Habit is a cable; we weave a thread each day, and at last we cannot break it. ~Horace Mann
Beep! Beep! Beep! Your alarm is going off. It’s time to make a choice! Do you fumble around for the snooze button or do you get out of bed?
Life is all about choices. Each of us make good choices and bad choices. Do you choose to wash your dishes or let them sit in the sink until the next day? Do you choose to overspend and anxiously wait for the next paycheck or do you consistently put money into your savings? Do you choose to take responsibility for your actions or do you blame your circumstances on others? Do you choose actively parent your kids? With each choice we make, we also can change, do things in a different way and get better results.
Many people want to change their habits. Some want to develop healthy habits such as exercising on a regular basis, putting money into savings, being on time, waking up earlier, or being a more involved parent. Others want to stop bad habits such as blaming others for their problems, biting their nails, smoking, overspending, or saying bad words.
Here are some tips for developing healthy habits and making them last:
- Simple Is Best. Don’t start with 10 habits that you want to change all at once. This is easy to do because you get excited and feel like you can do anything. (Trust me, I’ve been guilty of this many, many times!) Start slow! This also applies to habits such as exercising. If you decide that you want to exercise everyday for 2 hours and you haven’t exercised for years, you will likely burn out. Start slowly and work your way up toward your goal. This will help avoid burnout.
- Commit To Your New Habit For The Long Haul. I’ve read many times that 21 days is all you need to form a new habit. Even after 4 weeks of working on the habit, you will still have to work it into your schedule! Commitment is essential for long-term success.
- Be Consistent! Work on your habit every day, at the same place, and at the same time to make your habit last. This will help the habit become part of your routine and easier to schedule into your daily calendar.
- Reminders, Reminders! The first week you start on a new habit, you are excited to work on your habit. As the weeks go on, that beginning excitement fades and you might start forgetting to work on your new habit. The way to solve this problem is to set reminders for yourself. You can do this in many ways. Sticky notes placed around your house, on your steering wheel of your car, or at work are a good way to start. This is also a good way to commit to working on the habit because once you write it down on paper, it keeps you more focused and accountable to yourself! You can send yourself a reminder through your email account. There are apps you can buy for your smart phones. My favorite is setting alarms for myself on my smart phone because after programming it to do it, I never have to set the alarms again (and it’s free)!
- Find A Friend Or Accountability Group. It’s really important to have someone to keep you on track and motivated when you want to quit. There’s a reason that Alcoholics Anonymous meet as a group. Encouragement, motivation, and knowing others are counting on you really help when you are trying to develop a new habit!
- Let Go Of Being A Perfectionist. There will be days that you will mess up on your new habit. If change was always easy, no one would have bad habits! Have a back-up plan and keep going!
- Believe In Yourself. Many people never live up to their potential because they don’t believe that they can. You can! It might take some practice but you will get there. When I started running years ago, I would tell myself that I wasn’t any good at it but if I kept trying I’d get better. I did get better! You can too, believe in yourself!
- Substitute Lost Needs. Sometimes bad habits are a way to fill a need. If you are a nail biter, instead of chewing on your hands, you could try to substitute chewing on gum instead.
- Spend Your Time With People Who Already Have The Habit You Want To Develop. They might be able to share tricks to keep you motivated and ideas to inspire you.
- Schedule Time To Reevaluate. You could do this weekly or monthly. Do you need to change-up your routine? Instead of going to the gym, could you ride your bike, go for a swim, or run around your neighborhood? Look at what is working and what isn’t. Make adjustments and keep moving forward!
- Get Rid Of Temptations. Throw out the Oreo cookies and junk food, quit buying cigarettes, and put a healthy snack into the car. Do whatever it is to remove the temptation from your life.
- Track Your Progress. This may seem very juvenile to some of you, but I’m a visual person. If I give myself a happy face on my refrigerator calendar after I complete my habit, it motivates me to want to get another one the next day. The same thing applies for stickers or crossing the day off the calendar, etc. Do what works for you but by tracking your progress you will build motivation and know exactly how you are doing on developing your new habit.
- Reward Yourself. Be careful not to reward yourself with something that could set back your habit but a small (appropriate) reward also gives you motivation.
Your Challenge: Comment below with a healthy habit that you would like to add into your life! Schedule a date to begin working on your new habit and follow the steps above. I know you can do it!
Did you miss the other posts in this series of 31 Days Of Intentional Living? You can find them here!
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If you are looking for more information on habits, here are a few books that might help you.
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Rosy says
For my family: I would really like to get up earlier and get ready before the kids. I usually wake them up on my way to the shower and they get themselves ready, pack their lunches, and eat a quick breakfast all on their own while I get ready, but I don’t have time to eat breakfast and then we rush out the door for morning three different drop offs and I head to work. I would like to have a slower morning and cook or prepare a healthy breakfast and actually sit down with them before heading out for the day.
For myself: 30 minutes of floor exercise for myself
Jenny says
Both sound like wonderful habits! Slowing down and savoring can be so hard to do when we are constantly in “go” mode!
Sherri says
Responding with empathy.
Jenny says
That’s a great habit to work on!
Dawn @ Reveal Natural Health says
One goal I have is to stop working when my son gets home from school. It is so easy to get caught up with blogging and other work that I am not fully present when my son is talking to me about his day. Being a work from home mom, there is always something I can be working on. I need to get better at saying from the time my son gets off the bus until the time both kids are in bed is family time (including making dinner and picking up the house).
Shonnea says
I would like to become more present moment-to-moment to build patience and understanding for those around me.
Jenny says
That is a wonderful thing to work on! 🙂
Jenny says
I think these are great tips! Thank you for sharing this!
Anita Ojeda says
I’m working on the habit of having my lessons all planned BEFORE the weekend (I teach high school English and US History). I enjoy my weekends so much more if I get the work done ahead of time! Thank you for linking up!
Jenny says
Wouldn’t that be great?! 🙂 You can do it!
Adrienne says
Great tips! So glad that you linked this up to the Be. YOU. tiful link party. 🙂 Hugs Adrienne
Samantha @ Stir the Wonder says
Great advice! Thanks for linking up at the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop! We hope you stop by again next week!
Sarah Ann says
Fabulous post! I am trying to be more intentional with my time, realizing that there aren’t enough minutes to do everything I want to do. While I realize I can’t do it all, using some of these great ideas will help me be more intentional with the activities I do need to accomplish! It was a joy to find you through Mom’s Morning Coffee and I am a new follower! I’d be honored if you would share your great posts with the Saturday Soiree Blog Party @ http://faithalongtheway.com. We’d love to have you join our community!
Kimberly B says
Day #2 for me! A friend from church posted a link for this on Facebook and I decided to give it a try for the new year. I am really enjoying the articles and look forward to reading more.
As for my healthy habit, I’m really not sure yet. There are so many things I want to change.. I have to try to focus on one at a time, like you suggested.
I want to quit ecigs, get back on an exercise routine, start eating healthy again, pray more, complain less, etc.
GOALS
1. Make spending time seeking God a priority!
Through prayer.
Through worship.
Through immersing myself in His promises.
2. I will spend time loving my family.
3. I resolve to NOT listen to negativity, and choose to move in a different direction to focus on an art of moving forward.
4. I resolve to ROCK my LIFE in all its glory.
5. I resolve to love myself first – to take care of my mind, body and spirit. Therefore, I can love others wholeheartedly.
6. Dance like no-one is watching, but if in public please dress it up and garnish it with bling.
Thanks again for the tips! God bless you.
Marcia says
My challenge is to work on me and get to excersising…………….