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Enough repetition and consistency of a certain act or behaviour becomes a habit. As much as we don’t like to admit in front of family and friends, most people recognize that there are certain eating or exercising behaviours they could be doing better and even certain bad habits they should completely kick to the curb. It is very difficult to completely disassociate from a bad habit without adopting a healthier, more productive behaviour to replace it. Below are 5 ways to associate with a healthy habit that you can begin today.
- Avoid associating ‘try’ with your efforts towards your desired outcome
Be conscious of the language you use when referring to your desired outcomes because language impacts the achievement of success. One of the most common words associated with adopting a new habit is “try”. We’ve all heard it, time and time again yet the problem is that this word permits you to give up accountability and responsibility of executing the actions required to reach your outcome because “try” allows for the possibility of inaction. It is very different from committing to an action because trying doesn’t even require the responsibility of giving it your best shot. If you bring your car to a mechanic and they tell you they will try to fix it, how confident do you feel it will get fixed when he’s done with it? Not very.
If you want to adopt a healthy habit, eliminate the word try. When you try to eat more vegetables, you probably thought about it and hoped for it but there’s no consequence if you don’t follow through when you’re actually at the grocery store or cooking the meal. By just using the word, you essentially let yourself off the hook from taking the actions that will help you achieve what you want to accomplish. If it’s something you really value, commit to it – don’t half-ass it.
- Avoid setting lofty goals
The reason people don’t stick to desired outcomes when it comes to nutrition or fitness is by referring to a desired outcome as a goal that is unrealistic and hardly attainable based on their current actions. Goals depend on discipline, motivation and willpower, if you lose motivation you decrease the likelihood of taking action to go after that goal, especially if it is an unattainable lofty goal. Set realistic attainable goals and alter your mindset so that instead of speaking about the habit or action in terms of a goal that you ‘have to’ do, consider it as something you ‘get to’ do. This will increase the success of your desired outcome.
- Start with small changes
Often, with fitness or trying to adopt healthier eating habits people try to do it all at once. They set goals to work out every day for an hour and a half and eliminate all the foods that have been ingrained into their diet. These drastic changes can be daunting, and if you don’t execute them all at once, you may find yourself frustrated and disappointed. You wouldn’t want to give up completely just because it was too much all at once. Start slow. Avoid eliminating your whole diet and exercising every day all at once. A more practical approach is to add one healthy habit at a time so you can easily attain it and create a positive feedback loop. Start with two more glasses of water before each meal (link to water for weight loss), or with a 10- minute walk, which can eventually develop into a 30-minute walk to ease into exercising more. The goal is to strive for progress, not perfection.
- Integrate the new habit into your lifestyle by valuing your desired outcome
While you’re making small changes, be conscious of how much better you feel. When you increase awareness of the changes it has on your physical or mental well-being you can begin to celebrate it and recognize its inherent value in your health and your life. Once you truly begin to value a new habit, it becomes a ‘must do’ rather than a ‘want to do’, it no longer is something that requires motivation or willpower, it’s a part of your lifestyle.
By adopting a change into your lifestyle with consistency and placing high value in it, what was once a new habit will develop into a long-term habit. Eventually, this habit becomes a permanent change in your lifestyle.
- Tie your desired outcome with your why
If this new desired outcome is something that you overheard your friend talk about and it sounded cool to you and now you kind of want to do it too the chances of you executing and having success declines without a reason of why you want it. When you are able to tie a reason to the purpose behind your desired outcome you actually have compelling reasons to back up why you would take any action, especially consistent action towards achieving it. This ties into actually valuing a habit or a desired outcome. Speaker Ed Mylett tells a powerful story of his why for consistent exercise. At one of his doctor’s appointments, his doctor asked him if he wanted to walk his daughter down the aisle, and his response was yes. His doctor told him at the state of health he was at he would not make it to his daughter’s wedding and there might be another man to walk her down instead of him.
When you have a why so powerful, motivation and willpower doesn’t get in your way – in fact you don’t allow any obstacle to get in your way. You roll up your sleeves and get it done on the days you don’t feel like it. This may be the most powerful strategy behind achieving what you want. If you’re having a hard time figuring out your why, reflect on what you will gain once you achieve it and what you may lose if you don’t. If you don’t feel like taking action like going to the gym, just remember your why.
