Ok, let me spill the beans right off the bat. There is no shortcut to good habits.
I know, I know, some may find me too direct, too strict, and too I do not know what….But I am not gonna BS you… there is no magic pill. And whoever wants to sell you on some trick, is only tricking YOU!
The trick is that there is no trick – it takes work, effort, strategy and time. I described the whole process in a very simple and sweet post: “5-step strategy to develop good habits & keep them”, which you can read here.
So managing your expectations is a key.
Research shows that on average it takes 66 days to build a habit.
Yes, SIXTY. SIX
So forget your 3 days’ challenges and crap like that; get to work.
However, none of this means, there are no ways you can make the habits building/sticking easier, faster or more effective.
As someone who went from an emotional eater stressed out workaholic to someone who is exercising daily, eats keto and runs 3 businesses, I know a thing or two about changing bad habits and building good ones. So I put together this list of 5 ways that helped me (and will help you) to make the habits building easier, faster and, as a result, more successful.
- STEP BY STEP
Workout instead of snoozing, green juice instead of coffee and meditation instead of reading news, salad for lunch instead of panini, walking after a meeting instead of cigarettes and evening reading and yoga instead of drinking with friends…. Immediately. All of it. Today. Tomorrow and forever. From day one until … until when?
Well, I will tell you – until the next evening when you collapse on sofa totally drained with a bag of cheetos bigger than your head, and binge watch netflix. And that’s the better scenario – in a worse case, you will have a full blown meltdown in front of your whole team. Egh.
So….please, please and please. If you were XYZ for the past 5 years, expecting to win the world championship in good habits building tomorrow is not only naive, it’s hurtful.
Not only will you cultivate zero good habits in this way, you will also lose your motivation, and hope. Also, such failure will only reinforce your belief about how impossible this is and makes it more difficult to re-start.
So, lets take a deep breath and a step back shall we=
Choose ONE, TWO or maybe THREE habits that if you mastered will level up your life significantly.
Don’t be under-whelmed; there will be plenty of time to blend kale and munch on home made raw vegan cookies while knitting your own halter top, till the rest of your life. Now get your shit together and start with ONE thing, even if it’s just making your bed.
PRO TIP: Not all habits are created equal. So choose quality over quantity. Pick habits which tend to have a ripple effect, like Keystone habits. I wrote an entire blog post about them, which you can read here and get inspired.
2. BE CLEAR
I want to exercise more IS NOT, and I repeat, IS NOT a habit to be adopted.
Exercising a workout XYZ, 3x a week min 25 minutes in the morning is.
Know the difference and set your habits accordingly. Being vague gives you too much wiggle room. 5 minutes less here, one day of rest there, and before you know it, you are not consistent enough to actually make that habit stick.
As a bonus, you also set yourself up for failure and from point 1 we know how that goes.
PRO TIP: Write it down. I always write my goals on the very first page of my agenda. In this way I am reminded of them 1000x a day – aka every time I open it.
3. VISUALISATION
Visualisation is one of my favourite mindfulness practices. It lowers stress, anxiety, creates head space and also works miracles for goal setting and achievement.
No wonder it is my “go to” technique that helps me to stick to a particular habit better.
How do I “visualise”? Normally, I take a couple of quiet moments, tune into myself, and focus on my outcome. Not only focus – I feel, hear, see, and even pretend to taste the outcome.
I make that vision so clear in my mind, that I will do almost anything to manifest it in “real life”.
Sounds rara, maybe. But it works – my vanished double-chin can attest to that!
PRO TIP: Create specific affirmations for your unique outcome. Then repeat them over and over either during or after the visualisation. This really enhances the power of visualisation.
4. JOURNAL
Having a habits tracker, where I could “track” my daily habits was a complete life changer. It was both a source of gratification due to dopamine released when I ticked “checked”, as well as a source of motivation to follow through, not to “break the chain”. Simply win-win.
PRO TIP: Don’t just track – reflect in a journal form. What worked? what didn’t? How can you improve? As mentioned, building habits take time. It is a process, during which you evolve each week. Contemplating all you are going through will be so helpful.
Therefore, for my clients and followers, I have developed a special HABITS TRACKER template. A simple tool that helps them not only to track their habits, but it also contains prompts that enable them to reflect on their actions. You can get it for FREE here.
5. Get Support
Lets normalise not doing things on your own. Let’s normalise avoiding trial and error. Lets normalise not wasting your time with things that don’t work. Let’s normalise investment in yourself.
Lets normalise getting help, support and most importantly a real strategy.
Building new habits, making changes in your life and levelling up can get hard. So set yourself up for success and get the support you need.
Whether it is an accountability group, trusted friend, following a particular account or hiring a coach and consultant.
PRO TIP: For anyone struggling with building a better and more sustainable lifestyle, I am offering a free kick off call. Free. No strings attached. We talk, we analyse, we create a strategy, we set you up for success. Book it here.
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