Everyone has goals they want to achieve, but if you don’t make a conscious decision to form a HABIT around that goal, it’s never going to happen. Greatness is achieved by consistent daily dedication and practice. Great chef’s cook every single day. Great artists and musicians create & play every single day. Fitness models workout every single day. If you’re practicing something you love and are passionate about, likely a habit already exists (and doing it feels effortless since it’s coming from your heart).
But how do we start a NEW habit for something you’ve never done before? Stepping outside of your comfort zone to start a new goal can be daunting and scary, but it doesn’t have to be.
Here’s some simple steps to create lasting habits.
1. Start with Small “Micro” Goals
The egotistical “go big or go home” approach for goal setting will usually NOT WORK long term! If you’re try to set the goal too high or unrealistic, you’ll struggle, become overwhelmed & frustrated, and often times give up quickly after starting. Most people find it difficult to adjust to extreme change. The smarter approach is to start with small “micro” goals, and as you master them, keep adding to them. Because you’re gradually changing yourself, it’s easier for your body and mind to adapt and you’ll be more likely to stick to the changes. Here’s some examples of Small “Micro” goals, versus Big (unrealistic) goals so you can see the difference.
Goal = lose 30lb
(BIG unrealistic Goal) - Workout 1 hour 4x/week & only eat 1500 calories per day
(Small “Micro” Goal 1) - First 2 weeks: Food Swap snacks (chips & chocolate for fruit bowl) & workout 20min, 3x/week)
(Small “Micro” Goal 2) - Next 2 weeks: Food Swap drive through Egg Sandwiches & greasy hash browns for cereal/oatmeal & workout 20 min, 4x/week)
(Small “Micro” Goal 3) - Next 2 weeks: Meal Prep Sandwiches/left overs for lunch, instead of drive through & workout 25 min, 4x/week) Keep gradually adding to and improving your goals……if you do this every 2 weeks for 6 months or a year, you’ll grow into a brand new person.
2. Write Down Your Progress
Try to physically write down each time you do a goal. By writing on a calendar to track events or even cross through days complete with a marker, you can really give your goal setting a huge boost! First off, it’s a visual motivator and reminder to keep pushing forward. Secondly, visually seeing this can be very satisfying, inspiring and really boost your self confidence. When you get to a point where you can start physically flipping through weeks and months of progress, it’s an amazing feeling to see how much you’ve accomplished. Third, it can help you stay accountable if you’re living or working with other people who can see your progress. Forth, you can sometimes see patterns in your efforts and this will be helpful for making adjustments & improvements.
If you are trying to become a better cook, write down each meal you made in a daily journal
If your working out, get a dollar store calendar and cross through each day complete
If your improving your business, document how many calls or deals per day/week you make
3. Set Reminders
Life is busy with work, school, appointments, cooking, kids, family time, etc. Sometimes we need an actual reminder to do something. Take advantage of technology and use your phone to trigger an alarm or calendar reminder. We are much luckier than our grandparents to have technology at our fingertips to help us. Even using sticky notes on your doors or bathroom mirror along with phone alerts can really help remind you for the first several weeks. Any method that works for you, do it! This 2021 study shows that regardless if you start a habit based on routine, or a time of day, both are effective at creating a permanent habit after 60 days. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33405284/
4. Behavior Chains
This is another proven way to start habits that work really well for people. A behavior Chain is when you trigger yourself to do a new habit, after you complete a task you would normally do anyway. A lot of people refer to this as the IF/Than method. IF you do Action X, then you will do Action Y (immediately afterwards). This works especially well for self improvement habits (personal hygiene, cleanliness, eating habits, tracking belongings, etc). Here’s some simple examples of IF/THEN habits.
IF: I walk in the front door of my house, THEN: I immediately take my shoes off
IF: I get dressed in the morning, THEN: I will make make my bed before I leave my bedroom
IF: I make me/my kids breakfast, THEN: I will pack my lunch at the same time
IF: I go to the bathroom, THEN: I will do 10 squat
IF: I finished eating, THEN: I’ll immediately put my dish into the dishwasher (or wash and dry it)
If you’ve been struggling with aspects about your life that you’re fed up with, or just don’t like, change it! Have with a messy house or room (that grosses you and your friends out)? Do you constantly forget where you left your keys and have to frantically ransack the house to find them? Are you running late to everything or forget the same thing every single day only to remember when it's too late? Try implementing some micro and behavior chain habits to transform your life and make things easier on yourself. And before you know it, you’ll be doing it every day (for years) without even thinking about it. It will just become a routine habit and part of your new & improved lifestyle.
I personally applied Micro habit changes on my diet and it completely transformed my food choices and health. I’ve also applied behavior chain habits, in a number of ways, to make my life easier to manage and I’m so thankful I did! Wishing you the best of luck in your new habit forming journey.
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