Last Quarter End - Week 9: Building Healthy Habits
The year-end is approaching, and you might be contemplating your New Year's resolution—a healthy habit you wish to adopt. I suggest starting now instead of waiting until the new year. What is the one Healthy Habit that you wish you had?
Let’s first understand the Power of Habits
Habits are the invisible routines of our lives which operate on autopilot. This can be both a challenge and an opportunity. While bad habits can lead us astray, good habits can propel us towards our goals with minimal conscious effort.
How to build healthy habits? Follow these 8 steps and you will possess another healthy habit even before the new year starts.
Start Small
The key to building lasting habits is to start small. Choose one habit you want to develop – it could be as simple as drinking a glass of water first thing in the morning, eventually building up to eight glasses a day, or starting with a ten-minute walk daily, gradually increasing to an hour. The simplicity of the task makes it more manageable and less overwhelming.
2. Consistency is King
Consistency beats intensity when it comes to habit formation. It's more effective to practice a new habit for a few minutes each day than to do it for hours once a week. This regularity helps to cement the habit in your daily routine.
3. Stack Your Habits
Habit stacking involves adding a new habit onto an existing one. For instance, if you already have a habit of drinking coffee every morning, you could stack a new habit of drinking a glass of water right after. This coupling can make the new habit easier to remember and stick to.
4. Create a Supportive Environment
Your environment plays a crucial role in habit formation. Make your desired habits easy to do and the undesirable ones hard to engage in. If you're trying to eat healthier, stock your fridge with healthy options and keep junk food out of the house. For example, when aiming to drink more water, I use my favorite cup, which encourages me to pick it up.
5. Track Your Progress
Keeping track of your habits can be incredibly motivating. Use a journal, an app, or a simple calendar to mark the days when you successfully practice your new habit. This visual representation of your progress can be a powerful motivator.
6. Be Patient and Kind to Yourself
Remember that building new habits is a process. There will be days when you might miss it. Instead of being hard on yourself, acknowledge the slip-up and get back on track. Patience and self-compassion are crucial in this journey. You don’t need to be perfect and certainly we are not looking for 100%. It’s the progress that counts!
7. Celebrate Your Wins
Don't wait to reach a big milestone before you acknowledge your progress. Celebrating small wins helps to create positive associations with your new habits and reinforces your desire to continue. Providing yourself with some incentives is a good way to help build the new habit in the beginning.
8. Reflect and Adjust
Periodically, take time to reflect on your habits. Are they leading you towards your goals? Are they sustainable? If a habit isn’t working for you, don’t be afraid to tweak it or replace it with something more aligned with your values and objectives.
