7 Keys to Make a Habit Stick
During the 5-Day Self-Care Challenge, Beat Burnout, there was a supplemental video with 7 keys to help make a habit stick. You can still watch the video here.
To keep the habit-forming love going, here are those 7 tips written out for you to reference whenever you are out to establish a new habit:
Start small
If you want to start drinking more water, but currently drink virtually none, don’t jump to forcing down 2 liters in a day! Start by adding a cup of water in the morning or one before lunch. The same goes with exercise or food goals. Make a reasonable next step that will challenge you without overwhelming you.
Know your Excuses
Knowing your excuses ahead of time can help you make a plan to overcome them before they happen. Think you will be too tired to exercise in the morning? Choose another time of day or make plans to go to sleep earlier. Think you will cave and eat the candy bar instead of fruit for snack? Get the candy out of your house or add nut butter to your fruit to make it more filling.
Use “But”
If you are noticing a limiting thought creep in, tag the word “but” at the end of it. “I keep failing at my goal” becomes “I keep failing at my goal, but I know I will do better tomorrow/but I can modify my goal to help me succeed”. “I will never be able to give up soda” becomes “I will never be able to give up soda , but I can cut down to one can a day for now.”
Be imperfect
Perfectionism is the enemy of building habits. If you fail at your goal for a day, a week, or even a month, always remember you can pick up and start again the next day, or even midway through one day. And don’t be afraid to modify your goals as you go to make them achievable for you in the moment.
Make it measurable
The more measurable your goal is, the more easily you will be able to see you are achieving it, and the more successful you will feel. “I will walk more” becomes I will walk for 20 minutes every day after school.
Use habit stacking
Habit stacking is when you link a new habit to an already established habit. If you want to drink more water, you can aim to drink a glass of water before you eat a meal. If you want to prep your lunch the night before, maybe do it right after you clean the dinner dishes.
Design your environment
Make it difficult to do things you don’t want to do, and easy to do things you do want to do. Want to read more in the evenings instead of watching TV? Put the remote in a different room and the book next to the couch. Want to go running in the morning instead of sleep until the last minute? Put your alarm across the room so you have to get up to turn it off and have your running clothes prepped the night before.