New Year New me.....or not.
How many times have you tried to start or maintain a new habit, only to fail miserably?
We all have.
The good news is that there are some simple secrets that can help you build better habits and be more successful in maintaining them. In this blog post, we will talk about 12 of these secrets. You'll learn how to create sustainable changes so you can live a healthier and happier life!
Number One: Start Small
When you're trying to establish a new habit, it's important to start small. If your goal is to go to the gym every day, for example, start by going at a scheduled time and day once or twice a week - it's important to create a habit. Once you've been successful at that for a while, then you can gradually increase the number of days until you're at the full workout every day.
Creating a plan and building small, achievable milestones can help you stay motivated throughout your journey to building better habits!
Number Two: Track Your Progress
One of the best ways to ensure that you actually achieve your new habit is by tracking it. If you don't know what you're doing is working or progressing, you won't know whether or not to try something new.
Tracking your progress can help ensure that what you are trying to do is actually helping in building your new habit. If it's not, then maybe there's a different approach for you!
Most importantly, seeing progress keeps you motivated and more likely to achieve your goal!
Number Three: Make It Sustainable
Building better habits takes time and effort, so it's important to make sure that you're building sustainable habits. If your new habit is too difficult, then chances are you won't stick with it for long.
Building better habits should be something that lasts a lifetime - not just until the first challenge comes along! Be kind and patient with yourself as you build new routines into your life.
Number Four: Build it into Your Current Routine
In order to build better habits, they should be a part of your current routine as much as possible. For example, if you want to brush your teeth before bed every night for improved dental hygiene, then make sure that the new behaviour becomes part of your existing evening ritual.
This makes building better habits much easier, as you won't have to fight against your old routines and temptations. It will just be a natural part of your day-to-day life!
Number Five: Visualize Your Goal
One great way to motivate yourself when building better habits is by visualising your goal. When you can see yourself building a new habit in your mind, you'll be much more likely to do it when faced with an opportunity.
If you have a clear image of what building better habits will look like, then that can help motivate you further down your journey! Keep yourself focused on achieving your goals and visualise how good it feels to build these healthy routines.
Number Six: Keep Track of What Doesn't Work
One thing you can do when building better habits is to keep track of what doesn't work. This will help guide future decisions and allow you to discover new things that might be more effective for building healthier routines in your life.
Building the best routine takes time, but it has a cumulative effect on building better habits. Keep yourself open to new ideas and listen to your gut instincts!
Number Seven: Consistency is Key
If you want new habits to actually work, then it's important that you are consistent with the routine. The more days in a row where there isn't at least one disruption, the easier it will be to build better habits. A study by UCL discovered it takes on average 66 days for a habit to become automatic.
A new routine can become a habit if you're consistent with it, but the opposite is also true. If you don't stick with at least one or two days per week of building better habits then that habit simply won't work for your life. Be kind and gentle with yourself as you try to establish this new behaviour!
Number Eight: Celebrate Your Victories!
When you are finally building better habits, it's important to celebrate your victories. This will help keep you motivated as you continue on your journey and remind yourself of how good it feels to be successful.
Make sure to take some time out every once in a while to reflect on all the progress you've made. This will help keep you going when building better habits seem tough!
Number Nine: Be Patient
One of the most important things to remember when building better habits is that it takes time. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither are good habits!
Building better habits can take weeks, months or even years - but that doesn't mean that building new routines into your life isn't worth it! Be patient with yourself and continue working towards building the best possible habits for your daily routine.
Number Ten: Find a Role Model
Having someone to look up to when building better habits can make all the difference in the world. If you don't know exactly what building healthier routines into your life looks like, then find someone who does and emulate their behaviour.
Not only will this give you a clear idea of what building better habits entails, but it can also be incredibly motivating to see someone else doing the same thing!
Look for people in your life who have healthy routines and learn from them. Don't forget you can also go to social media or YouTube for role models.
Number Eleven: It's OK to Fail
Sometimes building better habits isn't going to work out for whatever reason. That doesn't mean that all of your efforts are going to be in vain.
If building a new routine in your life doesn't work out, then accept it and move on! It's important not to get discouraged if building healthier patterns of behaviour is difficult for you; just keep trying until something works! Don't beat yourself up over one little setback because building better habits is a process that takes time, effort, and patience.
Number Twelve: Accountability is Key
Finally, building better habits can also help tremendously when finding accountability. If someone else knows what your new habits plan entails, then they'll be able to give you encouragement and support as well as let you know when something isn't working.
Building better habits is a lot easier when you have people to lean on. Find someone who will help keep you accountable, motivated and make building new routines into your life as easy as possible!
The Bottom Line
Building better habits is a challenge but with the right mindset and foundation developing better habits will be easy as pie.
It's important to see that this is a continuous journey, not a final destination. It can take time and patience to make it stick, but the results are more than worth it!
If you ever need help from Nutrition Geeks in building your new habit, please do get in touch! Also let us know what habits you aim to form in 2022 in the comments below!