Old habits die hard, but new habits can also be hard to build! Developing good and healthy habits for your physical and well-being is indisputable. With changing times, we must evolve ourselves and our daily practices. This will help us to stay motivated on the path towards wellness. While a decision to build new habits may not be a red carpet after all, there are certain mistakes you can avoid to make it a smooth sailing.
You might have ‘pinky promised’ yourself a dozen times that you’ll learn a new language, say Spanish, by the end of the year. But the bestselling book you purchased still lies in the back of your bookshelf, and your vocabulary still holds ‘Hola’ and ‘Si’ as its sole occupants. Or you may resolve to work on your weight-loss journey, but you give up even before starting a fitness regime.
Yes, ingraining a new habit in your daily life is no joyride. It comes with its bumps and breaks. And it is quite reasonable to assume that you might make some mistakes along the way.
But don’t worry, we are here to give you a heads-up, by pointing out healthy ways to build new habits.
Know how to build new habits in the right way
1. Don’t rely solely on motivation to build new habits
Motivation, however powerful, is not a constant factor. On some days you may be filled with encouragement. But those days might be far and few.
Instead, you should focus on establishing a system, discipline or accountability that will get you through the monotonous days when you might feel like giving up.
2. Set specific goals
Unless you have a goal post in sight, it is likely you wouldn’t know just where and how to kick. It will always help to be specific about your goals of building a new habit. What is it that you want to achieve and by when? Generic goal-setting may not turn out as effective as being specific about it when you want to build a new habit.
So, try putting specifics like time, duration, place etc. the next time you set a goal for yourself. By the way, do you know about the SMART plan to achieve your goals?
3. Avoid biting off more than you can chew
You might somehow manage to work your arms, legs and core muscles in a single day at the gym. But when the next day comes, you are faced with the expectation to achieve at least what you did yesterday, if not more. And so, the task becomes too daunting to follow through.
But on the other hand, if you divide your task into small chunks – like leg days are Mondays, core muscle exercises on Tuesdays, and so on – you will find your fitness or life goals more likely to be accomplished. Learning how to be a better organizer can be one of the ways to build new habits.
4. Keep a check on your progress
It is easier to feel cornered by all the things you can’t do, if you don’t remind yourself of the things you can. This where it is important that when you build new habits, keeping a track of your progress is most crucial. It gives you a positive mindset to keep you going.
Tracking your progress doesn’t have to be very complex. It can be a simple tick on the calendar after reaching your daily goal.
5. Be accountable
Establishing some form of accountability can make deviating from your path less appealing. So, find a way to impose a check on yourself. For instance, if you skip exercise for a day, you might want to walk back home from work or use stairs for the whole day. That’s how you can build good habits.