Want to develop new, healthier habits but struggling to find the time? It is thought to take around two months to turn a behavior into a habit. You need to train the brain to adopt the new habit, which means repeating it day after day.
If you follow a busy schedule, it can be difficult fitting time into it to develop new behaviors. However, with a little know-how it is possible to make time and increase your chances of following on with the habit each day.
Read on for tips on how to make more time in your day for new habits.
Decide Which Habit You Want to Focus on First
One of the biggest mistakes you can make when you’re trying to become healthier and happier is to focus on more than one thing at a time. You may want to lose weight, quit smoking and stop impulse spending, for example. However, if you try to focus on all of these bad habits at the same time, you’re setting yourself up to fail.
So, sit back and think of which habit you want to work on first. If you want to lose weight, break down the steps you’ll need to take. It could be incorporating exercise into your routine or drinking more water. Start with one small habit and then focus all of your energy on repeating it day after day until it becomes automatic.
Accept No Excuses to Avoid the Habit You’re Creating
If you really want to incorporate new habits into your routine, you’re going to need to adopt a “no excuses” approach. That is, not giving yourself a way out by telling yourself you’ll work harder the day after if you skip it today.
The minute you become more relaxed about the new habit, is the minute you set yourself up for failure. If you’re serious, you’ll accept no excuses and force yourself to carry on with the habit – even when you don’t want to or it isn’t convenient.
Know Where to Include It in Your Routine
Another tip for making sure you follow the new habit each day, is to slot it into the right place in your routine. You need to make sure you can naturally carry out the habit each day.
If your plan is to start drinking more water for example, start by having a glass of water as soon as you wake up. Once you’ve mastered that, you can add in another glass at lunchtime. By building up the habit over time, you’ll be much more likely to stick to it and maintain your motivation.
You may feel like you don’t have time to create new habits. However, the truth is that they can take just seconds to start to build up. Concentrate on habits you can easily fit into your routine and don’t forget to just focus on one thing at a time. The key to success is repetition. So, no matter how easy it is to skip the habit for one day, force yourself to maintain it.
1 thought on “Making Time to Create New Habits”