Changing or improving your habits can have an extraordinary impact on your life as a whole. Learn how to get started in this article by Life Advice Guide.
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The Ripple Effect: How Habits Shape Your Health, Happiness, and Longevity 2
The Impact of Habits on Life and Health 3
8 Steps to Changing Your Habits for Good – and Forever! 3
Acknowledge the Need for Change 4
Dive Deep Into the Habit Loop – and Understand Its Mechanisms 4
Set Specific, Achievable Goals 4
Set Up Your Environment for Success 5
Start Small – But Start Now! 5
Leverage the Power of Accountability 5
Find Guidance: Consult With a Lifestyle Counsellor 6
Studies have shown that genetics impacts our chances to live a long, happy life only by 10-25%. The rest is determined by our habits, diet, physical activity, social circle, and mindset. But if you are stuck in a bad habit loop, transforming your life and rebuilding your routine from the ground up can seem like a Herculean task.
Nonetheless, with the right guidance and strategy, you no longer have to be a slave to your own habits. In this guide, we’ll explore how the habit loop works, the impact that good and bad habits have on your life as a whole, and at 8 practical, actionable steps to rebuild your life for long-term health and happiness. Let’s dive in.
The Ripple Effect: How Habits Shape Your Health, Happiness, and Longevity
When we are caught up in a hectic schedule or unhealthy routines, it is often too easy to blame external factors, from our environment to our workplace or stressful relationships. In these situations, we also feel powerless, demoralised, which adds field to the fire that a bad habit loop is.
The good news is that there is a lot that you can do to transform your life by changing your habits. The bad news is that it may require effort and commitment. And, it all starts with building your education on how habits are formed and what impact they have on your life. Let’s cover the basics.
Understanding Habits
According to Psychology Today, habits form when a certain behaviour becomes automatic and performed with limited conscious awareness. These behaviours are often adopted as a way to make our daily needs more easily or more efficiently met. Think of when you have to get up early in the morning to go to work: a cup of coffee can help you feel awake and alert in no time. However, when you begin to rely on that cup of coffee, you may notice your energy levels spike and drop, and caffeine may even start interfering with your sleep or make you feel irritable.
Through learning and repetition, new behaviours become literally engraved in our neural pathways, turning them into habits.
The Impact of Habits on Life and Health
Habits can have a positive or negative influence on your life. Think of when you come home after a hard day at work. It can feel easy to just pick up a cold beer from the fridge to ease your nerves – or, you could pick up your running shoes and let exercise do its stress-relieving magic.
Replacing “bad” habits with new, healthier ones can lead to cascade of benefits for your whole life, including:
- Efficient scheduling and management can enhance productivity
- Regular physical activity keeps obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases at bay
- Mindfulness practices can improve mental health
- Consistent bedtime routines lead to better sleep quality
- Positive communication habits strengthen relationships
- Balanced nutritional habits boost energy levels
- Disciplined spending and saving promote financial stability
- Engaging in continuous learning sharpens cognitive functions
- Effective relaxation techniques decrease stress
- Cultivating gratitude practices enhance overall life satisfaction
Because they are so engraved in our brain, both good and bad habits can be very difficult to break – but understanding how these habits take shape and what impact they have on your life can help you replace them.
8 Steps to Changing Your Habits for Good – and Forever!
When it comes down to taking practical steps towards improving or replacing bad habits, it can feel like drowning in a sea of information – some of which can be very misleading! Think of the 21-day habit formation rule – that’s a myth stemming from anecdotal evidence that it takes 21 days for patients who have undergone plastic surgery to adjust to their new appearance!
While there is no magic formula to replace your habits, there are concrete, progressive steps that can help you ensure that the changes you are making are positive and sustainable in the long term. Let’s look at how to make a positive habit stick!
Acknowledge the Need for Change
You don’t have to have an alcohol abuse disorder to recognize the truth in the first of The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous: acceptance. Recognizing and admitting that a habit that is not serving you well – or it’s having a direct negative impact on your life – can help you become more aware of it and take effective steps to change it.
For example, imagine you spend hours every night watching YouTube videos before bed. This habit can trigger feelings of pleasure and relaxation – but, at the same time, it can delay sleep and impact your sleep quality. This, in turn, can cause you to feel more tired, irritable, and less productive during the day, which can impact your relationships, finances, and employability. The first step to halt this loop is to understand that watching YouTube videos until late night is no longer an enjoyable hobby but a habit that needs changing.
