When it comes to changing habits and forming new ones, you can either hope for the best or put a little thought to improve your chances. We prefer the latter route. A little preparation can make all the difference. And once you know what to look out for and how to deal with problems, it becomes a lot easier. Not easy. But definitely easier.
So here are a few tips on how to change your behaviours, how to spot problems before they arise and ways you can embed your new habits into your life. Grab a cup of peppermint tea, breathe deeply and dive in.
Why good habits are good for you
You might be surprised to learn just how large an impact our habits have on our lives. From physical fitness to emotional mood, to the level of success we have in life, all are heavily influenced by our habits. So, if you want to improve any aspect of your life, we’d suggest you attack things head on and develop some new habits to help you succeed.
A simple way to adopt new habits
One of the best-known methods for developing and sticking to new habits is the ‘3 R’s of habit change’.
- Reminder (the trigger that starts the behaviour)
- Routine (the behaviour itself)
- Reward (how you benefit from the behaviour)
Psychologists have proven this pattern over and over again. So, to be successful at adopting a new habit, you can try using this three-pronged approach. You should first start by creating a reminder for you to carry out your new habit. As humans, we’re terrible at actually doing things. So, create your own trigger to remind you to do the habit.
For step 2, your routine, remember that lasting change is the result of daily habits. Once you adopt your new habit into your routine you can build from there.
For step 3, your reward, make it something that’s personal to you. There’s no point having a reward that doesn’t interest you. Because when it comes to the crunch and there are barriers to completing the habit, nothing sets you up to fail like a reward you’re not really interested in.
Looking to break bad habits?
The important thing here is to acknowledge that your behaviours are habits. It may take some time to eradicate one and implement another. But time is what will help you succeed. If you keep working on breaking bad habits it will become easier. And then one day you’ll suddenly realise that you no longer want to do the previous behaviour and that your new habit is something that comes naturally to you.
Ask for help
There are lots of online resources to help you break bad habits and adopt better ones. Read a lot of articles and decide which advice sounds best to you and sounds like it could fit into your lifestyle. The very fact that you want to change is a massively positive factor. With the right support and knowledge, you can adopt any new habits you want and also break away from bad ones.
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