5 Easy tips to change your habits without stress
Changing habits is laying new foundations for further personal improvement. Usually, “changing our habits” also means replacing our bad habits with healthier practices.
It sounds simple, but implementing a change in your daily life (even a small one) can be a huge challenge. Especially if you are already very busy.
That's why I've concocted 5 simple little tips to change your habits without adding extra stress!
1. Define your goal
Before completely changing his habits. You have to ask yourself: what is my end goal? What do I want to accomplish by incorporating this new habit into my life? It is very important to embark on this project fully informed and with an end goal. It will be much more motivating to know that one day your goal will be achieved, but also that there is a purpose to the habit change process.
After defining your specific goal, you need to give it meaning. It's good to have a purpose, but why are you doing all these actions? Is this new practice another step in self-improvement? If your goal is to move more, ask yourself why you decided to make a change in your life? Would you like improve your health? Is it because your poor physical shape is affecting your daily life? Is it because you want to improve your mental health? Or maybe you want to be able to keep up with your kids? When you give meaning to your actions, they are much more motivating since you understand your "why".
2. Build a realistic strategy
Good now that you have a goal aligned with your values. How are you going to go about incorporating this new habit into your life? Stay realistic in your strategy. First of all, it must not interfere greatly with your already established routine. If adding (or removing) this new habit changes your schedule drastically, it won't be sustainable for very long. So be sure to think carefully about how this practice can gently integrate your life without making waves. It is also important to identify the tools you will need to change this habit.
For example, if you want to move more and you decide that you are going to train for 30 minutes every morning. It's good. But if your mornings are already busy with work or family preparation, it might not be the best time of your day to incorporate physical activity. In terms of tools, what are you going to train with? It sounds simple, but defining a good strategy before starting your change will save you a lot of headaches and help you stay on track!
3. start small
To complete the strategy aspect, we must think about incorporating our new habit gradually. We often tend to be impatient and want to reach our goal as quickly as possible. What you have to realize is that some things take time. If we want to be serious about this new change in our life, we have to start with small steps, to eventually be able to take big ones!
Let's continue with our example: move more. If you are a sedentary person, do not give yourself as your first goal to run five kilometers 7 days a week. This goal is not achievable. Maybe start by incorporating small steps after dinner. Then you will add difficulty levels gradually until you are able to achieve that huge goal of running five kilometers every day!
4. Take his time
Changing habits takes time. Do you know that it can take a minimum of 22 consecutive days to do an action for it to become a habit? Be aware that the process of changing habits is often difficult and can be fraught with pitfalls. There will be times when you will have relapses and that is okay. When a relapse occurs, analyze it. Why did you relapse? What to do next time to prevent this relapse? Once this introspection is done, make your decision and move on. There is no point in beating yourself up. You have to know how to forgive yourself and be indulgent with yourself
even if the road may be long between the starting point and the ending point, trust the process. By taking it gradually and keeping your eyes on your goal, you will get there!
5. Incorporate a little fun
Adding a new practice to your life can be long and sometimes a bit arduous. It's important to keep in mind that this new habit you're trying to adopt will ultimately lead to happiness. On the other hand, if the integration of this new habit does not bring you any benefit or happiness, it is time to reconsider your choice. It is not normal that this new practice makes you unhappy. Either way, it will be very difficult to stay consistent doing something we fundamentally dislike.
So be sure to incorporate some fun into this activity and not take yourself too seriously. Another good way to make this new practice more enjoyable is to offer yourself a reward when it is done. Be careful not to reward your healthy success with an unhealthy habit. Instead, opt for something harmless that will make you happy. For example, you can take a hot bath, do some reading or even add a sticker to your planner!
A new habit is positive!
With these few tips, changing your lifestyle doesn't have to be a mountain! Have fun navigating through your goals, you will witness your personal growth!