.png)
Habits are the building blocks that make each of us who we are. They are the small decisions and actions we take in our everyday life. Which means your life is a result of your habits. When you repeatedly do the same thing over and over whether it is an action or a belief, it shapes who you are.
Understanding how habits are created and how to form new habits is essential when it comes to change. Seeing how impactful habits are on our lives it is necessary to make sure your habits are serving you and your life in a purposeful manner. I have seen how my habits have affected my life both good and bad. I learned that my habits directly affect my happiness.
My weight? A result of my poor eating habits.
Feeling lethargic and bloated? A result of overdrinking, overeating the night before, and not getting to bed at a decent time.
and the list goes on.
Start Small
Many times people begin with big, lofty goals. There are a few problems with that. Hold on there a minute. I am not saying you shouldn’t aspire to achieve greatness in life, because I believe each one of us has greatness already residing in our beings from the time we are born. Big goals are just more easily attained if they are broken down into smaller pieces first. I mean, we all want to be like Oprah Winfrey (one of my large goals) and have money, success, and be recognized for our accomplishments. But that one large goal may be the one thing holding you back. The thing is the more removed your goal is from your current situation the harder it will be to achieve. This is the reason most people quit. Humans like things to be easy and the moment they do not see results right away they give up. In order to keep yourself from giving up you need to break your large goal down into smaller goals, each one leading up to your main goal like a ladder.
If this sounds like you, create a list of the steps you need to take to reach your large goal. Start with the first thing on the list. Make an actionable plan to get that done with the steps necessary for you to take. Then start with step 1 and GO! Let’s say your goal is to start going back to school. Your first step would be to look up schools near you or online courses and get prices and reviews. The second step may be to save for the class or if you already have the funds necessary, the next step would be to register for the next semester or class available.
To make this easy for you I have created a FREE Goals worksheet you can download. This will give you the framework needed to begin working towards your goals today.
Make it Easy!
Although humans can do hard things, we prefer when things are made easy. Let’s take New Year’s resolutions as an example. According to Inc. Magazine 80% of people quit their New Year’s resolutions by the second week of February. When you make new habits easier for yourself, you are setting yourself up for success. Other people do not even make it that far, quitting within the first few weeks.
How can you avoid this and make your habits stick?
Make it easy for yourself! You need to prime your environment to set you up for success. Your environment is everything when it comes to your mindset, habits and how you feel about your life, so creating an environment that helps you work towards your goals is key in making a habit stick. You want to create an environment that is like a rainforest, primed for growth, rather than an environment that is like a desert, a place where things go to die.
If you want to begin working out in the mornings, put your gym clothes out the night before so you have no choice but to wear them.
If you want to start drinking more water, put a full water bottle by your coffee maker the night before, so that you see the water and drink it before you make coffee.
Want to eat less? Buy smaller plates so you eat less without even having to think about it.
This is how you overcome the natural resistance to avoid difficult things.
Make Bad Habits Impossible
According to habits expert James Clear, (a favorite of mine) a great, research-backed way to make habits stick is to remove negative influences from your environment. Put your phone in a box when you need to focus on an assignment or work so you avoid looking at social media and scrolling when you should be working. To eat healthier, remove junk food from the house or place it somewhere where you cannot see it first thing.
Negative influences work like the old saying, “out of sight, out of mind.” It is easier to remove things from your environment than it is to create and sustain the willpower to constantly see those influences and avoid them. Author James Clear even went as far as to hire someone to keep his phone away from him when writing one of his books, in order to avoid the habit of checking social media when he was working. The result? He finished his book with time to spare because he created an environment that was conducive to work.
New habits should feel easy especially in the beginning when you are trying to make them stick. If you can stay consistent and give yourself grace on the days when you do not do so well, after all we are human, you will succeed in creating and sticking to your new habits.
Comentarios