New Habits – How To Create Them

And Make Them Stick

Can you believe it’s the end of January already? I started planning what new year changes I wanted to make, and the new habits I wanted to gain, probably around November last year. Now that it’s the end of January I wanted to share some of the outcomes and what I’ve learned so that if you want to take on new habits, it becomes easier.

Every bad habit that I wanted to change into a good habit, I’ve managed to do so far and keep going. I feel like it’s almost going to be easy to keep them up from here, because the things I had to consciously try and change, have now become habitual. When they become solidified as habits is when you know you’ve achieved what you set out to do.

Here’s a few of them so far.

Waking up early. Becoming an Early Riser

The first of these new habits has been waking up early and exercising or going to the gym. Luckily, I was asked to cover the breakfast show at my radio station. So that meant waking up at 4.45am every day,

It was brilliant and it really helped to kick start that habit. Since finishing it, I’ve been waking up at 5.15am every day and going to the gym. I’ve been finishing my workout by 7.30am and it feels magnificent to still have so much of the day left in which to do everything I want to do.

Going to bed early. Falling asleep quickly

The second has been to go to sleep early and fall asleep quickly. As a late sleeper from an early age this has been something which has always challenged me. Although It’s still a work in progress, forcing myself to get out of bed at 5.30am, and not resting during the day, is really beginning to help. But the thing that is helping the most is my: ‘YOU REAP WHAT YOU REPEAT’ mantra. Saying to myself over and over again ‘I sleep easy and arise energised’. This above all has had the biggest impact.

Also this has meant that I’m able to be more productive with my day and get a lot more done.

I still have some work to do in this area. I still feel somewhat groggy between 10am and 2pm which is likely to be because of my napping habit arising from poor sleeping patterns.

Going Vegan. Going Plant Based.

Of the new habits I’ve mentioned, this one began last June and is still a work in progress. I believe the correct term is that I’m currently a ‘flexitarian’. However, I would like to go full vegan from a dietary perspective.

I didn’t have a perfect vegan month, eating mostly vegan and plant based has made it easier to adapt to that lifestyle and keep it going moving forward.

I had some friends around last night and the vegan pizza my wife made definitely got the seal of approval from them. It just goes to show that we can eat without harming other life, and enjoy it too! 

Eating this way again is just becoming a bit. If I’m in the shops and not buying plant food, I’ll now without even thinking about it, look for and buy the vegan options without even thinking about it.

Konmari – Marie Kondo

Yes, I’ve caught the Marie Kondo bug! I actually love it though. Even though my wife and I are clean freaks, and don’t keep much clutter, I just wanted to become more organised. I actually started with my sock drawer and underwear draw and folded them all the the Konmari way, whilst saying ‘thank you’.

It may seem silly or feel silly at first. But once you’ve done it, you won’t be able to do back to any other way. I’ve found this method also seems to have stuck very quickly

Making Your New Habits Stick

The one best piece of advice I can come up with that will really help you get focussed for the new habits you want, it’s doing them as a monthly challenge, or a 30 day challenge.

My gym habit began back in August when I created a #August3030 challenge and got loads of friends involved. The challenge was to do at least 30 minutes exercise every single day for 30 days.

The results were brilliant! I found by the end of the month, even if I didn’t feel like exercising, I had gotten into the habit of getting into my gym clothes. So even if I didn’t feel like going, I would just say to myself ‘well I’m ready now so I may as well go!’.

Try this out and see if it works for you. Make a new habit by setting yourself a 30 day challenge. My one caveat to this to not think about this as perspective of giving up something. e.g. chocolate. But rather taking on something new, like my example of exercising every day for 30 minutes.

Do this and I’m certain that you will then be able to turn into habits those things you’ve always wanted to do!

What habits do you want to stick? – Here’s someone who’s also been doing the same as me to great effect. —> https://onemonthprojects.com/2018/12/19/12-side-projects-in-12-months/