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Creating a habit

Posted by on 20 November 2009 | 0 Comments

What is a habit? It's an acquired pattern of behaviour that often occurs automatically. They say it takes 30 days to create a new habit and possibly the same time to break an old undesired habit! Habits are those things that you do without thinking - things like setting the alarm, cleaning your teeth, doing the laundry, feeding the dog and so on. You need to decide what activities you want to become part of your lifestyle. Some of the habits might be to walk 30 minutes every day, go to an exercise class 1-2 times a week, eat a healthy breakfast daily, reduce the intake of alcohol, or not eat so much chocolate. It takes energy to remember and then motivate a new action. Habituated actions are far less energy consuming. Think of the benefits if you had a habit of getting up a few minutes earlier in the morning. Perhaps a habit of eating a proper breakfast, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, drinking water throughout the day, exercising, stretching, or relaxing a little every day. Imagine you actually did these activities without thinking about it. Try some of these suggestions in forming new habits. 1. MAKE IT MEAUSUREABLE - Be specific. If you want to drink more water every day then decide on how many glasses. If you want to exercise more every week, decide how many times and for how long. If you want to reduce the intake of your alcohol decide how many days will be alcohol free. 2. COMMIT TO 30 DAYS - Try it for a month. It's not a huge amount of time in your overall lifespan to try something new. What can it hurt? It may just work! If you can make it through the initial phase then you will find it easier to continue. 3. START SIMPLE - Don't try to change everything in your life at once. It will be overwhelming and just too challenging. Start small and build on it. If you want to exercise every day then try adding a new exercise routine into your life once or twice a week and when you have mastered that then build on it. 4. CONSIDER THE IMPLICATIONS - If you want to get up early to exercise, what are the implications? Will you need to organise your lunch or your clothes the night before? If you want to eat breakfast every morning before work have you allowed the time and do you have healthy food in the house? What preparations will you need to make to stick to your habit. 5. REMIND YOURSELF - Place reminders around the place to keep you consistent. Forms triggers i.e. alarms, a list that you check daily, a weekly log. Anything that will help you stay consistent. 6. GET A BUDDY - Find someone who will go along with you and keep you motivated if you feel like quitting. Find someone that you can be accountable too like your partner or your fitness trainer. Enlist the help of someone who will keep you on track. Once you have admitted that you want to make a change and asked someone for help, then you are more likely to stick to it. 7. REPLACE LOST NEEDS - If you are giving up something in your habit, make sure you are adequately replacing any needs you've lost e.g. if you crave sweet things and you are giving up chocolate then replace it with sweet fruits like watermelon etc. If you are giving up sleep to get up early and exercise then go to bed earlier so you still get the right amount of sleep. 8. DON'T EXPECT TO BE PERFECT - We are all human and we cannot be expected to succeed straight away. Just don't give up on your plan entirely. 9. REMOVE TEMPTATION - Remove the tempting items from your home like biscuits, chocolate and so on. You are less likely to hop in your car and go and buy them if you do not have them in the house. Put your alarm clock further away so you have to physically get up out of bed if you have a tendency to hit the snooze button. 10. ASSOCIATE WITH A ROLE MODEL - Spend more time with people who model the habits you want to mirror. You become what you spend time around. 11. DO IT FOR YOURSELF - Don't worry about all the things you shouldn't have as habits. Instead gear your habits towards your goals and the things that motivate you. I challenge you! Try to form one new healthy habit over the next 30 days and then tell me about it.