Habits. Depending on who you ask, what you read, or who you talk to, it takes 21 days to change a habit. In my experience as a Certified Master Life Coach, it takes as long as it takes. Some habits are rooted deeper in your brain than others, while some habits are nothing more than a memory you decided to keep reliving.
We hear a lot about breaking bad habits, but what about creating good habits? There’s as much a need for one as the other.
What if you could find a habit that would make a positive difference in your life…would you work toward making it stick in your personal routine? Just like breaking a bad habit takes time, so does creating a new good habit.
Regardless of whether it’s a good habit you want to create, or a bad habit you want to break, there are ways to make either happen.
Here are the 3 R’s of Habit Loops: 1. The Reminder: All our habits have triggers and these triggers initiates the behavior.
2. The Routine: This is the actual habit, action, or routine that you have.
3. The Reward: Is the benefit that you get from the actual behavior. Keep in mind that negative consequences have benefits and serve as a reward.
Step 1: Set a Reminder for Your New Habit
Will you set a reminder using an alarm or notification? If not, what are some simple healthy daily habits that you already have that you do every day? How could you integrate your new habit into one of them?
Step 2: Make it a Routine
If your new habit is something you need to schedule in, where and how are you going to set aside time for it?
What else do you need to prepare in advance so that you have everything you need at the scheduled time to get up and go? How can you protect this new routine?
Step3: Create a Reward
Does your habit have a built-in reward? If so, what?
What are some ideas of things you could do to reward yourself for meeting certain milestones? For example, every time you make it a week performing this new habit, you give yourself something special, whether it’s something you do that you enjoy or a small gift to yourself.
Is it really thissimple? Maybe. Maybe not. It is all about your determination and desire to change a habit, add a new one, and change the way your life feels. Can you do it? THAT is really the question. If you put your incredible mind to it, continue to focus on the habit you want to change or add, and remember it’s for your future life, I believe the answer is 100% YES. Because I believe in you, too!
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