Do you also have the habit of starting a “more useful life” every Monday but not enough character to complete your new routines throughout the week? Uh yes.. You are far from alone and the fact is that it takes a full 66 days to acquire a new habit and for the body to register it in the muscle memory.
It’s about everything from starting yoga before breakfast to starting to eat dinner before you go to bed and the reason is simply that the habit needs time to etch itself into the memory so much that it happens automatically.
You hear. 66 days requires both motivation and a lot of discipline to get there and therefore many of us give up along the way. Here, we therefore give six lively tips on how to acquire (and keep) your new healthy habits!
1. Try “habit reversal training”
Sometimes it is faster to acquire a habit by replacing an existing one, so-called Habit Reversal Training. For example, replacing coffee with tea or the breakfast sandwich with oatmeal.
2. Forget big changes – start small
Stanford professor BJ Fogg lectures the world about habits and what makes us keep and end them. He believes that you shouldn’t start with big changes, but instead focus on small, simple habits that you can build on in the long run.
3. Set concrete, realistic and specific goals
Like, for example, starting to walk 10,000 steps a day. It is clearer to us and easier to maintain than starting to run the mile on day one.
4. Start wholesale and stock up
It’s easy to stop a new habit like eating more vegetables if there aren’t any at home. It is also easy to choose something else and more harmful alternatives that are actually available at home then. Stock up on the basic items that you build your new routines on and keep the fridge updated.
5. Focus on the habit – not the exercise
Answer the question why should you start training? Is it because it “is good” or is it about getting more energy and becoming more energetic in everyday life? The higher purpose of training to be able to work better outweighs doing it just because it “feels good”.
6. Don’t make too high demands
Don’t set too many demands by setting a goal to train a certain number of sessions a week. For the simple reason that when you have reached the goal, you are only plus or minus zero. Instead, see all training as a plus and aim to train as much as you have time/can do instead.
Read also:
That’s how many steps a day you should walk for better health.
Source: “The power of habit – why we do what we do and how we can change it”, by Charles Duhigg.
Stanford professor BJ Fogg on YouTube.
