10 Tips to Set New Habits

Habit – a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously.

You can start fresh any time you wish.

The new year typically brings out the best desires of us, along with the greatest urge to start fresh. But how do we do that? Start fresh? As simple as it may seem to implement new habits, it is actually quite difficult to maintain. However, I have found 10 tips and put them all together to help you succeed with maintaining your new goals.

1: Pick One Habit

Beginning new habits can be exciting but also overwhelming. If you have more than one habit you are wanting to start, it is best to list them all and pick just one to incorporate at a time. Start small, pick a simple habit and work one at a time.

2: Write It Down

Having your habits wrote down on paper will encourage you to be consistent. When written down, you can keep track of your success. Either make your own tracker or find one online and feel the sense of accomplishment when the chart fills up!

3: Know Your Why

There is a reason you chose this habit, write it down. Add a list of benefits of sustaining your new habit. Remembering why you wanted to begin on this journey will help you fight through the hard days when you want to skip just once.

4: Take Small Steps

Having big goals is amazing, but you need to start small. Take baby steps so that it does not become overwhelming and cause you to throw in the towel. Break your bigger habits in to smaller steps and gradually increase with time. Think of starting new habits like training for a marathon, you start off with a mix of walking and jogging and gradually build to running the entire 26 miles.

5: Commit to 3 Weeks

Everyone deals with change differently; studies say that it can take anywhere from 21 to 66 days for new habits to become muscle memory. Although it’s not necessary, I suggest starting on a Monday to begin with a fresh start. Setting a start and accomplish date keeps you focused and driven. Make sure that you do not slack on the weekends, it is the easiest time to slip.

6: Add it to Your Routine

As studies show, repeating the same action at the same time daily creates muscle memory. Therefore, once established, it will feel as something is missing if you skip it. It may seem simple, but this is probably one of the hardest parts of establishing a new habit. this leads us to 7.

7: Don’t Miss

Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? However, it is so easy to tell yourself “Skipping today doesn’t mean I won’t do it again tomorrow…” or “I am way too tired to wake up early today!” This can lead to skipping the next day for the simple fact that you already skipped yesterday. So even if you aren’t in the mood, do it anyways.

8: Plan Ahead

When the day comes, and it will, that something comes up, plan ahead. Things happen, the weather stops you, illness strikes, maybe you’re just too darn tired… Have a plan in place to insure you accomplish your goal.

9: Reward Yourself

Once you have met your accomplish date make sure to treat yourself. Having a reward waiting at the end of the challenge give you an extra driving force to push you on the hard days. Pick something that you truly desire and take that reward, you earned it!

10: Own It

Now that you have met your goals and successfully done your habit up until you met the accomplish date, own it. That means make this new habit a part of who you are. For example, my goal is to read the Bible cover to cover. Because of that, I strive every day to live in God’s image, be kind and love fearlessly.