Keys in Building Better Habits for a Great Year

Do you want to know how to change your life in 30 days? It all comes down to reevaluating your current habits and routines. Building good habits is everyone’s dream. But it is not as easy as it seems. When you choose to change for the better, you need to prepare yourself to stick to it for a long time. 

Thankfully, there are a few things you can do to let go of bad habits and build good habits. Old habits die hard, so they say. Therefore, when you commit to making that change, you have prepared yourself for the worst. 

But if you are willing to change, anything is possible. 

Whether it is adopting a habit you truly admire, changing bad habits, or building better ones, the best first step is acceptance. When you know that it won’t be easy, then you have prepared yourself for what’s to come. 

Tips To Building Better Habits

There are a handful of ways you can build better habits and get rid of bad ones. If you are looking at adopting positive habits, here are some tips to get you started:

Always start with something small.

Learning a new habit doesn’t have to be a big deal. No matter how large you expect the change to be, always start small. It is not the significant changes that stick around. It is the small ones that will truly matter in the long run. 

For example, if you want to lose weight, then you cannot simply decide to give up eating chocolates only to crave them in the middle of the night. After three days, you are back to eating it again. This time, your mind will tell you that you have deprived yourself of chocolate for a few days, so you try to compensate for it by eating more. 

Drastic changes may seem like you are making a bold move, but it only truly puts you back right where you started. Instead, allow yourself to work on more realistic goals. No matter how small they are, they will matter. 

Set those broad goals aside. The small changes you make should lead you to achieve a bigger goal in mind.

Replace bad habits with good ones.

When you think about making a change, remember that the goal is not to add new habits into the picture. Instead, decide on which practices you want to stop, then replace them with habits that you consider better. 

For example, if you are a workaholic and your destructive work habits have already affected your health, then allow yourself to make a useful change. Instead of working day and night, put a time limit to the work. Then, allow the rest of your usual “work” time” to do something creative. Perhaps you could engage in something that you have always been passionate. Maybe you can learn a new skill or two. 

Adding something positive to what you do is already challenging as it is. So instead of pressuring yourself to become more and start from scratch, decide to take on the challenge of changing your old habits into new and better ones. Not only will you be getting rid of the bad habits, but you are also making a positive change in your life. 

Watch out for triggers that could bring back bad memories.

There will be triggers. You will want to go back to how things were. It is easy to slide back to old habits. But you know that it’s not what you want. Stay focused on the goal, but still watch out. 

Triggers could come in any form. It could be negative people telling you that you cannot be better than what you are today. It could be places, things, or even daily experiences that have become part of your life. 

Overestimating what you can do could be bad for you. It could make you reckless, putting yourself in a situation where you are likely to suffer from a relapse. Surround yourself with people who believe in your goals. Let go of the ones who do not show you support. 

The environment may be stronger than you are, but with your will power, you can look forward to the new you. 

Make a link between the activities that you want to change.

Linking one bad habit to another can easily show you why you decided to give it up. For example, you’ve been smoking since you were a teen, but you have finally decided it is time to stop. However, when you stop, you feel stressed and ill because of nicotine withdrawal.

Associate that withdrawal feeling to smoking, so that the next time you feel the urge to smoke, you would also remember how bad you felt when you got sick. It will turn off the urge, and you can keep on doing what you have already started. Eventually, you won’t want to smoke again. 

If you want to break bad habits, interrupt them. 

As we’ve said before, it takes a lot of courage and discipline to break a bad habit. So instead of giving up the plan altogether, you can choose to interrupt the bad habit. 

For example, when you wake up in the morning, you always drink a cup of coffee. You want to start reducing your caffeine intake, so instead of giving that up cold turkey, perhaps you can spend a few moments in prayer before you get up from the bed. This new quiet time will allow your brain to clear up, so you could plan the rest of the day, even without your usual coffee. 

The small changes that you make in your daily habits could bring about a massive difference in your life. All you need to do is to make sure that you want to do that change. Make it happen, and it will. 

It is pretty simple. Put your mind into making a change. It doesn’t have to be big. Remember that the goal is not to bring about a significant difference in an instant. Instead, you want to go for a positive change that will last for a lifetime.