Easy Ways to Incorporate New Daily Habits

New daily habits are often met with some resistance at first. No one wants to change their routine, but sometimes it’s necessary in order to improve your health or quality of life. Here are a few easy ways to make new daily habits less daunting and more manageable.

How to Incorporate New Daily Habits

Stack the New Habit on Top of an Existing One

Habit stacking is a simple way to make new habits less overwhelming. Basically, you stack the new habit on top of an existing one that’s already part of your daily routine. For example, if your goal is to drink more water, you could habit stack by drinking a glass of water right after you brush your teeth in the morning.

The only way this works, of course, is if the existing habit is something you already do without thinking. That way, adding the new habit will become second nature and won’t require a lot of extra effort.

Start Small

Another way to make new habits less daunting is to start small. If your goal is to exercise for 30 minutes every day, don’t try to jump into that right away. Start by exercising for just 5 or 10 minutes a day and gradually work your way up.

The same goes for any other type of new habit you’re trying to incorporate. Don’t try to do too much too soon or you’ll quickly get overwhelmed and give up.

Try it Out for at Least 21 Days

It takes most people at least 21 days to form a new habit. So, if you’re serious about making a change, it’s important to stick with it for at least that long. You can use a habit tracker to help you stay on track and motivated.

After 21 days, it should start to become more natural and easier to do. If it’s still not, don’t give up! Just keep at it and eventually it will become a part of your regular routine.

Track Your Habits

While you will hopefully start to see some results after 21 days, it’s still important to track your progress to make sure you’re on the right track. There are a number of habit tracking apps available that can help with this.

Some people also find it helpful to keep a journal or log of their daily habits. This can be as simple as writing down what you did each day or rating your progress on a scale of 1-10.

Whatever method you choose, tracking your habits will help you see how far you’ve come and where you need to continue to improve.

Get an Accountability Partner

If you’re struggling to stick with your new habit, it might help to have someone else to help hold you accountable. This could be a friend, family member, or even an online community. Having someone to helpmotivate and encourage you can make all the difference when it comes to forming new habits.

Making new daily habits can be tough, that’s why having somebody to help you along the way can make all the difference.

Be Honest with Yourself

If you’ve been trying to form a new habit for a while now and haven’t had much success, it’s important to be honest with yourself. Ask yourself why you’re struggling and what you can do to make it easier.

For example, if you’re trying to eat healthily but find yourself snacking on junk food all the time, maybe you need to remove temptation by getting rid of all the unhealthy foods in your house. Or, if you’re trying to exercise more but can’t seem to find the time, maybe you need to wake up earlier or cut back on some of your other commitments.

Making any type of change is hard, but it’s important to be honest with yourself so you can find a way to make it work. Maybe it’s just not the right time for you or maybe you need to try a different approach. Whatever the case may be, the most important thing is that you’re honest to yourself and remain open to trying new things.

Give Yourself Some Grace

Finally, it’s important to give yourself some grace when trying to form new habits. Just because you mess up once or twice doesn’t mean you’ve failed. Everyone slips up from time to time, so don’t be too hard on yourself. Cut yourself some slack and just start again tomorrow.

Remember, it takes time and effort to form new habits, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t see results right away. Just keep at it and eventually you’ll get there.