Forming A Healthy Habit
Humans are creatures of habit, and the habits we develop throughout our lives can significantly affect our health and well-being. These habits we form can either work in our favor or against us- it's up to us to choose which habits we decide to cultivate. Actively developing a healthy habit requires patience, consistency, and discipline.
What Does It Take to Form a Healthy Habit?
Forming new healthy habits is a respectable journey that can improve your present and future if executed and implemented correctly. There are a few steps to undertake in this process, and result in success.
Identify the Behavior You Want to Change
In beginning to form a healthy habit, you must first identify what is motivating the change. It is essential to focus on one behavior at a time to avoid becoming overwhelmed and to increase the likelihood this new habit will stick. Once you have identified the behavior that you want to change, next, set a goal that is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). For example, if your goal is that you want to start exercising regularly, your SMART goal could be to exercise for 30 minutes three times a week for the next three months.
Make a Plan
Once you have established your SMART goal, your game plan toward achieving it is the next step. This plan should include specific actions you will take to achieve this goal, your new habit. You can take actionable steps to keep up with the exercise example, joining a gym, hiring a personal trainer, or finding a workout buddy.
Track Your Progress
Next, you need to track your progress. Tracking your progress keeps you motivated and focused. Keeping a journal, using a fitness app, or setting up reminders on your phone are ways to keep a measurement of your progress.
Reward Yourself
The final step is to reward yourself for your progress and achievements! Humans are neurologically wired to do what feels good, and we're drastically more likely to repeat behaviors that lend us to feeling this way. Therefore, you must take the time to reward yourself for all of your efforts! These celebrations will help you stay motivated and committed to your goal. The rewards do not need to be excessive or extravagant, but they do need to make you feel good!
What Challenges Do We Face?
Forming new habits is difficult. It may take at least two months for a behavior to become a habit, and there are several challenges that we may face along the way. One of the biggest is breaking the existing habit before our new goal can replace it. Our brains are wired to repeat behaviors that have worked for us in the past, even if that means meeting just the bare minimum with the least amount of effort. Are brains are hardwired to get us by, not necessarily to make us excel.
Facing Temptation
Another challenge we face is overcoming the temptation to give up. Feeling discouraged when things are not going as quickly or effectively as we would like tempts us to drop the effort altogether. However, it is important to recognize that this is part of the process, and even a plateau in progress does not mean the effort is not working. You must stay committed to the process and remember why you started in the first place.
Eliminate Distractions
Finally, avoiding and eliminating distractions is necessary to give yourself the most room to succeed. Distractions come in many forms, whether it be social media, negative self-talk, or voluntarily being in environments that are not conducive to your habit; it is important to prioritize your goal and stay focused on your plans.
How Do We Overcome These Obstacles?
You can employ a few strategies to overcome the challenges of forming a new healthy habit.
Start Small
The first is to start small. Changing too much at once or trying to make unrealistic progress in a given amount of time will surely overwhelm you. Start with a small change and build on it as you go. Also, once you have developed a healthy habit, you can employ another strategy called "habit stacking," in which you use one healthy habit as the anchor from which you stack on other habits- for example, every night after meditating, I will immediately read a chapter of my book!
Finding a Support System
Another strategy is to find a healthy support system. This could be a friend, family member, coach, or online community that helps provide motivation, encouragement, and accountability.
Practice Self-Love
Finally, practicing self-love is significant, as allowing yourself grace and kindness. Nobody is perfect, and setbacks are a natural part of the change process. When these setbacks occur, it's essential to avoid negative self-talk and instead focus on the progress you have made so far and what you can do differently in the future.
The Results are Worth It!
Forming a new healthy habit can be such a significant step and potentially drastically impact your life in the future! In seeking to live better, forming a new healthy habit can be both difficult and accomplished by being committed to the process and keeping your persistence through the obstacles that may arise. Being kind to and patient with yourself is key; ultimately, your success will be worth the journey!
