Creating healthy habits

Started a fitness program and then quit after a week or two? Maybe your motivation for starting wasn’t right to begin with? Maybe you didn’t know your physical limitations or set unrealistic goals? Or maybe you haven’t developed a habit of working out and staying healthy?

In this article, we will discover how to build healthy habits and make it stick for longer than 1 or 2 weeks.

Many people believe that to create a healthy habit it takes from 21 days to a month, and that’s where the issue is. People try to stick with something for 21 days and it doesn’t get expected results. It’s very similar to those 6min workouts that give you a six-pack kind of myths, 21 days it’s not enough time to create a habit that sticks.

Phillippa Lally is a health psychology researcher at University College London. In a study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, Lally and her research team decided to figure out just how long it actually takes to form a habit. The answer?

On average, it takes more than 2 months before a new behavior becomes automatic — 66 days to be exact. And how long it takes a new habit to form can vary widely depending on the behavior, the person, and the circumstances. In Lally's study, it took anywhere from 18 days to 254 days for people to form a new habit.

Now that we have this information clear let’s talk about the habits that we can form to improve our lifestyle, mood, physical appearance and overall health.

Start small Create on habit at the time and make sure you practice it every day, until you feel like it is becoming a habit, over 2 months or so. Rather than trying to do something amazing from the beginning, start small and gradually improve 1% increase per day. Top performers make mistakes, commit errors, and get off track just like everyone else. The difference is that they get back on track as quickly as possible.

Stay Consistent The more consistent your habit the easier it will be to stick. If you want to start exercising, try going at the same time, to the same place for your thirty days. If you wanted to wake up earlier, this could mean waking up in exactly the same way each morning. Know the Benefits Familiarize yourself with the benefits of making a change. Get books that show the benefits of regular exercise. Notice any changes in energy levels after you take on a new habit. Do it For Yourself Don’t worry about all the things you “should” have as habits. Instead tool your habits towards your goals and the things that motivate you. Have fun Don’t forget that to make this journey stick, you have to enjoy the process. Celebrate the small victories, boost yourself, and stick with it the longer the better. Greatness takes time, building an exceptional life takes time, and building exceptional habits that make you an exceptional human being takes time. Celebrate small victories with motivating reward, do it for yourself; because you deserve to live a better life, set small goals and move forward to the bigger ones, stay consistent and don’t forget, YOU GOT THIS!