Habits are the foundation of a healthy lifestyle. With them, you’ll feel in control. Without them, you’ll feel perpetually overwhelmed. Whether it’s maintaining a healthy weight, sticking to an exercise plan, drinking enough water or keeping your closets organized, you’ll be empowered to stay on track by forming habits. What you do day by day, hour by hour and minute by minute is what matters most. You’ve got time and energy for whatever is most important to you. And think about it, you’ll always be grateful tomorrow for all those important good things you do today. You’ll never regret a workout, a healthy meal, a long walk or a good night sleep. Here are 3 keys to forming those good habits you know you need.
1. Plan: Good ‘ole Ben Franklin said it best, Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail. Read it again…and again. Without a plan, you might be able to muster the energy to forge forward with a new habit for a few days or even a few weeks, but not for a lifetime. To create a plan, you’ll need a pen and paper. To get started, write down 3 habits that you want to make stick. Be specific and detail oriented; use lots of verbs and action words in your description. Next, pull out your day planner (if you don’t have one, go buy one) and schedule in the exact times where your new habit fits. Get an amazing plan in place, and you’ll get amazing results.
2. Morning and Evening Routine: Rituals and routines are vital to habit creation and long term success. The way you start and end your day matters. If your mornings are manic and your evenings are just ‘meh’ endings, it’s time to get control over these important moments. A well established morning and evening routine will give you the margin you need in your day to make your goals a reality.
3. Consistency: This is the absolute key. Repeated activity is where it’s at. What happens if you only clean your kitchen counter tops every week (or worse every month); your counters will be perpetually ooey, gooey, sticky and nasty. The same goes for your body. Lack of consistency will yield inconsistent and lackluster results. You will become what you repeatedly do. Repeatedly rock it out, and you’ll reap the reward!
Okay, it’s go time. Today is tomorrow’s yesterday. I know that you’ll be incredibly satisfied tomorrow with today’s effort to form good habits. So come on now…get to it!
