Change your habits, change your life
We all know that our daily habits dictate who we are and who we are becoming. We know how important they are. We know we want to unlearn so many of our habits that are no longer serving us and start over. We know we want to have winning habits. But we find it hard.
so how do we do it?
Here are 5 practical and easy steps you can incorporate to wiring better habits into your mind and body today.
1. clarity
This may sound familiar to you. When most of us want to change something about ourselves it comes in multiples. It starts off with one thing like eating healthy and then quickly escalates into lots of other things. From exercising to more socialising to more date nights to quality time with the kids to working harder to starting that new hobby - you get the gist - sounds exhausting. We end up putting too much pressure on ourselves.
solution
Our biggest challenge is to be gentle with ourselves and really understand without judgement
o What we want to change, for example - eat more nourishing food
o Why? for example - to have more energy and fit into my favourite jeans again
o How? for example plan weekly meals every Sunday and batch cook
The what, why and how will give you more clarity in how to form your new habit and increases your chances of achieving it by 80%.But before you do that, pick one thing only to focus on. Continue reading and you'll understand why.
2. one at a time
It's a running theme here. We have the tendency to overdo it. We can overwhelm ourselves with just the thought of changing one thing about us let alone seven things! Doubt goes up, self belief goes down and before we know it we end up giving up before we even got started.
solution
From our experience we have seen that working on one habit at a time is most successful. The beauty about it is that usually changing one habit has a knock on effect in other habits so you end up changing more than you are focusing on. Sound good to you? Here's how.
New habit:
One Focus - exercise 3 times per week
Knock on effect from exercising:
o you will be more aware of what you eat (having made the effort to lose calories!)
o you will get better quality sleep (your body will have used up energy and will look to rest)
o you will feel good about yourself so want to socialise / have date nights more often (you will usually lose weight and feel better for it)
o you will feel energised to start that new hobby / spend quality time with kids /work harder (exercise helps blood flow and increases energy)
o you will embrace life more so decide to save for that holiday in the future (exercise increases the happiness endorphins)
Don't you just love it when a win here is a win everywhere. So choose your ONE priority habit, get clear on why you want to change and how you will do it by planning it into your day to day/weekly life. Now that you have done that, continue reading for the next winning step
3. repetition
You can't expect to do anything once, or for a week or two, and see results instantly. Results are like building blocks. You don't see them until there is a tipping point. So plan your new habit and be consistent with it (for example exercise every Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 7:30am). Don't give up just as you're about to see major results, for example exercising isn't something you can do just do once or twice and see major results and never have to do it again. It takes commitment and consistency just like any other habit. At this point you will start hearing the little voice in your head saying 'don't bother' - please ignore it.
solution
Character comes to play here. You will need will power, consistency, self discipline and cues and the way to best stick with it is to go back to clarity. Know your what, why and how and stick with it even if and when you don't feel like it - you will eventually win your mind over and eventually start enjoying it as you begin to experience the positive benefits.
4. it's about progress not perfection
If you get it wrong one day and eat that burger even if you had planned to eat the salad, forget about it. Don't give up and go back to your old way just because you weren't perfect 100% of the time. The most important thing is that you are making progress - you ate one burger this week instead of four! Focus on the positives. Move forward - there is always the next moment for you to make a better choice. Don't wait until next week to start again. Do it now.
solution
Forget about yesterday's bad choice.
Forget about a better choice tomorrow. Choose what's best for you right now
5. just start
This is probably the most important point of all. Just start. Self development is the most wonderful gift you can give yourself. After all we are the only person we live with 100% of our lives - let's give it our best!
What ONE habit will you be focusing on improving?
We'd love to know!
The MindCare Team x
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