how to develop and maintain a healthy habit
Don’t let poor planning and roadblocks prevent you from truly adhering to your new health habits. Here are some tips to help guide you to finally reaching your goals.
1. Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals
We all have lofty goals that we want to reach in life, and the same can be true about health and nutrition habits. People often set goals like “never eating sweets” or “starting a new diet”. Those are respectable habits to want, but extremely difficult to execute as these statements are very broad and don’t have a clear end point. Without having an end point, it’s hard to stay focused enough to actually have a habit change. Be S.M.A.R.T. about your goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely)! Change your goals to look like “I will eat at least 3 vegetables per day”. With this more specific goal, you can easily see the end habit and have a narrow focus that keeps you from feeling lost in your new health journey.
2. Set Milestones
Another mistake people often make with starting a new habit is they don’t set small milestones to reach for when trying to achieve their big habit change. Say the main goal is to have no more than 2 sweet treats per week. Well, if you don’t set smaller goals like ‘replacing my nightly sweet treat with a fruit’ then you will have a hard time sticking to your goal. You might end up feeling like a failure if you don’t succeed 100% of your habit change right away. With smaller goals used as stepping stones you will naturally reach your main habit with ease.
3. Reward Yourself
Always, always, always celebrate your achievements. You’re doing this for a reason, but there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be proud of the progress you have made! If you don’t celebrate your work, then you won’t want to stick with your habit. Provide some outside motivation to hit your goal with a gift, such as some new clothes. Small acknowledgements of your progress will keep you focused on maintaining your healthy habits.