Something has come to light in the past 5 years, its the insurgence of self help books dictating the importance of morning rituals, just how important are these habits and how do they play a role in developing our future?
Im a big believer in ritual not the biblical sense but forming habits that unshakeably take us to where we want to go, there hard to master but even harder to break, like brushing your teeth before bed.. as an example if you mindlessly forget one time and roll into the covers even though your in the warm embrace of your new 10 tog duvet you cant sleep because the pattern has been disrupted. You must brush your teeth first.
you see most of our lives are dictated by the habits we form and the habits we break, getting up at 6 am to write blog posts before work or for that run before the kids wake up. how ever you look at it habits are in essence who we are!
I teach habitual eating thats right i help people build good healthy habits towards there food because i know that habits are hard to break and easy to follow.. if you know that you need protein with every meal but havent built a habit of doing so its easy to miss it, when this has an impact on your training you can see the importance.
Some of the most sucessful people in the world swear by a morning and even daily rituals, writing down the plan of the day, schedualing time with the kids below is some of the ways you can start building habits towards your future.#
Here are 7 tips for building better habits.
- Start small.
Big changes start small. Small change sticks.
“If we don’t have a lot of practice at consciously working with habits, it may help to start with achievable, realistic goals and build from there. We can also take a large goal but break it into smaller increments or phases.”
think S.M.A.R.T principle Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time frame.
- Replace bad habits with good ones.
Don’t create a void. Instead, replace bad habits with better ones.
“If we only remove something negative without simultaneously adding something positive, it’s much harder.”
- Beware of triggers.
Watch out for triggers that set you back. This could be people, places, or things, or even daily routines or even family.
- Link two activities.
Link one habit to another so that it’s easy to remember and it gives you a cue.
“Linking is when a first activity acts as a bridge for the second. This works best when the first activity is already familiar and regular. For example, when I first started meditating, I began my morning meditation practice immediately after brushing my teeth. After a while, the very act of brushing my teeth primed me to meditate.” same as going bed
- Interrupt bad habits.
If you want to break a bad habit, you first need to interrupt it.
- Find a partner or small group.
Pair up when you want to change a habit so that you have added social support.
“Practicing a good behavior with someone else helps keep us motivated and accountable — a positive form of peer pressure. Two people can even agree to work on different things together. For example, a couple might make a pact: one partner might work on not panicking in stressful situations; the other, on not reacting angrily.”
- Create a substitute reward system.
Figure out a way to reward your positive behavior in a simple and sticky way.
“ We can create an alternative reward system. For example, if we stop eating prcocessed foods for ‘x length of time.’ we allow ourselves to do something else that we’ve been wanting.
Diets often use ‘cheat days.’ If we follow it perfectly for six days, we reward ourselves with a day on which we can eat anything. This can dramatically increase our success. Pleasures usually generate an immediate dopamine rush. A substitute reward system can’t have too much delay. If we can’t collect a reward for a year, during those moments of temptation, it will feel too far away. We’ll be more likely to cave in to the near-term reward.”
Eventually We’ll Succeed
Never quit. Get a little better each time.
Don’t give up. Work at it. A little progress goes a long way over the long run.
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