Dive Deep Into the Habit Loop – and Understand Its Mechanisms
In his book The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg shared the concept of “habit loop”. This term refers to how several elements come together to produce habits. These elements are:
- The cue – or the trigger that initiated habitual actions (e.g.: feeling stressed)
- The routine – or the behaviour you associate with a certain cue or trigger (e.g.: coping mechanisms like eating, smoking, or drinking)
- The reward – or the benefit you’ll see from performing a certain habit (e.g.: in this case, temporary stress relief).
When looking to change a habit, it is important to identify these three elements to get a better understanding of why you’ve started a certain behaviour in the first place, why you perform it regularly, and what you get out of it. This awareness can help you start replacing the behaviour (the habit) while achieving similar rewards, thus leading to sustained improvements.
Set Specific, Achievable Goals
Once you recognise a habit that needs changing and you understand how the Habit Loop works, the next step is to set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) goals. For example, if you tend to fight boredom at work by scrolling through social media because you dislike your job, your goal shouldn’t be to just “change jobs”. Instead, focus on more specific objectives, such as “Within the next six weeks, I will identify three potential roles that align with my passions and skills, and apply to at least two jobs”.
Find a Strong Why
Not everyone has the same reasons to change their habits. However, figuring out your “why” is a critical step in habit changing, whether you are looking to reduce your alcohol consumption or become more active.
If you have identified the negative impact of a certain habit on your life, there will lie your “why”. For example, you may have noticed that not managing your stress properly has led to problems in your relationships, which is causing you to experience depression, anxiety, and anger. The desire to improve your marriage or the bond with your children can work as a powerful motivator.
Set Up Your Environment for Success
Above, we’ve looked at “cues” – or triggers – as one of the key elements of the Habit Loop. These triggers are often physical signs, which means you can change them by addressing your environment.
For instance, instead of stocking your fridge with beer cans ready to be opened at the end of a day at work, line up your jogging shoes so they are visible as you walk through your front door. Alternatively, leaving a book on your pillow can make it easier to read more and avoid screen time before bed. Think of how to incorporate healthier cues within your daily environment!
Start Small – But Start Now!
If you are on any self-improvement journey, you’ve heard the saying “done is better than perfect”. Nothing could be more true! Setting up your alarm to sleep at least 7 hours, prepping your meals for the week, or simply going for a stroll at the park instead of heading to the pub on your day off can lead to significant improvements!
Leverage the Power of Accountability
Habit changing isn’t something that is accomplished overnight – it requires ongoing commitment and dedication. And, sometimes, you may just not have the motivation to stick to your resolutions. That’s where sharing your goals with someone who can hold you accountable can become an invaluable strategy!
Some accountability tips include:
- Share goals with a trusted friend
- Join a goal-oriented support group
- Schedule regular progress check-ins
- Utilise a goal-tracking app
- Commit to a weekly reflection journal
- Work with a mentor or coach
Celebrate Small Wins
Building new habits is all about replacing negative loops with positive ones. So, just like habits are formed also thanks to perceived rewards, be sure to reward yourself for the progress made. This strategy can help make the process of changing your habits more enjoyable and keep you motivated to achieve more or tackle other habits.
And, don’t forget that setbacks are part of the process – think of alternative ways to keep your motivation high and don’t lose track of your goal!
Find Guidance: Consult With a Lifestyle Counsellor
Transforming your life when you are stuck in a bad habit loop can feel impossible. This is even more true if you’ve tried several times to improve your daily life without making any progress. However, remember that everyone is different – and thinking could be more invaluable than having a specialist by your side. A lifestyle counsellor can help you design an action plan around your unique needs and goals.
Summary
Habits are defined as routine behaviour and actions we perform with minimal consciousness. Although they begin to develop as a coping mechanism to get our needs more efficiently met, through repetition, they can become engraved in our neural pathways. This can make it incredibly difficult to change your habits and form more positive ones. Think of that cup of coffee you reach out to in the morning to feel more awake. Even if it’s impacting your energy levels during the day, it can be difficult to change behaviour when you hear the kettle boiling and smell the coffee during cold winter mornings!
Habits can be positive or negative – and they can shape anything from our health and mental well-being to our longevity, disease risk, and happiness. If you have noticed that one of your daily habits or behaviours is the source of chaos in your life, it’s time to take action. In this guide, we’ll look at how to make positive, sustainable, and long-lasting changes through acceptance, goal-setting, education, and environment modification. Along the journey, be reassured that the help and guidance of a lifestyle counsellor are always within reach.