How to Create New Habits in 3 Easy Steps

There are many areas of our lives that we want to improve. This could be by eating healthier or drinking more water. Or it might involve getting the habit of moving more, taking your dog for a walk every day, establishing new work habits or spiritual life practices, etc. In any case, when we create new habits it helps us establish positive changes in our lives and can even reduce stress.

When deciding what new habit to start, keep in mind that you want the habits created to be manageable. For example, if your goal is to drink more water but you are already working on eating healthier and moving more, then adding another task might make it too difficult for you. In this case, focus on one of these areas first. Then, move on to the next.

The minimalist lifestyle is all about simplifying our lives. This means new habits are a big part of it, and who couldn't improve their life by creating new routines? If you've been struggling with implementing new habits in your life, this blog post is the perfect start to achieving those goals.

Doing something over and over again is often easier said than done. We seem to acquire bad habits without any effort, but getting into a “good” habit can be challenging.

The 3 Steps to Create New Habits:

Step One:

Identify the habit. Pick the habit that you want to work on. In this example, let's say we decide that drinking more water is something worth working on for our new habits list. So we pick the first one and move onto step two.

Be as specific as possible. Telling yourself that you desire a lifestyle change is too vague, saying something like “I want to exercise more, but I don’t know exactly how or when” usually translates into ‘I'm not going to follow thorough with this, I'll just put it off.' Instead, say something like “I want to exercise more, so I will commit to 30 minutes of brisk walking every day at lunchtime”.

Step Two:

Make a plan. Start doing the habit that you want to work on right away and do it as often as possible. The next few days should be smooth sailing, but then there’s a major turning point: the 3-day break-in period. You’ll notice your mood changes from feeling motivated and excited about your new habits to frustrated and wanting to put it off.

It’s easy to let one bad day turn into a string of them. It is important in these moments to have a daily reminder so that you don’t lose sight of your goal. 

Step Three:

Be consistent. Making a new habit stick takes some time. Until then, routines will give you the best chance of success. It may take a few weeks or longer until your activity becomes automatic. So, it's good to rely on routine reminders without spending much willpower or requiring daily monitoring in order to get things done.

For example, make that daily walk part of your after dinner routine, or change from grabbing a snack at the vending machine at work at 10:00 in the morning to packing a healthy snack. 

Keep a Positive Mindset

Don't allow yourself to get discouraged. New habits can be challenging, but they are the key to getting what we want out of life. It's true that sometimes it feels like Rome wasn't built in a day and neither are new habits; however, as we learn from our failures or struggles with these new changes, there is always opportunity

For example: In our daily lives, routines may be enough and not require much willpower or monitoring in order for things to get done most of the time. However, as we strive for more challenging goals, we need to implement new habits to help reach those goals. As we create our new habits, we will undoubtedly have moments we get discouraged or want to give up. Don't fall into this trap. Keep a positive mindset and remind yourself that these new habits will eventually become a natural part of our lives.

Let's Recap

The three steps to creating new habits are:

1. – Identify the habit you want to make
2. – Make a plan for how you will do it
3. – Carry out your plan consistently, every day, until it becomes a daily ritual that is automatic and no effort at all.

You can create new habits by following these 3 steps. Identify the habit you want to make, plan how you’ll do it and carry out your plan consistently until it becomes a daily ritual that is automatic and no effort at all. It may seem hard in the beginning but once habit-forming behaviors become second nature they will be easier than ever before!

Start today and let us know if we can help you get started now!