by following the right strategies everyone is capable of building habits and making them stick.
2. Start small
Often we can become overly ambitious when creating new habits. We may decide we will exercise daily after not having done so for over a year. However, setting the bar so high causes an almost guaranteed failure. A better strategy is to set the bar low, so that you can lightly step over it. Make the decision to exercise once per week, or something small. After a bit of time you can raise this and continue to do so until you reach that larger goal you had initially wanted to set.
3. Be specific
Everyone wants to “work out more” or “eat healthy”, however these are general and ambiguous goals, so it is unlikely that it will result in any specific action being taken. The more specific you are such as, “No sweets on Fridays” or “I’ll exercise for ten minutes, twice per week”, the more likely you are to do it. The more often you follow these specific goals, the more likely they are to turn into healthy habits you’ve internalized.
4. Reduce Barriers
Often we have a goal we want to set, however, when thinking of the actions we need to take to get there, there are several barriers standing in the way. Perhaps you want to work out three days per week, however, the gym near you doesn’t have late-night hours to fit your schedule or you take public transit and would need a car to get there. Even if it is something as simple as not being able to find your gym bag, that is enough of a barrier to reduce the likelihood you will go to the gym. So it is important to consider those barriers and figure out how to manage these before you begin to set these habits.
5. Tie It To a Trigger
Tie the goal or behavior you are trying to turn into a habit to something you already do on a regular basis. For example, you may want to drink more water each day; tie this to an action you already do. For example, each time you get up from your desk at work, take a sip of your water as soon as you do that. This creates a bond between the trigger and new habit so that you’ll soon start to do one immediately following the other.
6. Reward Yourself
Giving yourself a reward after you perform an action you are trying to turn into an automatic habit reinforces the cycle you are creating of doing that action, so the habit is more likely to stick (e.g. rewarding yourself for exercising with a snack). Eventually you will enjoy the activity without the reward, however, first you need to trick your brain into creating this automatic habit by rewarding yourself first.
7. Forgive Yourself if You Fall Off the Wagon
Let’s say you decide you are going to go to the gym twice a week and the first two weeks you successfully achieve that goal. However, the third week you have some work deadlines, friends in town, and only make it there once. After this week you begin to criticize yourself for not meeting that goal. However, studies show that beating yourself up after you fall off your goal-setting wagon is counterproductive. Instead, be kind to yourself; let yourself know you’ve had a minor setback, but that this is normal and happens to everyone when creating new habits. Then, resolve to do better the next day.
8. Build One Habit At a Time
To change a behavior and turn it into a long-lasting habit requires willpower, which is a limited resource. We don’t have enough willpower to take on changing several habits at once, so it’s important to build one habit at a time. Once a new habit is integrated, it no longer requires willpower so you can start building new habits that you’d like to set for yourself. As you enter the new year and consider your goals, think about how you can integrate these strategies into achieving your goals.
If you need help making your habits stick, click here to work with a life coach or therapist who can help.