4 Ways to Make Positive Habits Stick
Your life is made up of days, and your days are made up of more habits than you can count.
It's quite possible that you rolled out of bed this morning, showered, brushed your teeth, made your usual breakfast, and headed out the door without giving a single conscious thought to your actions until after that first coffee hit.
Habits are unseen drivers of our behavior, and they can have profound effects on the person we become and the future we create.
How would your life be different if you managed to sneak in 10 minutes of meditation every day? Perhaps developing the simple habit of cooking at home could cut your food expenses in half while supporting your health goals?
Habits can either be our biggest downfalls, or our greatest strength. If you want to embrace the power of positive habits, here are 5 ways to get started.
"Your habits will determine your future" - Jack Canfield
1) Get Intentional and Write it Down
There's something about pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) that can solidify a passing thought into an actionable plan. If you repeatedly find yourself setting intentions, but never following through, this habit is for you.
Write down whatever new habit you'd like to make and leave it somewhere you're going to see daily. This could be on your phone's notes app, on a sticky note on your bathroom mirror, or anywhere else that will give you gentle reminders to stay on track.
2) Prioritize What's Important
A common mistake many people make when trying to form new habits is piling on too many things at once.
The point of developing good habits is for these positive actions to feel natural and effortless. The more boxes you have to tick and items you have to cross off your list for your habits, the more difficult it will be for them to stick.
Try choosing a single habit that's both important to you and attainable before adding others into the mix.
3) Make Your Habit as Easy as Possible
Humans are both creatures of habit and creatures of ease.
When you come home tired and hungry after work, probably the last thing you'll want to do is attempt a new, complicated and time-consuming recipe for dinner. Chances are if you don't have something quick and healthy ready to heat up, the delivery apps will start looking mightily tempting.
The secret to overcoming this obstacle is preparation. Make your habits as easy as possible to follow through on in the moments when your willpower will be low. Set out your gym outfit for the morning in advance, plan your grocery list before you're in the store, or keep that book you finally want to read on your pillow ready for bedtime.
Essentially, you just want to set up "future you" for success.
4) Clear Time in Your Schedule for Rest
This tip may be the most important of them all. It's easy to get so caught up in ever increasing expectations for ourselves that we miss the real point of building positive habits in the first place.
Intentional positive habits can allow us to become healthier, happier, and more productive versions of ourselves, but none of this will stand the test of time without a balance of rest.
Rest allows you to release both physical and mental tensions so you can move through life a little lighter. Without it, even the simplest tasks can feel insurmountable.
Whether you like to unwind with a bath, journaling, or a night spent with friends, make sure you schedule in enough restorative activities to keep your tank from running empty.
Changing your life isn't easy work, but habit by habit and day by day, you might look back and realize you've come much further than you'd ever thought possible.