7 Tips for Building New Habits

Building new habits take time and effort. You can’t rush it. If you try, you’ll only end up feeling frustrated with yourself. So take your time and be patient. This process is a marathon, not a sprint. As long as you remain consistent in your practice, you will succeed eventually!

Here are 7 tips that will help you build new habits and stick to them.

Tip #1: Decide on a habit you’d like to work on

Setting yourself up for success begins with choosing the right habit. Most people choose habits they think will be easy, but those don’t tend to last very long. It’s important to choose a habit that you’ll really enjoy doing and that’s relatively easy for you.

If you’re just starting out, I recommend choosing no more than one habit to focus on at a time. Start small if you can’t think of anything! As your one habit becomes natural, then you can add another one in its place or continue building on the original one until it becomes a habit as well.

You may also want to choose a different habit than what you were intending, based on which one resonates the most with you and your life right now. There is no perfect time or the best way to pick a new habit, so just go with whatever speaks to you the most at this moment.

Tip #2: Be realistic about the habit you want to build

Your habit needs to be a behaviour that is doable and sustainable. If you choose a habit that’s too difficult for your current skill set, then it won’t happen naturally and you’ll give up at the first sign of trouble.

If your habit requires a lot of willpower, to begin with, you’ll also likely fail at it. Habits need to become a natural part of your routine for you to stick with them. You can’t expect yourself to adopt a new behaviour overnight or without any effort on your part.

In order for the Habit Loop(the cycle that forms a habit) to form, you need to be consistent with whatever behaviour you’re trying to build. If your new habit is too difficult or requires too much willpower, then it won’t happen naturally and the loop will fall apart. The good news is that if you start small and take things one step at a time, then this won’t be an issue!

Tip #3: Set a deadline for your new habit

Let’s pretend you want to build the habit of walking 10,000 steps a day. If you just set out with that goal in mind and no timeline, then it may take a very long time for you to get there if you’re not used to walking around.

Also, if you’re not a morning person and walk your dog in the mornings, then that may just not fit into your schedule at all. You have to be realistic about what kind of timeline you can set for yourself that would be doable and motivating.

A good timeframe to shoot for is somewhere between 30 and 90 days. However, this may be very different for you, depending on your current skill level and how quickly you can form new habits. It doesn’t hurt to set smaller deadlines along the way as you build up to that 90-day mark. This can help keep you motivated if things get tough!

Tip #4: Adopt the Right Mindset

If you adopt the wrong mindset, you’ll set yourself up for failure right out of the gate. The two biggest mindsets that will hinder your process are negativity and perfectionism.

Negativity is a HUGE hurdle to overcome if you want to stick with a habit long-term. It seems to be contagious too! If you’re seen as the “pessimist” of your group, then you’ll have a hard time being consistent with your goals.

Negativity is exhausting for other people to be around. It’s important to adopt an optimistic mindset if you want the people around you to support your efforts towards forming new habits!

Perfectionism can also be a very dangerous mindset when it comes to building new habits. If you adopt this type of mindset, then you’ll procrastinate and never start your habit at all.

The “I’m not good enough” mindset will lead to failure before you even try. Be realistic with your goals and know that they’re perfectly fine as is! It’s OK if things take a little longer to build up to, or if you have a slip-up from time to time.

Tip #5: Get rid of your distractions

In order for the Habit Loop(the cycle that forms a habit) to form, every single action has to happen naturally and without any effort on your part. If you’re surrounded by too many distractions while you’re trying to build a new habit, then it won’t happen.

Distractions are a huge reason that people fail when they try to start something new. It’s important to get rid of all your distractions and focus on the task at hand. If you don’t, you’ll end up wasting too much energy on things that aren’t conducive to your habit!

This can be easier said than done. You may not always know what’s distracting you until it’s too late! However, if you’re aware of your habits and the things that take up most of your time, then you’ll have a much better idea about where to cut out unwanted distractions. Unplugging from social media sites and turning off your phone seems to be the best ways to go.

Tip #6: Keep a journal

Setting up some sort of system that allows you to track things going on in your life is a great idea if you want to form new habits. This will help keep you accountable and motivated while you’re working towards your goals.

The best way to do this is by creating a habit tracking journal. List out your new habits and their accompanying goals along with how many times they occur in a week or month. This will help you see how successful your efforts are and if there’s anything you can improve on!

Tip #7: Find someone to keep you accountable

Last but not least, getting some support from people around you is an excellent way to build new habits. You can meet with your accountability partner or friend once per week and talk about the tasks you’ve completed along with how many times they occurred throughout the week. This can help keep you on track if things start to get tough later down the line!

These are the 7 best tips for building new habits. If you want to make any type of change in your life, then it’s important to stick with it over the long term. It takes a lot of work to get things rolling, but once they start to take off, you’ll be blown away with how easy and effortless everything becomes!

Good luck and I hope this helps.

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