Finding time to create a healthy routine can be hard. The first step is identifying those habits and bits of routine that allow you to find both contentment and happiness, all the while having a positive influence on your mind, body, soul, or any combination of such. While this sounds simple and straightforward, it can be hard to judge actions of oneself from a “third party perspective” of sorts. We recently wrote a blog post about our experiences with this and a lesson learned from my yoga practice that articulated the idea in a way I easily consumed. Check it out by clicking here if you’re interested.
Start with one thing that you know is positive for yourself and is something that you enjoy, for example, physical exercise is something that is easily identifiable for myself that I both enjoy and has a positive impact on my mind and body. When I first recognized this, I tried to add as much physical exercise into my routine as I possibly could. The problem with this is that it became unhealthy, the relationship I had with exercising. It quickly turned from something positive in my life to something I was worrying about accomplishing or not. And on top of that, I had a quick burn out rate.
This is what I did instead.
I found myself options and made realistic goals for myself. Instead of working everyday at one specific goal, set a goal that is achievable, even if it’s just occasionally. When we are able to meet our goals, it’s a sort of message to yourself that the goals you are setting are indeed realistic and achievable. With enough positive reinforcement with one’s self, goals can become larger and sights set higher.
Making a habit stick
The leap into creating a habit from something that happens occasionally looks for me like a combination of discipline and kindness to myself. It does indeed take discipline to continue to build up your healthy habits and make it a sort of second nature. But that is the long term. In the short term, I try and remember that each day is new and each decision is no reflection on past or present decisions. With that said, life sometimes seems to have funny way of getting in the way between making our goals a reality. Find the balance of being kind to yourself and wanting to make changes and achieve goals for no one but yourself as a motivator. Once I became the main focus of my goal, it was easier for me to put effort towards it’s accomplishment.
What is a healthy habit that you use to bring more goal competition into your life and what are some steps you take to make sure your healthy habit gets done?