Tips for Making a New Habit.
Getting into a habit has never been an easy thing to do, and breaking a bad habit seems like an almost impossible task. If you are trying to start a new habit, like for instance maybe you keep telling yourself you need to start doing Yoga. You have read all the articles and blog post about how great Yoga is for your body, mind and soul, but you just can’t seem to get to doing Yoga on a regular basis
Not too hard to believe but making a new habit is just about deciding you are going to and then doing that thing every day. Here are a few helpful tips that will get you started and before you know it, Yoga (or whatever new habit you choose) will be a part of your routine and you won’t believe how you ever lived with out it.
- Commit to 30 Days: You can’t go on Pinterest without seeing some sort of 30 day challenge whether it be a squat challenge, push up challenge, plank challenge, you name there is a 30 day challenge for it. This is for good reason; doing something everyday makes you focus on your goal every single day and keeps you accountable every single day.
- Start Small and Keep it Simple: Maybe you have decided you want to practice Yoga at least 30 minutes a day. Going back to those 30-Day Pinterest challenges they all start at a low number or low minutes and build up as the 30 days go on. If your goal is 30 minutes of Yoga a day start off with just 5 minutes and work your way up to your 30 minute goal. Not only will you ease your body into the routine you will ease your mind into a routine as well. By starting out with small goals and working your way up to the big goal you create small victories on your way to the big win, therefore keeping you positive about your experience.
- Use reminders: Having a daily reminder of what you need to do or even better what you already did, will not only help hold you accountable for the behavior, it will also be a visual reminder of how far you come. Your reminder can be as simple as a monthly calendar with the amount of time you are to practice, and think of the satisfaction you will have crossing off that day. Reminders also help to keep you accountable on those days you just can’t seem to get motivated or you feel too busy. Are you really going to miss crossing off that day after 14 days of crosses? You can also create a living countdown by writing your daily goal on a post it, putting them somewhere you will see every day, then when the daily goal is reached you can remove that post it. Not only will you have done your activity, but also you get the satisfaction of physically removing the post it (reminder) and tossing it away.
- Do it Early/Be Prepared. The earlier in the day you can get your activity done the better. Not only are their less distractions, you can start your day knowing that no matter what the day brings, you have already crossed a To Do on your goal list. No matter what time of day you decide to work on your goal, make sure you are prepared for the activity. Have your Yoga mat out in the open; video queued up on the TV so all you have to do is push play. If you have to search for the stuff you need to accomplish even your small goal for the day will make it seem more like a chore and add more time to the activity.
- Celebrate: Have small celebrations planned through out your 30-day commitment and a big celebration planned for when you complete the challenge. You don’t want to make the celebration negate all the hard work you have done, so staying away from food rewards is a good idea, but who is to say you can’t treat yourself to a tea at that trendy Tea Bar down the street, or even a pair of Yoga socks. After 30 days maybe you upgrade from the cheaper TJ Maxx Yoga matt, to one that is a bit more expensive and wicks away sweat.
Habits may seem hard to make, but they are not impossible and even better once they are habits it will be even harder to break them. The hardest part of anything is taking that first step, but if you make it small and keep at it every day before you know it, you have a new healthy habit.