Implementing Day to Day Habits To Set Yourself Up For Success
By: Elizabeth Kaplan, LCSW and Lexi Nass, LCSW
Each New Year starts with new promises, hope and a feeling of starting over. People often feel the New Year is a chance to create new habits and have a fresh start. While the New Year can serve as a great time to reset, it can also lead to placing unnecessary pressure on meeting certain goals. Some common goals after the New Year may include eating healthier, exercising more and saving money. However, these goals are very broad and vague, which makes it feel hard to sustain and meet, which can lead to feelings of disappointment and self-doubt. Instead of thinking about big picture resolutions, think about small changes that can be implemented on a day to day basis. Focusing on building healthy habits can help you achieve long-term goals. Here are some tips on how to create healthy habits:
1. Habit stacking is a great way to build healthy habits, incrementally. Habit stacking works by integrating new habits into existing routines. Rather than setting goals, which can sometimes feel overwhelming and can create a lot of pressure to achieve, habit stacking can feel more manageable because you are building habits that can support your goals. For example, incorporate a new habit, like meditating, into your routine by doing it right after making your bed in the morning. If you want to drink more water, link it to an existing habit such as using a bigger water bottle instead of a smaller one that you may already be using. Pairing a new habit with an existing habit can help make it easier to remember and incorporate the new habit into your daily routine.
2. Staying organized will help you to keep up with both new and old habits. If your new habit is to exercise weekly, try to use a calendar or set a reminder on your phone to help keep track of your workouts. A workout schedule can help you seamlessly integrate exercise into your daily life. It can be helpful if, for example, every Sunday you were to map out the workouts you have in mind for the week. You can put them into your calendar like you would for a meeting. This way it can help hold yourself accountable to attend. Using your calendar and setting reminders can help you stay accountable and organized to prioritize your new habits into your daily routine.
3. Find a friend or family member to join you with setting healthy habits. Having an accountability partner is a great way to make any new habit fun and help you stay motivated. Having someone share the experience with you can also provide a sense of support and encouragement. You can both also check-in with each other, share progress and share your successes. As an example, setting the habit of going on daily walks in the morning can feel more motivating if you have someone to walk with. As a bonus, it is also a great way to spend time with that person while also committing to your healthy habit!
4. Be kind to yourself throughout this process and acknowledge small successes. We often put a lot of pressure on ourselves to “change” each year and adopt healthy habits. It is important to be kind to ourselves and be proud of each success that we have, rather than focus on habits that we do not achieve. For example, if you try to plan three workouts in a week but only end up attending two of them, be kind to yourself and celebrate this win of going to two classes. Being able to look at the change of making it to two workout classes instead of one (or none!) will help reframe your perspective to celebrate wins no matter how big or small. It can also be helpful to add rewards to celebrate your progress in continuing your new habits. A reward can be something small such as having a favorite treat one night for dessert or setting aside extra time for self-care. Finding internal motivation can help motivate to achieve your goals and continue with your new habits.
Creating these smaller habits and trying to stick with them week by week can be challenging and overwhelming. If you feel you may need support around this, we are here to help! Please reach out to us today at hello@upsidertherapy.com.