How to make new habits stick

Making new habits stick is a practice, and can feel like an uphill battle at times.

If you’ve been trying to make change in an area of your life, but often find yourself falling short of making it last, I have a few tools that have helped me with the process. I use these tools weekly and daily in order to support the habits I’m working on implementing.

How can you best prepare for your new habit?

Let’s use the example of exercising consistently. Is there a world where you can see yourself going to the gym (or home gym) 3-4 days a week?

In that world, what would be different?

Would you look forward to working out, prioritize having clean workout clothes, have a little tea or coffee before you head to the gym?

What time would you exercise?

What music would you listen to when there?

Would you warm up and cool down?

What would your workout plan be?

I love to plan, and it does help in this instance. Plan out and prepare all of the things you need to make it easier for you to do the challenging thing (doing the exercise).

Exercising might not be what’s hard. It might be all of the mental preparation and thinking that needs to go into the process.

It’s a new system. So get yourself set up, plan out how you will prepare yourself and make the system. For a few days it will be a learning opportunity. Once you know what to do every time, it becomes a lot easier.

Ensure your environment sets you up for success

Your environment plays a big role. If you want to change a habit, but your environment isn’t set up for this new change, there is an added layer of resistance between you and your goals.

For example:

Say you want to start reading every night. And when it’s time to wind down, you don’t see your book in a convenient place so instead of reading you pick up your phone because it’s always nearby.

If you set your environment up ahead of time, you could put your book in the spot you enjoy winding down in, so when you would naturally be ready to let go of the day - you are ready to read.

In Atomic Habits by James Clear, he talks about reducing the resistance or friction between you taking action on your goals. By making an effort ahead of time, you’re able to prepare yourself. And in doing so, you make it a little bit easier to take action.

Celebrate every effort you make

Celebrating the little wins, always! It can be really easy to focus on your shortcomings, in my experience. Looking at areas you can improve in can be really positive, however too much focus on what you didn’t do can work against you.

You may have heard the saying, what you focus on expands. If you want to expand on something, such as a new habit, focusing on all of the things you’ve done to embrace this habit change will have a positive effect.

If you want to drink more water everyday, you can acknowledge sips you take and congratulate yourself! It may seem simple, but the thing is you are already doing so much to pour into yourself already, and acknowledging that will make it easier to continue to do so!

Identify the challenges you have

When making a change, challenges will come up. Going out of your comfort zone means expanding who you are and what you are capable of - which is pretty awesome.

It only makes sense that there will be challenges along your way. When they happen, identify them and take a moment to address how you can overcome them.

By taking time to focus on not only the problem, but the solution you put yourself in the position to try something new and potentially overcome a road block.

I do my best to welcome challenges as they come up, on my way to a goal, seeing it as preparation for what I’ve set my mind to.

Try again

Change takes time. And can be overwhelming, defeating even. If you continue to identify challenges, and find solutions, you will improve and make the habit change you are looking for. It just may take time.

Some people are able to jump into a new habit with a lot of ease, and some people need more time to adopt one. I’m one of the slow ones. The habits I have today are a result of years in the making.

For me, I’ll start something new, and then something will come up and I will fall off of the habit over time. Eventually, I’ll reset my goals and realize I wanted to try again. And that loop still happens, the thing that changed was the time it takes me to reset my intentions. By using the tips I mentioned above, I’m usually able to identify the challenge and work through it. It’s not always quick but it happens eventually.

If you continue to check in with your intentions and be gentle with yourself when you need a break or are overcoming a challenge, picking it up again becomes easier. Or at least in my experience.

So, tryi checking back in and trying again. Maybe make a shift in your environment, or create a solution to a challenge that was in your way. If you keep trying you’ll make it happen in a way that works for you.

To take away

Intentions are a big part of change. Taking time to reflect on where you are, where you want to be and what obstacles lie between the two is a powerful practice when you want to make change. Habit changes are meant to be sustainable. To find something that will stick, you’ve gotta make tweaks to make it right for you!

So take your time, celebrate yourself for your efforts, and keep trying your best!