How to Create New Healthy Habits

Habits: What Are They and Why Do They Matter?

Habits define our routines and behaviors, deeply influencing our daily lives. They're automatic responses established through habituation, a process where our brains link specific stimuli to certain actions. These behaviors can either contribute to our growth, or hinder our progress.

The Significance of Habits in Our Lives

Habits wield immense power. They conserve our mental energy by turning actions into automatic responses. They steer how we spend our time, shape our achievements, and eventually define our character. 

Becoming the Person Who Has These Habits

Habits aren't just mechanisms to achieve outcomes; they're tools to redefine our beliefs and identity. When we align our behavior with the person we aim to be, change becomes a natural progression. To create a new habit, we need to change our identity.

True transformation isn't about obtaining something but becoming someone. Habits, rooted in identity, have the power to shift our beliefs about ourselves and our capabilities. They propel us forward, shaping our identity, and consequently, our future habits.

The Impact of Habits on Well-being

Building healthy habits has a big impact on how we feel every day. Doing regular exercise doesn’t just help us stay fit but also makes us feel better mentally. Reading regularly isn't just about getting smarter; it actually helps keep our minds sharp and focused.

Habits that serve us make us feel good, they help us get more stuff done, and can help us feel proud of ourselves. We also want to take note of habits that no longer serve us like always putting things off, smoking, always being late, or eating too much junk food.

When we pay attention to what we do every day and try to do more of the stuff that gets us closer to being the person we want to become, it makes life better and keeps us feeling good inside and out.

Strategies to Foster New Habits

First things first – understanding the 'why' behind creating new habits is crucial. Adopting habits merely because they're trending or popular or because someone else is doing it, won't lead to lasting changes. What I find immensely valuable is crafting a detailed version of my future self.

Whether you are aspiring to live a healthier lifestyle, achieve professional success, or attain financial abundance, visualizing this ideal version of yourself involves detailed descriptions. I like to write out who this person is, outlining her daily routines, activities, time allocation, and overall lifestyle.

Once you create this version of you, you then need to ‘become’ her. By aligning my habits with the daily rituals and mindset of this envisioned future self, I'm better equipped to take steps each day that bring me closer to embodying that ideal version of me. It's not merely about adopting habits; it's about authentically living as the person I aspire to become. Again this comes back to identity, not outcome.

Some tips:

1. Start Small: Break down new habits into achievable steps. For instance, initiate meditation with short daily sessions, gradually increasing duration. You want it to be slightly uncomfortable but not too unattainable that you don’t do it.
2. Be Consistent: Practice your new habit regularly, reinforcing the behavior to make it automatic. 
3. Use Cues: Associate your habit with cues, like reminders or specific times, to prompt action. 
4. Hold Yourself Accountable: Utilize habit-tracking apps or enlist a support system for accountability. I like to make a checklist each day or time block it into my calendar. You can use The Spring Forward Planner, or one that you already have.
5. Reward Your Progress: Celebrate your successes and honor this new person you are becoming!

The Habit-Forming Timeline

The time required to cement a habit varies, averaging around 66 days. It takes around 20 times of doing something to create a new neural pathway, around 40 times to start to create the habit, and around 60 times to solidify the new neural pathway.

However, individual factors such as behavior complexity, repetition frequency, motivation, and commitment influence this timeframe.

Patience and persistence are essential in habit formation. Embrace the journey, knowing that cultivating habits requires effort and time. Remember, each step taken brings you closer to the person you aspire to become.

A few of my favorite everyday habits:

1. Sunlight when I first wake up for more energy during the day and better sleep.

2. No phone before bed, no phone when I first wake up for a healthy brain and taking advantage of the theta brain waves that access our subconscious mind.

3. Sleeping with my phone far away from me / my bed to avoid EMFs and using a regular alarm clock instead of my phone (I love Hatch).

4. Having a morning routine that I love and getting time to just be with myself. I set the mood with music, palo santo, coffee, and allow myself to just be before jumping into the day.

5. Hot water with lemon on an empty stomach first thing in the morning.

6. Daily Meditation, this is one of the more life changing habits I have implemented into my routine.

7. Visualizing when I am working towards a new goal / feeling.

8. Daily walks, these honestly feed my soul and my favorite time with myself.

9. Lymphatic drainage and circulation tools through dry brushing, legs up the wall, and laying on an Acupuncture Mat before bed (<- this mat puts you right to sleep).

10. Gratitude allows me to feel the happiness and joy in the now and present moment. This one is so important and ingrained in me to do all day long, not just in the morning.

11. Grounding as much as possible, when it is raining and the grass is muddy I go hug a tree. Don’t knock it until you try it!

12. I have become obsessed with learning something new everyday through listening to a podcast, reading a book that sparks something in me, taking a course, etc

13. Limiting blue light after dark, blue light glasses have changed the game for me being able to fall asleep quickly.

14. Oral care beyond brushing my teeth, fluoride free toothpaste, flossing, tongue scraping and oil pulling. Healthy mouth = healthy gut.

15. Eating a high protein breakfast, this has been such a game changer. I used to not eat any breakfast and have coffee first thing on an empty stomach.

16. Changing how I speak to myself and controlling my thoughts, this is now so effortless for me.

17. Proper Hydration through having water with proper electrolytes and minerals, I no longer feel dehydrated or the need to drink an overload of water.

18. Cooking at home as often as possible to control the ingredients and foods I am consuming 90% of the time.

Things I am adding in at the moment:

1. Using my Theraface daily, both the red light and sculpting features.

2. Limiting alcohol to barely any, it just doesn’t do it for me anymore.

3. Stretching at home more.

4. Rebounding, I just bought a little mini trampoline .

5. Watching more sunsets.

6. More dancing and fun because life is not that serious.