Creating new positive habits, the foundation of change.

When you create a goal, something you need to work on to achieve, it has multiple steps. It takes time to achieve and along the way, you may get frustrated about the slow progress or even stop and start. The more you stop and start the longer it takes to get momentum. Therefore, creating new positive habits to help you achieve your goal is important. For it is the little things you do daily that help you achieve the results you are looking for.
I know hard to see at times, but when you consistently take action, you slowly step towards your goal.

How to set yourself up for success.

Setting yourself up to achieve something, doesn’t always come naturally. it is not easy.
I needed to learn how to stack habits in order to achieve or even do some of the things I do daily. Every day is a new challenge and believe me, some days I don’t feel like doing the tasks or going for a walk. I do it because of the end goal I envision.
This is being human. You don’t always wake up positively motivated to just go out and get things done. You don’t always feel like going for that walk. It’s natural, it takes building up or psyching yourself up to do some things in life.

I have a health goal to lose weight. I’ve been here before. Lost it, put it on, lost it, put it on. Just think about it. It took quite some years to put on the weight by enjoying some wonderful food. So it will take some years and effort to take off the weight.
I can’t expect it to happen overnight and I can’t expect it to stay off if I don’t change my ways. Changing to a healthy lifestyle, building habits into daily life that works for me like meal preparation and walking 10000 steps daily are just a few of the small changes.

I was fed up of the forever up and down results that diets bring. So this time, I decided it was a positive lifestyle change that I was adapting to. So I set up about creating positive habits that lead to success.

Related post: Productive Sundays lead to a productive week.

9 Actions to take when creating new positive habits.

Commit to 30 days.

One of the best ways to creating new positive habits is to do the new habit daily for at least 30 days. One month is long enough to work out positive and negative triggers that keep you committed to the habit. 30 days is short enough for you to adjust your routine to implement the habit. It’s also long enough for you to get used to the change and turn it into a continual habit.

Take daily action towards your goals.

Every day take daily action towards your goal. Once you’ve committed to creating a change or starting something new, decide on the action you will take. Take that action daily. Consistency is key if you want the habit to become part of your life. If you want to walk 10,000 steps a day. Commit to a deliberate walk daily. When you take consistent action the habit is more likely to stick.

To help you be consistent, track your habits.

Keep it simple.

When creating new good habits, start with simple steps. When you take too much action too soon you may become overwhelmed and stop. It is, therefore, easier to start simple and build upon a strong foundation. If your goal is to walk 10,000 steps a day, commit first to walking 20 minutes a day. Count your steps and build up gradually.

Note: If you plan to walk 10000 steps daily as one deliberate walk, it takes approximately 90 minutes, depending on your stride and the intensity of your walk.

Forbes states that one of the reasons that people have difficulty in creating new habits is they do too much too soon. Keep the daily steps simple. Easy enough to do each day. As you progress you will build upon the foundation you create.

Be prepared.

No matter what your goal is, to create results you need to prepare.

1. Plan for success by knowing what you need to do to achieve your goal.
2. Be prepared by having what you need ready so that you can take daily action.

As a shift worker, every day is different for me. Some days I can walk first thing in the morning before work. Other times I walk late afternoon at the end of my shift. I need to plan my walks or they don’t happen.

Plan by blocking out time in your diary for the action that leads you towards your goals.
Prepare by having what you need ready. For me, it is my walking shoes and clothes ready. When you prepare what you need in advance, you eliminate the ‘not ready’ excuse.

Track your action.

Commit to tracking the daily actions you take. As, when you track, you can see patterns.
Are there days that you didn’t take action towards your goal?
Is there a pattern forming on the days you don’t take action?
Do you do more on certain days of the week?
The more you track the greater success you have. Make adjustments to the time you take action, but commit to 30 days. You achieve results as you can adjust the action steps you take.

Learn as you go.

There are many things you do not know when you get started. It is OK to learn as you go. Each day as you take action also commit to learning something about the practice you do. For walking, for example, it could be learning when to stretch or what stretches to do. Or how to include fast and slow walking.
Don’t delay taking action because you believe you don’t know what to do. With a little research, it is possible to discover what action to take to get started on a new positive habit.

Find support.

One great way to achieve results when creating new habits is to have support. Support can come from many sources;

• friends
• family
• support groups
• work colleagues
• online forums
• online groups
• medical professionals
• trainers
• coach

A few times a week I walk with a walking group. However, when I started walking 10,000 steps a day, I started walking for 20 – 30 minutes each day and built upon that. The walking group came about from meeting people on a lifestyle course.
You will be surprised, where support comes from.

Know your ‘Why’.

Most good habits come about because of a change you would like to make in your life. Be it to be healthier, fitter, more balanced, more financial, or more successful. Sometimes your ‘why’ is to find purpose, leave a legacy and do more for others. No matter what your personal why is, it is important to know why you want to achieve this goal. The strong your why the more you are likely to take daily action towards it.

Important tip: Your ‘Why’ needs to be yours not someone else’s.

Know the benefits.

With each goal you stride towards, know the benefits it will provide. If your goal is a health goal, you may find that it has many more benefits than health. As you become healthier and fitter, you may find the changes you have made may lead to improvements in other areas of your life too. Like a promotion, better job or even self-employment.

I recommend keeping a journal to write about each day. The positive, the negative and the ideas you have along the way. As you take action on your core goal, you will get plenty of ideas and new action steps to take.

Challenge yourself – Track for success – Make your habits stick.

Challenge yourself to do something towards your goal for 30 days.
Track your daily progress. You will be amazed at what you can achieve in 30 days by committing to one simple daily habit.

Start the foundation of change today by breaking bad habits and creating good habits.