6 Simple Hacks To Help You Build New Habits

Creating new habits isn’t easy. Here are six simple hacks that will make it a little easier. Use them until you’ve internalized the new habit and don’t need them anymore.

Schedule It And Put It On The To-Do List

Sometimes we forget to do that new thing we were trying. Maybe we forget that we’re supposed to be having eggs for breakfast instead of a stack of waffles, or that we need to get that daily walk in.

Schedule your new habits or make them part of your daily to-do list until they become something you do automatically.

Make It Public and Be Accountable

Let family and friends know what new habits you’re trying to establish. They will call you out if you don’t stick to your plan and get you back on track.

You may even go as far as sharing it publicly on Facebook or write a blog about your new journey. Knowing that others read it and know about it might be just enough to keep you going when you feel like throwing in the towel.

Piggyback On A Habit You Already Have

Whenever possible, add the new habit to one you already have. For example, if you fix a cup of tea or coffee at 4pm, and you want to get in the habit of taking a daily walk, make the new ritual to go for your walk and then come back and enjoy your tea. 

It’s much easier to amend an existing habit or ritual than creating an entirely new one.

Make Slipups Costly

Here’s a fun idea. Put a jar on the kitchen counter and each time you slip back into your bad habit or forget to stick to the new one you have to put five dollars in the jar. It will quickly help you remember to skip that sugary food and motivate you to go out for that walk. For extra motivation donate the money to charity at the end of the month or hand it over to your spouse to go spend on him or herself.

Find A Partner and Help Each Other Along

Find someone with the same or similar goal. This could be a workout partner or a diet buddy. Keep tabs on each other and encourage each other to keep going. It’s much harder to skip a walk if you know someone else is depending on you being there.

Make It A Group Challenge

If one accountability partner is good, a whole group is even better. And they don’t even need to be local. Find a supportive group online and challenge each other to stick to your new habit for the next 30 days or so. Not wanting to be the first one to give up will keep all of you going until you establish that new habit.

Give these simple little hacks a try. Keep using the ones that you find helpful until you have made new habits you can stick with without the help of any tools or support.

Live from FitBloggin'

As the days approached for FitBloggin' to begin I was getting more and more bummed out.  So many can no longer attend, either money, their jobs, or logistics (Southwest cancelled a bunch of flights) stopped these folks from making it to Indy.

Be sure to watch Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for instant gratification of what I'm experiencing. Not sure if I'm going to do a complete summary or break up posts since this is my first event of this nature.  I can't wait to tell you what all I learn!

Workouts

SATURDAY I spent an hour working my arms and abs.  Definitely glad that this one was on the schedule for a weekend!

MONDAY was leg day again.  No DOMS this time around.

TUESDAY I worked my chest.

WEDNESDAY I worked my back with all those rows again in the morning.  During lunch I walked ~3 miles downtown.  I picked up my first spaghetti squash at the farmer's market.  When I got home I found a giant zucchini in the garden and a few others that had started.

A photo posted by Cassandra Schmigotzki (@longandwindingroadtowellness) on Jul 20, 2016 at 3:31pm PDT

Both the walk and the garden left me dripping with sweat so I had to shower twice in one day.  First time EVER for that I think. LOL

YESTERDAY was supposed to be a rest day but since I'm at FitBloggin' today I worked my shoulders instead.  Definitely going to have to change up how I do this day.  Using 15 lb dumbbells wasn't enough for me to feel anything doing the farmer's walk.

Linking up with

Jill for Fitness Health & Happiness

MississippiPiddlin & HoHo Runs

#MotivateMe Monday with Fitness Cheerleader, Running Rachel, & Run Mommy Run

Sunday Fitness & Food Linkup with Marathons & Motivation & IlkasBlog

Make Room for the New Goal

When you set a goal, you have to make room for it in your life. Most people find that they have to change their priorities in order to reach their goal. If the goal is important to you and you’re committed to achieving it, then this step is crucial to your success.

What can I give up?

This is the question you need to ask yourself when trying to fit your goal into your busy life. Look for leisure activities. Do you watch three hours of Netflix every night? Could you drop that down to one hour so you could use the remaining two to work on your newest goal? What about games you play on your iPad in the afternoon? Can you use that time to focus on your goal instead?

If you’re having trouble finding time you can use for your goal, install a time tracker on your laptop or tablet. At the end of your day, many time tracking apps will give you a summary of how you spent your time. This is a great way to discover pockets of time that you could be using to achieve your goal.

What can you put on the back burner?

Another way to find time for your goal is to make a list of projects that won’t be prioritized while you work on this goal. You can put this list aside and leave a note on your calendar to review these projects later.

When you do this, you’ll be able to fully focus on your goal. You’ll see progress faster, which will motivate you even more. You’ll also increase your chances of success and feel more positive about your goal. 

What's in conflict?

Many people fail to reach their goals because they have conflicting goals. These conflicting goals are sneaky and it can be hard to spot them. For example, your goal may be to spend more time with your kids in the evening. Now if you set another goal to go back to college to finish your degree in the evenings, you’ve created two goals that are in conflict with each other.

When it comes to goals in conflict, don’t think you have to pick one or the other. Instead, look for solutions that allow you to bring your goals into harmony. Using the above example, you could decide that you’ll go back to college in the evenings for three nights a week. But you’ll use the remaining four nights to spend more time with your kids.

Making room for your goals isn’t always easy, but it is necessary to your success. Remember that if you don’t follow through with your goal, nothing will change.

Discover how to make room for your new goal in the bonus workbook.