Creating Healthy Habits

Our brains love to create habits. It allows our brains to relax and not use much energy. How many times do we bring conscious thought to our daily habits?  We don’t need to! We brush our teeth; get into bed and turn out the lights. No thought needed.

Habits Can be Beneficial, Neutral Or Unwanted

A habit occurs at the unconscious level. It is behaviour that could be beneficial to you, or not.* Sometimes our brains create “bad habits” for us. Snacking on junk food before bedtime is one of mine. This habit is my brain’s way of easily solving the problem of me being restless and lacking energy in the evening. It’s easier to eat than for my brain to think about all the things that I need to do before going to bed. It created this habit. (I didn’t!) Now, when I’m tired, my brain has no decision-making to do; it just reaches for the snacks. This pattern of behaviour has been established and my unconscious takes care of it. My brain is lazy and would much rather continue snacking as the way to solve my problem with no extra exertion.

How do you create a beneficial habit?

1. Start Small

It takes conscious awareness to create or change a habit. Understanding the reason why you want to establish a new habit, and ensuring that the reason connects to strongly held values provides the initial motivation. The first step is to start with the tiniest change, something that just leans into the direction that you want to go.** Instead of the grand idea of eating healthier, start with the tiny step of taking your vitamins every day. Small steps are doable and provide the least amount of resistance from our lazy brains.

2. Be Consistent

A small step has the benefit of being easy to do consistently, and consistency is key. It takes an average of 66 days for that habit to establish itself in our brains! (It can take longer for a habit that we find challenging and a shorter time for habits that we find easy.)***

3. Find The Right Spot In Your Established Routine

After choosing the small habit that you want to start with, look for the right spot to put that habit. When planning to take my vitamins every day, remembering to do the habit was the hardest part. I looked at my well-established routine for a spot where I could pop in my new habit. I also needed something to remind me. Simply putting my vitamin bottle on the counter was not enough. I needed to connect my new habit to an action I was already doing so that it would trigger it.

4. Reduce Resistance

If it’s easy for your brain to do, it will happen. I know someone who usually does the morning sudoku in the newspaper.  By using an elastic band to attach his sudoku pencil to his vitamin bottle, when he reaches for his pencil, he is triggered to take his vitamins. The pencil trick is all about reducing the barriers to success. It can take some time to look at your environment and design it without barriers, but it’s well-worth doing to increase your success.** It may take a few days of re-assessing and re-adjusting to find the perfect set up for you.

5. Celebrate Your Success

When you acknowledge your success at establishing your new habit, you are more motivated to continue it and to add more healthy habits to your life. *Applause*

What small healthy habit have you had success adding to your life recently? Comment below.

Consider working with a coach to help you design environments that build healthy habits, keep you accountable for your progress and celebrate your wins. Click here for more information.

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*https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3505409/#:~:text=While%20often%20used%20as%20a,washing%20hands%20(action)%20after%20using 

***https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-long-does-it-really-take-to-form-a-habit/#:~:text=A%20hallmark%202009%20study%20on,running%20for%2015%20minutes%20before

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