5 Steps To Create Healthy Habits

Habits have long been studied, debated and puzzled over. Extensive research has aimed to de mystify exactly what a habit is and if they are difficult to break. Is it so difficult to switch to using blinkers on the other side of a steering wheel? Or drive on the other side of the road in another country? When a habit is born out of necessity the answer is no. Dropping and picking up new habits has nothing to do with motivation, education or will power. Yay!

Successful people implement habits that support their mental and physical health as well as their personal and professional goals. Losing weight, increasing energy, confidence, positivity and overall well being is as easy as dropping old habits and picking up new ones.

Here are our 5 steps to healthy habit creation for everyday life.

1. Have Intention.

If necessity is the reason habits are easy to change then you must make your desire a necessity. Have it clear in your mind what you intend to do Eg, I want to lose weight, I want to be happier, I want to sleep more. If you deem this to be necessary then habits to support your intentions will become crystal clear and easy to adopt.

2. Start Small

Start with a habit that is too small to fail. ‘Failure happens when expectation are too high or you try and change too many things all at once’

- Tommy Baker. Author of The 1% rule.

So don’t try and change a lifetime of habits all in one day. Pick something easy that supports your intentions that you know you can not fail. Even something as simple as I will smile for 10 seconds when I wake up.

3. Associate and Create Triggers.

Link the habit to something you already do everyday. For example, I wake up in the morning everyday and the new habit is drinking a glass of warm water with lemon. Associating the new behaviour with an already existing action like visualising your goals while you put out the rubbish, listening to guided meditation when you go to bed or taking multivitamins before having lunch gives the new habit a time and place to exist. A home if you will. After a short amount of time the habit will be automatic and the action will trigger the habit. Attach habits to existing triggers Eg, when I feel my shoulders creep up to my neck, my new habit is to do some deep diaphragmatic breathing to calm my nervous system.

4. Have a Realistic Timeframe.

Research shows that the average time to create a habit is 66 days, a habit is created when you do the action or behaviour subconsciously. However, some actions/behaviours take less time, like introducing drinking warm lemon water on rising could take 22 days however introducing 50 sit up every morning could take up to 84 days and some habits can take up to 254 days. - Jeremy Dean- Making Habits and Breaking Habits

5. Be Accountable

Accountability is absolutely key to creating healthy habits. Set up a system where you are held accountable if you stray from your goals. This could be using a family member or friend to help, however this can be a big ask.

Having an external coach who can help you set your long-term goals, your specific habits that you are going to create and keep you on track to succeed is a guaranteed way of achieving automatic healthy habits for life.

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