5 WAYS TO BUILD GOOD HABITS

(and remain consistent)

5 Ways to Build Good Habits

Do you want to create good habits? It’s easier than you might think. With only a few steps, you can turn around your life by making actions easy to follow. Think of the entire process as a loop and not a one-time event. It gets only better from that point as you enjoy the journey and leaves your worries about the outcome behind.

1.  Identify your triggers and visualize your self-transformation
Understand the difference between your current habits and the ones you need to develop.

It’s no secret that our habits determine the direction of our lives. But how can we change them when it often feels like an uphill battle? The answer lies in understanding current patterns and developing new ones. 

Visualizing and practicing the person you want to become can help you understand current behavior and develop good habits.

Here’s a way for you to understand your mind:

• Identify the things you repeatedly do.
• Make a list of emotional triggers and results caused by your current habits.
• Write down a list of qualities or goals that you consider important.
• Describe yourself in adjectives – think about the kind of person you aspire to be (e.g., patient, organized, confident, etc.).
• Take those positive traits as a starting point.

Once we understand this information, spend each day visualizing yourself as the person you wish to become. A visualization is a powerful tool for creating and sustaining good habits. It allows us to take an idea or goal and form strong mental images of it, making the concept more tangible and easier to imagine yourself achieving it.

2.  Develop a desire for the good habits you wish to develop.
Make the habits attractive and fun to do – and you’re halfway through it!

If you’re looking for ways to make daily habits more attractive, look no further! Creating and maintaining healthy habits is important for leading a productive and meaningful life. 

Establishing good habits is key to success, but it can be challenging. Here are some tips to make the process more attractive:

Start small.
Break the task down into habits. Break down large tasks into small chunks to make them achievable. Remember, build on the triggers you identified earlier and attach positive outcomes to each.

Focus on the positives.
Visualizing the end goal and result can keep you motivated. When working on developing a good habit, think how wonderful you’d feel emotionally, physically, and mentally by the end.

Some studies show that a new habit takes around 66 days to become automatic. Take it slow and steady – don’t rush the process!

3.  Make changes in your physical environment.
You’re always responding to the environment around you – consciously or subconsciously.

What surrounds you affects you. It goes both ways – the state of your mind affects your environment and vice versa. 

Think about the last time you cleaned up and felt better after looking at a more organized space. Whether or not the good habit is to clean up, getting tasks done easily and smoothly can make it easier to repeat them. 

• Make sure you have the environment to succeed.
• Use one-time purchases to minimize the items you have in your surroundings.
• Get good quality sleep by eliminating light and noise pollution in your bedroom.
• Keep a check on repeat buying to avoid clutter in your home. 

The environment can shape your behavior even more so than motivation. Take this as an example: cleaning can be a much easier task if you have little going on in your physical environment. That is, you don’t have many things, so your cleaning ritual is easier to follow! Learn the 4 principles of behavior change.

4.  Appreciate your efforts and assign rewards.
Sit back and relax – there is nothing wrong with being laid back and not doing anything.

Rewarding yourself for developing good habits is a great way to stay motivated. Whether you’re trying to make healthier eating choices, be more organized, or improve any other part of your life, reward systems can help keep you on track! 

Check out some ideas for how you can treat yourself when you reach certain milestones:

• One method is allocating a set amount of money each month, like $50 or $100. If you meet your goals for that particular habit (like consistently hitting the gym), it’s incentive enough to spend the allocated funds on something special just for yourself.
• Another option is to remove money from the equation and build upon an existing ritual. For instance, you could start dancing while listening to music, take a walk in nature, meditate, and so on. 

Whatever you do, you’re actively rewarding yourself for doing something positive.

5.  Remain open to welcoming new good habits.
Visualize and practice the person you wish to become.

Acknowledge that transformation is a never-ending process. Over time, your interests might change, and you’d want to develop new habits to suit the unique vision you have of yourself. So repeat the entire process above to get the ball rolling, and remember to trust the journey of getting to the new destination.

Takeaway: Building Good Habits

Habits are subjective. While some things might be unhealthy (such as having an inconsistent sleeping routine), other practices vary from one person to another. Think about your unique triggers and how you can transform your emotions around them. Also, remember to give your environment a check because the mind and surroundings are connected.

As mentioned earlier, creating good habits is a loop. Stay consistent with your new patterns; only then is it more likely to turn into a routine you’d cherish. Along with good habits, we recommend you work on breaking bad habits – learn more about them here to transform yourself and take your life back!

Check Our Our Other Blogs:

• How You Can Set Up an Easy Habit Reward System
• Morning Routines For Children
• 3 Tips for Your Habit-building Framework

References:

66 days to form a good habit to become automatic
https://www.healthline.com/health/how-long-does-it-take-to-form-a-habit
How visualization helps develop good habits
https://www.healthline.com/health/the-science-of-habit
How the environment or physical space affects habits
https://www.welcoa.org/blog/change-environment-change-habits-designing-physical-spaces-critical-creating-sustainable-habit-change/