Change your habits, change your life
Change your habits, change your life
Making resolutions and setting goals is all well and good but, as we all know only too well, just making a resolution is no guarantee of success. Just having a positive intention doesn’t cut the mustard when it comes to starting to lead a healthier lifestyle.
Have you ever heard the famous quote that’s attributed to Aristotle, ‘Excellence is a habit’?
Turns out it was actually Will Durant who coined that phrase as a way of succinctly explaining a longer, but beautiful, Aristotle quote:
“As it is not one swallow or fine day that makes a spring, so it is not one day or a short time that makes a man blessed and happy”.
Whichever version of the quote you prefer, it’s an excellent creed to live by if you want to succeed, whatever success means to you, personally.
The lesson we can take away from it is that it really doesn’t matter what you do occasionally, or as a one off. It matters what you do every single day. Your daily routine matters. Your default mindset matters.
The habits that you develop are what will lead to sustainable, significant change in your life, rather than quick results that soon disappear.
Just as you are what you eat, you are what you do every day of your life. You are the sum of all your actions.
But the idea of changing your habits can seem a little daunting, especially if you see yourself as being very set in your ways. Luckily, though, with a little determination, perseverance and time you can develop new habits that you’d never have thought possible.
You shouldn’t just be aiming for specific health and fitness goals but developing the habits that will allow you to sustain your new healthy, active lifestyle in the long term.
Here are some tips to help you forge those all-important new habits that will, combined, be life changing.
- Set small, achievable daily goals
Where a lot of people go wrong if they want to build new habits is setting big goals and failing to break them down into actions they can take every day to reach them.
After all, there’s no point telling yourself that you’ll be able to run ten kilometres within six months if you don’t plan to be running five kilometres within three months.
Without breaking it down, you could still find yourself sitting on the sofa after five months have gone by.
Set yourself small goals that you’ll be able to stick to. For example, to start with you could commit to a 10-minute at-home workout every day, or to walking to work three times a week.
Make it realistic and consistent, and those small goals will transform into habits you can build on, slowly but surely.
- Lots of small habits make a big difference
Healthy habits come in all shapes and sizes. You might find it helpful to focus on lots of tiny habits rather than larger ones.
Small habits like drinking a glass of water first thing in the morning and taking the stairs aren’t time-consuming, but they will have an impact, especially when you add them all together.
- Be conscious that you have to make change to create change
When it comes to building new habits, you need to be aware that it’s going to take work and determination if you want to see change.
Too many people expect change to happen overnight even if they know, deep down, they’re not putting the necessary effort in to make it happen.
Be aware from the very beginning that it’s not going to be an overnight change, but that you’ll have to work at this consistently for an extended period of time, to make sure you don’t slip back into your old ways.
It’s a long road, but you’ll get there.
- Know that it gets easier
Think about the habits you currently have. They’re things you do without really thinking about them, right?
Well, the beauty of developing new, healthy habits is that after you put the initial effort in, they’ll become second nature. That’s a comforting thought whenever you find yourself struggling with the new lifestyle you’re trying to create.
- Focus on your mornings
If you’re new to the concept of creating healthy habits, then it can be helpful to start with your morning routine.
After all, if you start the day positively then you put yourself in a good mind frame and are giving yourself a better chance of making healthy choices throughout the rest of the day.
You might find it helpful to spend a few minutes every morning planning out your day and thinking about the things you can do that day to help you get where you want to go.
Whilst, of course, you need to take time to relax, you need to do something to take you closer to your goals and solidify your habits every single day.
- Keep a record
It can be hard to have an accurate idea of the progress you’re making if you don’t actually keep track.
If it’s healthier eating you’re focusing on, then a food diary can be incredibly beneficial, as it means you can track your nutrition consistently, and monitor everything surrounding food, like how you’re feeling and sleeping.
An exercise diary can be equally beneficial, as you can see exactly what you’ve done and your energy levels, never overestimating or underestimating what you’ve achieved.
Writing it all down means you can look back over the habits you’ve cultivated with an objective eye, rather than letting any complexes get in the way.
One swallow does not a spring make, and one day of making healthy choices, or one day of making poor nutritional and diet choices, does not mean you’re living healthily, or the opposite.
Slow and steady wins the race. It’s a marathon not a sprint. These might be clichés, but they’re true. Develop positive habits, slowly but surely, and you’ll be sure to achieve your goals.