Simple Tips for Habit Success

We’re already 6 weeks into the new year! That’s crazy! If you’re working on any habits, how’s it going? Me? I’m doing pretty great! I’ve added a new habit to my list, and it’s evolving to fit me and my life. I’m also continuing to work on several other habits, and I’m loving seeing the progress I’m making! I also have a habit that I’m really struggling with. I just haven’t figured out how to make it stick yet. But I’m not giving up!

Interested in learning more about the power of habits? Check out this post and this post.

So, what happens when you’re having trouble with a new habit? Or even with an old one?

Or how can you create habits that will stick long-term?

I’ve been working on a presentation about habits for a client event at the end of the month, and so I’ve been immersed in all things habits for several weeks. I’ve learned so many important things about habits, especially for how to create and sustain our habits, even when we hit those stumbling blocks that we WILL hit.

5 Simple Tips for Habit Success

Research has shown that 80% of New Year’s Resolutions have failed by the beginning February, so if you find that any of your habits are not going well, you’re not alone. These tips I’m sharing can help no matter where a habit is on the scale from beginning to mastery, hopefully helping you create new habits, resuscitate any struggling habits, and get you on your way to habit-keeping success.

Tip #1. Keep it simple. Always. If a habit is too difficult or doesn’t fit into your life right now, it will be very hard to be consistent. So scale back, work on only one new habit at a time if needed, and if you want to work on more than one, make sure they’re in different areas of your life: Spiritual and health, for example.

Tip #2. Know your limits. This tip fits in with Tip #1. We all go through different seasons in our lives. Some last for years, some for months, and some for even a week or two. If we try to force some habits during the wrong season, it just won’t work. For example, one of my habits is to read 10 pages from a Success (nonfiction) book every day. When we had 4 young kids at home and John was traveling a lot for work, that was not the season for that habit for me. So take an honest look at where you are right now, realize that if it’s not the right season for a habit now it could be in the future, and match your habits to what you can realistically do right now. That alleviates a lot of frustration, unrealistic expectations, stress, and overwhelm.

Tip #3. You do you. Your habits are your habits. You get to decide what “counts.” If you have a habit to read X minutes or X pages a day, for example, you get to decide if children’s books count,  if audiobooks count, if comic books count, and so on. And don’t try and make someone else’s habit your habit unless it’s something you really want to do AND it fits into your life right now. And even then, it might take some tweaking to do what’s best for you.

I’ve got a great example for this tip. Julia Cameron, a well-respected and famous author, teaches about doing Morning Pages, which is writing three, 8 1/2 x 11 pages each morning of whatever comes into your mind. It’s meant to get your writing juices flowing, and several people I respect in the personal development space raved about how much doing Morning Pages worked for them. So, since writing is my job and one of my passions, I thought I’d give it a try. This habit lasted for 6 days. And it was pure torture for me. I ended up being more stressed (free writing is supposed to help relieve stress, among other things), and it did not help my writing juices flow. This habit is not right for me during this season of my life. Maybe later, maybe not.

Tip #4. Track. If you don’t see your progress or lack thereof, how can you understand what’s really going on? Tracking also shows you your wins, and you should celebrate every single one! When it comes to tracking, do what works best for you. I use a monthly paper tracker because I like to see it and manually cross things off. If a virtual tracker works best for you, go for it!

Tip #5. Review often. Like with tracking, if you don’t periodically see how you’re doing, it will also be hard to see where you’re winning and where you’re struggling. Reviewing isn’t meant to highlight your struggles. It’s data, plain and simple. Because if you don’t have a clear picture of what’s going on, how can you make any needed changes? Here are the 4 Rs of Review to help with this tip:

• Review: Look back through your tracker at least every 2-3 months, and monthly is even better.  Reviewing gives you a big picture of what’s been going on with your habits.
• Reassess: Have an honest discussion with yourself about what worked, what didn’t, and why for all your habits. If you’re struggling with a habit, are you not passionate enough about that habit to be consistent? Is it not working for you anymore? Is it the wrong season of life for this habit? If you’ve been successful with a habit, what lead to your success? Can this knowledge be applied to a habit you’re struggling with?
• Revise: Make any needed changes to your habits, including adding new ones or subtracting old ones, based on what you found in the previous steps.
• Recommit. This step is exactly how it sounds. Recommit to yourself to nail your habits as often as possible, always giving yourself the gift of grace. Perfection is 100% impossible, although you can be perfect each day in keeping your habits. And that’s amazing!

There you go…5 simple tips to help you be a successful habit keeper. Which tip will you use first? Have any more questions about habits? I’d love to help, so leave a comment below.