3 Tips for Creating Good Habits

According to a study by Duke University, 45% of our waking behaviour is habitual. So if you want to make big changes you need to look at your habits, are they working for you? If not then you need to make new habits that do. The myth will have you believe if you do something for a certain amount time it will automatically become habit, not true, it runs deeper than that. Here are 3 tips for putting good habits into place:

Purpose

You have to have a purpose or reason and you have to actually want to change the habit. Knowing you should change is very different to wanting to change. If you change this habit, how will it serve you? What are the benefits?

Trigger Point

In order to break a bad habit you need to identify the trigger that puts the bad habit into motion and the reason, when your tired you seek out sugar because it will give you a boost, when your stressed you open a bottle of wine because it helps you relax, when you have spare time you reach for your phone and begin scrolling because it gives you something to do…once you identify the trigger and the reason, you can intervene and replace it with a good habit.

Persistence not Perfection

When the trigger goes off you need to have awareness and be persistent at putting the new habit in place, if you fail and the old habit creeps back, acknowledge it and fix it next time, do not let one or two slips put you off, remember why you wanted to make the change. Once the new habit is established it becomes easier.