Habits Made Easy

Last week we talked about how habits are important. I even gave you a quick example of how you can change your wake-up routine for those of you that are interested in becoming more of a morning person.

Today, I’d like to talk about some other ways that we can make changes in our lifestyles by changing our habits. We are going to go over three different changes and applications that can help us.

If you talk to a professional, especially those who enjoy their work, their occupation has become part of their identity. An artist is an artist. They don’t just say, “I enjoy putting paint on canvas.” It is part of who they are. Same when you see the people who go to the gym religiously, they don’t just say I go to the gym. They say things like, “I’m a powerlifter,” or “I’m a crossfitter.” 

When you find a habit that you are wanting to change in your life, don’t just say, “I’m trying to go to the gym regularly.” Or, “I’m trying to wake up early.” Change your perspective on it. Say, “I’m and early riser,” or “I’m a gym junky.” 

This gets easier and easier the more that you actually do the habit. It truly becomes a part of who you are.

One of the easiest ways to implement a habit is to make your atmosphere around it conducive for that habit to succeed. If you’re trying to start a new habit, the last thing you want is to make an already difficult habit even more difficult. Here are a couple examples.

Trying to eat better? Don’t wait until you are starving to start making something healthy. Weekly meal prep is an easy way to combat this. If you have all your meals already made and all you have to do is throw it in the microwave, then you are much more likely to succeed in completing the task.

Trying to remember to take your supplements? Prep them early in the week so you have every day already laid out. Then, for a bonus tip, put them next to a habit you already have in place. For example, set them next to your toothbrush, coffee maker, or blender and then just take them right after you complete your previous task.

This is my favorite. So many people think of going to the gym as such a daunting task that requires them to workout for 4 hours every day of their lives. When I’m helping people to start new habits, I encourage them to not think of it this way and instead start off extremely small. 

Instead of going to the gym for four hours, set a timer (as low as 5 minutes!) and just focus on getting to the gym every day, without failure. If you start small like this, 5 minutes almost seems like nothing. However, as the new habit becomes more your identity, working out (or any habit) becomes extremely easy to complete.

Here are a few examples of small habits that really add up.

1. 10 push-ups a day is 3,650 push-ups in a year
2. Reading 20 pages a day is 7,300 pages a year and the equivalent of over 24 300 page books in the year
3. Walking a ¼ mile a day is walking 91 miles a year (that’s a lot)
4. Saving $15 dollars a day is $5,475 a year that could go into your Roth IRA and set you up for long-term financial health

That’s just a couple of ideas. The list could really go on and on. I hope you enjoyed this quick read. If you did, let us know what habits you’re implementing in your life!

Stay healthy,

Dr. Coty