These 7 Tips To Implement New Habits…. Seamlessly

How many times have you set out to create new habits.. and failed? I have, thousands of times! I recently dove into the science behind implementing new habits, and since getting a better understanding of what makes habits stick; I’m here to give you realistic tips to make a genuine change in your life.

Who we are in life is a summary of all our actions.

Creating new habits that influence our day, often brings us a higher quality of life or a greater sense of peace and control.

Our days are made up of hundreds upon thousands of habits we have both intentionally and unintentionally set out for ourselves through routine and reward.

Implementing a New Habit

Start Small

Whatever the habit or goal might be that you have set for yourself; you need to start small, will realistic, obtainable and incremental goals.

Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Make a Commitment

We all know; in order to make a habit stick it requires consistency. You’ve heard 14 days, 21 days, 66 days even.. What is the magic number?! How many days, weeks, months does it take to make a habit stick?

I wish there was a magic number. But like most things in life, there is not a one size fits all.

If you have your eyes set on making it 21 days, or 66 days, there is still an end in sight. You have to remember implementing a habit is a lifestyle change, one you want it in your life likely far longer than a few weeks or months.

Make a commitment to yourself and to others.. That this is the new you, you are the type of person who [Insert Habit Here.]

Write it Down

Writing down this commitment helps to solidify it. A great way to write down your commitments is through affirmations.

ie. ‘I intend to wake up every day at 5:00am’. or, ‘I am the kind of person who wakes up at 5:00am’. or, ‘I love what waking up at 5:00am does to the rest of my day’.

Visualize it

Another great way to solidify this commitment is to see it done! When you write down this commitment take some time to visualize it. See the life you live with this new habit. How has it impacted your life?

Close your eyes, see yourself doing what it is you have set out to do, with a smile on your face, feeling a sense of gratitude. Hear the sounds you would hear, smell the scents you would smell. Feel what you would feel.

Immerse yourself.

Vocalize it

Tell those around you what you have set out to do. There is nothing more motivating than having an accountability partner or even just that little voice in the back of your brain pushing you to not go back on your word.

Instant Gratification

Reward yourself!

9 times out of 10 when we fail to implement a new habit it is because we take the easy way out. The short term rewards, vs. the long term gains.. ie. snoozing your alarm. You would rather take the instant gratification of not getting out of bed than the rewards of having more time in your morning to prepare for your day.

Rewire your mindset and set rewards for yourself. Do what you can to become aware of, and avoid taking the tempting.. instantly gratifying, easy way out.

If you only take one thing away from this post, I want you to remember this..

Piggybacking

The best way to implement a new habit seamlessly is to piggyback off another habit.

My favorite, mildly unorthodox example of this is when I set out to do 100 squats a day. Whether I did them all together, or spread out… That was a goal I had set. I struggled with it for a while. My biggest crutch would be I would forget; typically remembering after I was already in bed. So I needed a way to remember.

I piggybacked this habit off of something I was already doing everyday… brushing my teeth. That’s right, every night before bed while brushing my teeth.. I get in my squats.

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Have a limiting belief that is holding you back from implementing a new habit? Read how to overcome limiting beliefs

I have many more tips and tricks that can help with goal setting and implementing lifestyle changes. Join the Tangible Community all across social platforms for more!