Citations:
1 https://medium.com/lifeomic/10-science-backed-tips-to-making-a-health-behavior-change-that-sticks-8655c3bbde502 https://supplementrelief.com/what-does-it-really-mean-to-live-better/
3 https://www.ucop.edu/local-human-resources/_files/performance-appraisal/How%20to%20write%20SMART%20Goals%20v2.pdf
Jay Todtenbier is an original founder of SupplementRelief.com in 2010 and has operated the business ever since. He is also a tennis instructor and gospel musician. Formerly he spent 25 years in business development, technology and marketing with startups and major corporations having gone through the tech boom in Silicon Valley in the 90s. He became passionate about, and began studying and practicing Wellness as a Lifestyle after experiencing chronic, personal health challenges including depression, auto-immune disorders, and being overweight that impacted his ability to live a healthy, vibrant life. Since then, he has been an advocate for healthier living encouraging others to live better through making small, gradual changes to lifestyle behaviors relating to whole-foods nutrition, stress management, reasonable exercise, proper sleep, and the use of targeted, high-quality supplements.
Learn more about Jay Todtenbier.
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Making any significant change in life is hard. Most of our behaviors, whether healthy or not, are learned from the people and environments we associate with. Overtime our behaviors (whether unhealthy or healthy) have real consequences to our health and well-being. While change is often hard, it is achieve-able and worth it.
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Our sense of wellbeing depends on a host of factors ranging from our state of health to the level of fulfillment we experience in relationships and in intellectual, spiritual, and occupational pursuits. In short, by seeking to live better, we increase our chances of a happier, healthier life.
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Blog Post
What Does It Take to Form a Healthy Habit?
Forming new healthy habits is a respectable journey that can improve your present and future if executed and implemented correctly. There are a few steps to undertake in this process, and result in success.
Identify the Behavior You Want to Change
In beginning to form a healthy habit, you must first identify what is motivating the change. It is essential to focus on one behavior at a time to avoid becoming overwhelmed and to increase the likelihood this new habit will stick. Once you have identified the behavior that you want to change, next, set a goal that is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). For example, if your goal is that you want to start exercising regularly, your SMART goal could be to exercise for 30 minutes three times a week for the next three months.
Make a Plan
Once you have established your SMART goal, your game plan toward achieving it is the next step. This plan should include specific actions you will take to achieve this goal, your new habit. You can take actionable steps to keep up with the exercise example, joining a gym, hiring a personal trainer, or finding a workout buddy.
Track Your Progress
Next, you need to track your progress. Tracking your progress keeps you motivated and focused. Keeping a journal, using a fitness app, or setting up reminders on your phone are ways to keep a measurement of your progress.
Reward Yourself
The final step is to reward yourself for your progress and achievements! Humans are neurologically wired to do what feels good, and we're drastically more likely to repeat behaviors that lend us to feeling this way. Therefore, you must take the time to reward yourself for all of your efforts! These celebrations will help you stay motivated and committed to your goal. The rewards do not need to be excessive or extravagant, but they do need to make you feel good!
What Challenges Do We Face?
Forming new habits is difficult. It may take at least two months for a behavior to become a habit, and there are several challenges that we may face along the way. One of the biggest is breaking the existing habit before our new goal can replace it. Our brains are wired to repeat behaviors that have worked for us in the past, even if that means meeting just the bare minimum with the least amount of effort. Are brains are hardwired to get us by, not necessarily to make us excel.
Facing Temptation
Another challenge we face is overcoming the temptation to give up. Feeling discouraged when things are not going as quickly or effectively as we would like tempts us to drop the effort altogether. However, it is important to recognize that this is part of the process, and even a plateau in progress does not mean the effort is not working. You must stay committed to the process and remember why you started in the first place.
Eliminate Distractions
Finally, avoiding and eliminating distractions is necessary to give yourself the most room to succeed. Distractions come in many forms, whether it be social media, negative self-talk, or voluntarily being in environments that are not conducive to your habit; it is important to prioritize your goal and stay focused on your plans.
