Setting your habits on cruise-control.
Do you wish you had the ability to put certain habits on cruise-control?
We’re talking hands off the wheel, no speed bumps, zero acceleration of willpower.
The good news is that you can.
The real talk is that you can once you sketch out your roadmap and do several practice routes to your destination.
Did you know that your habits control your daily life? Studies have shown that the choices we make on a daily basis are motivated by repetition. The nature of habits is just that, repetitive.
There are theories that creating a new habit takes between 21 and 66 days. However, just like anything else surrounding wellness, habits only work if you make them work for your lifestyle. There is no magic number that can do the work for us.
Habits are bio-individual, just like you!
When making changes to your health or fighting inflammation, habits are truly the stepping stones toward resolution and feeling your best. Habits also make your healthy lifestyle enjoyable, predictable, and sustainable. Structure is so important when it comes to health, but you have to do the work to create that structure.
So, where do you start?
Here are 5 tips to building new habits that you can start right….now!
Habits depend on YOU and what you are trying to accomplish. Write down your desired habits. By setting this intention, you can further break them down to determine if they are habits you can realistically commit to. For example, doing a 5-minute meditation in the afternoon is very different than climbing a mountain each morning (however, if that’s your goal, we are here for it!). Bottom line, make sure your goals can be approached with consistency and enjoyment. Set yourself up to succeed!
Start small and realistic. To echo the above, keep your habit in alignment with the life you live right now. Identify how far you currently are from this habit. There often needs to be “gateway habits” to take you to the ultimate ones. For example, if you eventually want to exercise 5 days a week but currently are not exercising at all, we encourage you to start with once or twice a week. See how that feels, start to experience the benefits, and then you will be able to build upon that habit instead of resenting it.
Habit association. Associate your desired habit with something you already do really well in your daily life. “Habit association” is attaching a healthier habit with something you have on lockdown.
Habit stacking. “Habit stacking” is when you take that association and turn it into consistent action. Are you someone who does laundry every Sunday afternoon? Piggyback onto that and hop on your favorite recipe blog to do some meal planning for the week. Taking advantage of what you already do well can help your new and healthier habits become sustainable.
Identify your roadblocks. This is an important one! If you think about changes you’ve tried to make in the past that didn’t last, reflect on why. Was it that you got bored? Were you afraid of true change? Did you feel like you didn’t have enough hours in the day? Whatever the case, it is likely these roadblocks will revisit you. This time around, be prepared for them. Whether it’s self-talk, bringing in a support person, or setting daily reminders on your phone, make a plan of action to knock down these roadblocks.
We’ve created an example for you.
Let’s say your desired habit is cooking dinner at home 5 days a week. Below is the journal exercise using these 5 tips.
I want to cook dinner at home 5 days a week. I want to create this habit because cooking at home allows me to use whole food ingredients to feed my family and therefore better our health.
This goal is realistic. It requires me to only cook 2-3 times more than I’m used to. Plus, if I make one meal that has leftovers, I’m now only cooking two more days a week than before.
My habit association will be my daily email check. Every afternoon during my child’s nap, I take time to catch up on my emails, but I end up scrolling on Instagram for at least 20 minutes. Now, I’m going to use that 20 minutes to chop some ingredients to help make cooking easier in the evening.
Habit stacking will be committing to the habit of chopping ingredients ahead of time around the same time I check my email in the afternoon.
When I’ve tried this in the past, my roadblocks have been feeling like there wasn’t enough time in the day. I also became stressed when I didn’t know what to make for dinner, leading me to make impulsive decisions and get takeout. This time around, I am going to use habit stacking and association and even try and plan out my dinners on Sunday so I can stick to the plan and have all ingredients on hand and ready to go!
We believe your new habits can change your life for the better. Rooting you on!
In love and wellness,
Mel and Mel
Photography averie woodard
