When trying to simplify our lives we might find ourselves in need of some new habits to help us along the way. Incorporating new habits into our routine can be an effort to adopt and maintain. If you find yourself struggle to make new habits stick, here are a few guidelines to help you successfully incorporate them into your daily life.
Make Time For Your Habit
Incorporating new habits into your routine requires patience and time. It means making room in your daily routine for the habit you want to adopt. In order to break old habits and introduce new ones, a little disruption is called for; you need to make space for the changes to bed in or else your new habit is unlikely to stick. Make use of a planner to schedule in time for your habit; building it into part of your daily routine will help make the habit stick.
Hold Yourself Accountable
Find a way to hold yourself accountable for the promise you've made to adopt a new habit. Find a way of "checking in" with your habit to hold yourself accountable. You might consider telling others your goal, writing it down and pinning it somewhere you'll see it everyday, using a progress journal, or buddying up with someone who wants to adopt the same habit. Holding yourself accountable means you're less likely to give up and you're more likely to stay motivated.
Remove Any Temptations
If you’re trying to break a bad habit, removing any temptations or triggers is necessary for encouraging new habits stick. If you know there are certain things or situations that tempt you into doing the opposite of what you hope to achieve, make changes to eliminate or remove them from your environment or daily routine. When we don't change our surroundings or remove temptations we find ourselves easily falling into our old habits. You can prevent this with a little consideration to your environment and routine.
Celebrate The Small Wins
Set “micro-goals” and celebrate little milestones. Congratulating yourself on your achievements so far helps embolden and encourage you to keep going with building a new habit and better lifestyle. By only celebrating once you've achieved your goal, you're setting yourself up for a hard slog to the finishing line; be kind to yourself and celebrate the small victories. Celebrating the small wins as much as the big ones will keep you motivated and on track to adopting those new habits that will improve your life.
Don’t Give Up
Adopting new habits can take time and you'll need to be patient and not give up while you wait for them to become part of your routine. Along the way, you may find you slip up and that's OK. We all make mistakes; don't give up. Making a few mistakes, big or small, doesn't mean you've failed, just keep going. It's easy to wonder "what's the point?" when you make a mistake. Staying motivated regardless of the hurdles you face will enable you to achieve you goal regardless of the mistakes you make. Push through and keep going.
