With the New Year only days away, you may be pondering your resolutions and hopefully doing some SMART goal setting. Often times, in order to accomplish something new, you’ve got to change what you’re used to… but kicking old habits is hard! Sometimes you’ve even been doing things for so long that you slip back into your old ways sometimes without even realizing it. But changing your behavior CAN be accomplished if you set your mind to it and make a solid commitment to change. Follow a few key methods along the way until your new behavior becomes your new habit. Check out these 4 easy methods for changing your behavior:
1 – Replace your old habit with a new one. Just stopping something can leave a hole or a void in your life, which can cause you to miss the activity, leaving you vulnerable to slipping back into your old ways. For example, if you’re trying to stop snacking at night, replace that activity with a glass of water and reading a good book. Or, you can replace a smoking break with a coffee break.
2 – Take action & stick with it for at least 21 days. They say that if you do something for 21-30 days, it becomes a new habit. So as hard as it may be in the beginning, stick to it! But most important, don’t give up if you fail. If you mess up – be kind to yourself, start fresh, and keep pushing forward.
3 – Find an accountability partner. I talked about this yesterday when I shared my favorite motivational strategies – accountability partners help keep you on track and remind you about your goals. If you don’t have the right people in your life yet to create an accountability partnership, you can use a tool like HabitForge. I’ve used it in the past and found it to be a great alternative!
4 – Don’t try to change too many habits at once. If you try to change too many things all at one time, you run the risk of setting yourself up for failure. Too much change can create stress, so focus on only changing one or two things at a time.
What habits are you going to focus on changing in the New Year? I’d love to hear all about your goals and if you think you might use any of these methods to help with changing your behavior. So be sure and leave me a comment below!
To Your Success and Prosperity,
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