Creating healthy habits takes time, and can sometimes feel extremely hard to do, especially when the habits we’re looking to change are ones that we’ve been doing for a number of years.
It can seem difficult to know which habits we need to change first, and how to go about taking the steps to form better ones.
Over the years I've seen people try to change everything at once, which eventually leads to failure, and ends up taking the person right back to square one.
So what is the best way of forming new healthier habits?
Most of the time changing bad habits into good ones is quite simple, but the key is not to try to change them all at once, Start off with one at a time, and once you’ve mastered it, move on to another one.
The other key to success is to make the habit change an easy one, and one that you're likely to stick with.
Of course, there’s nothing new in the idea that focusing on less helps you achieve more.
Experts in all walks of life have recognized it for years. As Psychology Professor Ian Newby-Clark from Guelph University explains:
“Habits are highly ingrained behaviours. They are almost automatic. Changing one habit is hard enough. Trying to change more than one at a time is often a recipe for disaster. So, despite the occasional example to the contrary, my advice is to focus on one habit at a time.”
Research has shown that when people try to change a single behaviour at a time, the likelihood that they’ll retain that habit for a year or more is better than 80 percent. When they try to tackle two behaviours at once, their chances of success are less than 35 percent. When they try for three behaviours or more, their success rate plummets to less than 5 percent.
In my previous blog I looked at Good Habits versus Bad Habits, and I asked what bad habits you might be guilty of, and how changing them into positive ones, can have a snowball effect.
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The other key to success is to make the habit change an easy one, and one that you're likely to stick with.
Of course, there’s nothing new in the idea that focusing on less helps you achieve more.
Experts in all walks of life have recognized it for years. As Psychology Professor Ian Newby-Clark from Guelph University explains:
“Habits are highly ingrained behaviours. They are almost automatic. Changing one habit is hard enough. Trying to change more than one at a time is often a recipe for disaster. So, despite the occasional example to the contrary, my advice is to focus on one habit at a time.”
Research has shown that when people try to change a single behaviour at a time, the likelihood that they’ll retain that habit for a year or more is better than 80 percent. When they try to tackle two behaviours at once, their chances of success are less than 35 percent. When they try for three behaviours or more, their success rate plummets to less than 5 percent.
In my previous blog I looked at Good Habits versus Bad Habits, and I asked what bad habits you might be guilty of, and how changing them into positive ones, can have a snowball effect.
Click the button below to read -
For instance, because our lives seem to be getting busier and busier, a lot of people skip breakfast and then grab a snack on-the-go, and more often than not the snack that they have is not ideal in its nutritional value. Most of the time it’s just something ‘quick and easy’. This can make us feel even hungrier, and then we’d usually reach for something unhealthy.
This is just one of the many habits that I like to work on with my clients, because I’ve seen fantastic results with just making this one switch to begin with. And rather than tell people what to eat, I offer suggestions and let them decide which one(s) they can fit into their lifestyle.
Other bad habits that we have acquired can also be simply reversed by using different techniques. Now remember I said simply, not easily. These habits have been built up over time, so some of them aren’t just going to be changed overnight, but by adopting better ones we can look at forming new good habits.
This is just one of the many habits that I like to work on with my clients, because I’ve seen fantastic results with just making this one switch to begin with. And rather than tell people what to eat, I offer suggestions and let them decide which one(s) they can fit into their lifestyle.
Other bad habits that we have acquired can also be simply reversed by using different techniques. Now remember I said simply, not easily. These habits have been built up over time, so some of them aren’t just going to be changed overnight, but by adopting better ones we can look at forming new good habits.