You can make all the plans in the world, but if you don’t follow them, they’re worthless.
It’s that simple: The best way to change your habits is by making them a part of your daily routine, but it doesn’t happen overnight. In fact, changing habits takes time and effort—but it’s worth it!
Here are some tips for making sure you stick with your new lifestyle:
1. DON’T QUIT
It’s easy to get discouraged. If you’re making a change, it’s natural to want to give up when things don’t go as planned.
But don’t! Instead of thinking about how long it took for the habit to form or how difficult it was for you at first, think about all of the things that made this possible:
2. MAKE A PLAN
While it’s important to make a plan and stick to it, you don’t have to do this alone. You can get help from a coach or other expert who can help you form the right habits for your life.
You only need three to four weeks to make a habit. If you can get through the first few weeks of conditioning, it will be much easier to keep going.
A month is a good amount of time to make a change because it’s easy to schedule.
3. DON’T TRY TO TAKE ON MORE THAN YOU CAN HANDLE
The first step to making habits work for you is to focus on one habit at a time. If you try to change too much in one go, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and give up.
Focus on the most important habits first, then add others as time permits.
4. EMBRACE ACCOUNTABILITY
The first step to making habits work for you is to find someone who will hold you accountable. If that’s not an option, use a tool like Habitica or Coach.me.
Once you’ve got a coach or accountability partner lined up, the next step is making sure that each day includes some type of activity related to those goals and how long it’ll take for them to happen (and not just thinking about doing something).
This could mean waking up early enough so as not to miss out on working out; taking advantage of all-day Sundays by planning ahead; scheduling meetings with coworkers who need help setting aside time for themselves; etcetera. The possibilities are endless!
5. ALWAYS REMEMBER TO WARN YOURSELF
After about two weeks into your commitment, it is possible that you may forget about it. Set up daily reminders to ensure that you stick to your routine, otherwise you could skip a few days.
Setting a habit in the first place will be for nothing if you break it by missing time requirements. So, always have a mechanism to warn you when missing out.
6. MAINTAIN YOUR CONSISTENCY
The steadier you are with your routine, the less effort it will take to maintain it. If you are interested in beginning an exercise routine, you should try to stick to the same time and location for the first 30 days.
When signals like time of day, location, and circumstances are the same from one situation to the next, it is much easier to remember what you have learned.
A study shows that it’s easier to remember when influences like time of day, place, and circumstances are the same each time.
7. SET MICRO HABITS
In keeping with the goal of keeping things as simple as possible, one more approach is to experiment with micro habits, which are defined as minute changes that (over time) get you closer to accomplishing your goals.
Consider them to be stepping stones on the path that ultimately leads to your objective. Start with simple steps, eventually, you can make it effective over time.
For example, if the goal is to get better sleep,
What you can do: The blue light from screens keeps us from sleeping well. Keep your favorite books next to your bed and keep your phone in another room.
You’ll probably pick up a book instead of scrolling through your phone when it’s time to go to bed.
8. REWARD YOURSELF
Reward is a key part of making a new habit stick. When we brush our teeth, we get a minty fresh mouth right away.
But some rewards, like losing weight or getting in shape, take longer to show up.
This is why most people fail to keep their New Year’s resolutions. So, this helps to build in such quick rewards to help you get into the habit.
For example, if you run while listening to an audiobook or watching a favorite YouTube video on the treadmill, it can help you keep up an exercise habit.
9. BUNDLE TEMPTATIONS
This final push makes mandatory duties more fun. Katie Milkman and her colleagues developed the idea, which is simple: combine a disliked activity with a like.
Temptation bundling in action: Combine a rewarding activity (checking Instagram, listening to music, or binge-watching your favorite podcast) with a less enjoyable one.
Try to only engage in “fun” activities in combination with “not-so-fun” activities.
10. SHOW SOME KINDNESS TO YOURSELF
Last but not least, as you begin on this journey more toward mindful routines and, ideally, healthier habits, don’t forget to be kind to yourself.
Any change that is intended to be long-lasting will need patience. Simply said, that is how things are. There will be good and bad times. But you are able to do it, and if you’ve gotten this far, it means you are also ready for it.
Conclusion
The key is to make your habits work for you, not against you. If you keep this in mind when making any changes, it will be easier than ever before to start seeing results and feeling better about yourself as a result.
Trust yourself, make your own plan, and change it as needed, keeping in mind that you can always change your habits.
