According to psychology professor Wendy Wood, almost 40 percent of our daily activities are habit-based. That means you spend almost half of your day following the same automatic routine without even realizing it.
What if you could harness the power of that routine to make some big changes in your life? If you replace your detrimental habits with positive ones, you can put yourself on a path to success in no time.
Keep reading to find out how to change your routine and check out my ultimate list of good habits you need to start practicing today.
How to Fully Embrace New Habits
Throwing out your habitual behaviors—some of which you’ve practiced for years—can sound like a pretty impossible task. Changing your habits is an achievable goal, however.
Professor Wood’s research showed three specific tactics you can use to change even your most stubborn bad habits into positive ones.
Use Your Own Momentum
Try as we might, we can’t always control the trajectory of our lives. We face big, uncontrollable changes all the time. The good news is, there’s no better time to try out new habits than when another facet of your life is going through a big shift.
If you’re facing a career change, a big move, change in your relationship status, or another life shake-up, use it as an opportunity to change your most stubborn bad habits, too.
Keep It Up
Depending on how long you’ve practiced a particular habit, it can a lot of repetition to change it. Professor Wood’s research showed it can take anywhere from 15 to 254 days to get a new habit to really stick.
Don’t let that discourage you. Even if it’s a slow process, keep repeating your new habits every chance you get. You’ll succeed eventually.
Tie New Habits to Old Ones
Finally, you need to create a context for your new habits to take root. That means pairing your new habit with an already established action that’s firmly set in your routine.
For best results, Professor Wood suggests practicing your new habit directly after your routine behavior. The essential part of the practice is giving your mind a new cue to start with, so switching up that order won’t have the same beneficial results.
If you’re introducing mindful meditation into your daily routine, for example, do it right after you get out of bed. After enough repetition, you’ll know that the minute your feet hit the floor, it’s time to meditate.
The Ultimate List of Good Habits
Set Big Goals and Keep Them in Mind at All Times
If you really want to improve your life, you need specific goals to work toward.
Studies have shown that setting goals for yourself can actually improve your performance. Not only that, it’s a great way to keep yourself motivated through any difficult or tedious moments.
Create a list of specific goals you want to achieve. Don’t be afraid to dream big. Seemingly impossible goals can help you strive for greater things than you would’ve otherwise.
Be sure to set a due date for each one of your goals. Even if it’s something you know you can’t complete for another 10 years, a specific time frame helps you make real progress.
Next, take that list and post it somewhere you’ll see it every single day. Make it a part of your daily routine to check your goal list and update your progress.
This will help orient everything you do toward your long-term goals. It also gives you a chance to congratulate yourself for every step forward you take.
Set up Your Own Schedule
The most successful people are sticklers for their schedule. They break each of their allotted 24 hours into regimented blocks that are dedicated to particular tasks.
You don’t have to be quite that rigid, but a firm schedule really does help you focus at times when your mind might normally wander.
Try devoting different times of your day to specific tasks. If you find that you’re at your sharpest and most motivated early in the morning, schedule your hardest chores for that time.
Batch similar tasks and get them all done at once. Pick one or two times in your day to answer emails or text messages, then set them aside for the rest of the day.
Finally, be sure to schedule breaks for yourself. Even the most successful people need some downtime.
Pay Attention to Your Health
This may be the most oft-repeated item on this list of good habits, but it’s an essential component to happiness. Regular exercise and a healthy diet can have a big effect on your daily mood.
Exercise has been shown to cause a number of chemical reactions in the brain that can leave you feeling happy, clear-minded, and more relaxed. A good diet can amplify those effects by making you feel energized and engaged.
Practice Mindfulness
Your mental health needs attention, too. Practicing deliberate mindfulness is an effective way to improve the way you feel from day to day.
Mindfulness is maintaining a state of awareness of what’s happening around you. That means not only paying attention to the sights, sounds, and smells of your surroundings, but also staying aware of how your body feels and what thoughts are going through your head at any given moment.
Mindfulness meditation is a great way to sharpen your focus and calm your thoughts. It’s even an effective way to mitigate pain and improve your overall quality of life.
While truly effective mindfulness meditation can take a while to master, you can start with a simple breathing exercise.
Set aside three minutes every day to follow these steps:
- Sit down with a present, erect posture in a quiet room where you won’t be bothered.
- Focus on your thoughts. Identify how you’re feeling right now, at this moment.
- Accept any thoughts that come into your mind with a neutral point of view. Remind yourself that this is simply how you feel right now.
- Switch focus from your thoughts to your breath. Feel the movement in your abdomen as you breathe in and breathe out.
- Finally, switch your attention to the way your body feels. Pay attention to the points where your body touches the floor or chair, to the feeling of your hands on your lap, and to your facial expression.
If you can, try repeating this exercise at three specific times each day—or anytime you encounter something stressful.
Sleep More
Arianna Huffington has famously debunked the myth that true success means surviving on minimal hours of shuteye. In fact, sleep deprivation can weaken your immune system, wreak havoc on your mood, and cause long-term health problems like obesity or high blood pressure.
That’s why it’s essential you set a firm bedtime and stick with it. Give yourself at least seven to eight hours to attain true, restful slumber.
Try creating a sleep ritual to give your brain a cue that it’s bedtime. Arianna shuts down her tech, takes a hot bath, and curls up with a good book to let her mind know it’s time to get ready for bed.
Spend Regular Time With Friends Who Challenge You
It’s great to have a group of friends who support you no matter what, but to really grow, you need some peers who can challenge you.
Seek out others who have attained the level of success you want. Schedule a weekly or monthly meet up where you can all discuss your goals, your progress, and socialize in a friendly setting. Let them put a little well-intentioned pressure on you to stick to your goals and achieve great things.
Heather Michelle Tipton 