How Do We Overcome These Obstacles?
You can employ a few strategies to overcome the challenges of forming a new healthy habit.
Start Small
The first is to start small. Changing too much at once or trying to make unrealistic progress in a given amount of time will surely overwhelm you. Start with a small change and build on it as you go. Also, once you have developed a healthy habit, you can employ another strategy called "habit stacking," in which you use one healthy habit as the anchor from which you stack on other habits- for example, every night after meditating, I will immediately read a chapter of my book!
Finding a Support System
Another strategy is to find a healthy support system. This could be a friend, family member, coach, or online community that helps provide motivation, encouragement, and accountability.
Practice Self-Love
Finally, practicing self-love is significant, as allowing yourself grace and kindness. Nobody is perfect, and setbacks are a natural part of the change process. When these setbacks occur, it's essential to avoid negative self-talk and instead focus on the progress you have made so far and what you can do differently in the future.
The Results are Worth It!
Forming a new healthy habit can be such a significant step and potentially drastically impact your life in the future! In seeking to live better, forming a new healthy habit can be both difficult and accomplished by being committed to the process and keeping your persistence through the obstacles that may arise. Being kind to and patient with yourself is key; ultimately, your success will be worth the journey!
Citations:
1 https://medium.com/lifeomic/10-science-backed-tips-to-making-a-health-behavior-change-that-sticks-8655c3bbde50
2 https://supplementrelief.com/what-does-it-really-mean-to-live-better/
3 https://www.ucop.edu/local-human-resources/_files/performance-appraisal/How%20to%20write%20SMART%20Goals%20v2.pdf
AuthorJay Todtenbier is an original founder of SupplementRelief.com in 2010 and has operated the business ever since. He is also a tennis instructor and gospel musician. Formerly he spent 25 years in business development, technology and marketing with startups and major corporations having gone through the tech boom in Silicon Valley in the 90s. He became passionate about, and began studying and practicing Wellness as a Lifestyle after experiencing chronic, personal health challenges including depression, auto-immune disorders, and being overweight that impacted his ability to live a healthy, vibrant life. Since then, he has been an advocate for healthier living encouraging others to live better through making small, gradual changes to lifestyle behaviors relating to whole-foods nutrition, stress management, reasonable exercise, proper sleep, and the use of targeted, high-quality supplements.
Learn more about Jay Todtenbier.
-
Related Content
Related Content
We encourage you to take advantage of these FREE Wellness Resources on our website.
Detox Your Mind?
Some would say that technology has taken over too much of our lives. If we're not on our smartphones, we are binging on a trending show or news on the laptop or TV. Our digital devices are always popping up messages and flashing alerts that seem to need our immediate attention. Our obsessions with these devices detaches us from the present moment and may negatively impact our productivity, relationships, and ultimately our health.
Feeling Weak? Plant Some Mental Sea Grass!
Every now and again, I get discouraged, overwhelmed, and feel generally not up to the tasks set before me. I've learned to plant mental sea grass and you can too!
Making Healthy Lifestyle Behavioral Change
Making any significant change in life is hard. Most of our behaviors, whether healthy or not, are learned from the people and environments we associate with. Overtime our behaviors (whether unhealthy or healthy) have real consequences to our health and well-being. While change is often hard, it is achieve-able and worth it.
What Does it Really Mean to Live Better?
Our sense of wellbeing depends on a host of factors ranging from our state of health to the level of fulfillment we experience in relationships and in intellectual, spiritual, and occupational pursuits. In short, by seeking to live better, we increase our chances of a happier, healthier life.
The information, knowledge, and experience shared on this website is the opinion of SupplementRelief.com. This site and its content is intended to enhance your knowledge base as YOU MAKE YOUR OWN HEALTHCARE DECISIONS in partnership with your qualified health professional. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Any products referred to are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
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