5 Steps For Building Healthy Habits That Actually Stick

How many times have you reached what feels like a breaking point &  want to change a bunch of things at once?

Maybe from the frustration, you have gained some inspiration & you are ready to engage in some change?

This inspired place is a great place to act from.

• Keeping your home cleaner
• Eating cleaner
• Exercising more
• Finding balance with work & life
• Taking your supplements
• Making time for your passions
• Setting & holding boundaries
• Whatever it is.....

You commit to changing several things at once (starting Monday, right? 😉).

You set the intention, Monday arrives, and quickly into the week your steam fades for doing all of the things, and you end up feeling disappointed in yourself....again.

If this sounds familiar, know that you are not alone in this struggle.
Maybe you have been through this cycle more times than you can count.

When we do this, we lose trust in ourselves to follow through and are less likely to continue to reach for what we really want for ourselves.

Ouch. I feel you. I've been there. I'm not immune to this either.

The beautiful part is that through all of the work I've done around habit & routine forming, I know just what to do - how to bring myself back into alignment with the habits & routines that serve me so well.

The steps below are a way that I support my clients as well.

Maybe the habits you want to form are brand new ones, or maybe they are habits you developed over the years and they fell away for one reason or another.

Either way, the 5 steps below will support you in creating the habits that you want for yourself. 

5 Steps To Building Habits That Actually Stick

1) Recognize that changing a bunch of things at once usually doesn't work long term, it's overwhelming, and can end up doing more damage than good in some ways, especially to your self-trust.

2) Take inventory & decide what would make the biggest positive difference for you (Sticking to a bedtime? Meditating every single morning? Scheduling a solid evening per week to meal prep? Take a walk every day?)

3) Start with that one thing and commit to it for a period of time. Maybe it's a week, 2 weeks, 30 days - whatever it takes to set that habit solidly into your life. If it's a new habit, commit to a longer period of time. If it's something that you've just fallen off track with, sometimes you just need a committed week to get back into the rhythm. Listen to yourself on this.

4) Complete that committed period of time, and only once you feel like the habit/routine is feeling solid, I add the next habit in for a committed period of time.

5) Continue to build on that momentum.

The key is really to feel into it, and recognize how much is too much at once.

Remember that being really successful at establishing one habit or routine is better than feeling like a failure at many.

When we take on too much at once and we neglect to follow through, not only do we not achieve what we want, but we lose faith & trust in ourselves that we are capable of following through.

When you choose to hone your energy into achievable steps, follow-through, & succeed, you actually achieve the habits & routines that you want, AND you build confidence & trust in yourself that you can and will continue to follow through.

The reward? You get to truly be the architects of your life. You get to feel good, have your needs met, avoid overwhelm, and live in a more vibrant way.

Sounds lovely, right?

Our culture tends to embrace instant gratification & quick results. We see people achieving things online that we think happen easily and overnight for people. It's not true.

Please don't let the social media posts & ads fool you. When it comes to personal work that is actually sustainable, you do need to do the work. And it takes time. This isn't a bad thing. There's a ton of value in the journey.

Make it a more powerful & energizing journey by not overwhelming yourself.

Take baby steps if that's all that feels doable.

Celebrate each step of the way.

Keep going.

What is the one thing that would make the biggest difference for you to focus on?

Start there.

You've got this.

All my best,

Shelly