Lifestyle Changes You Can Actually Stick to

 

Improving your life these days seems to be all about daily routines, schedules, and healthy lifestyle changes. This is all a good thing, but when you start working on improving your habits and creating complex routines, you might tend to go a little overboard. Then when you don’t stick to the changes, you feel like a failure and give up.

This is the wrong attitude to have!

Instead, focus on small, simply changes that will improve your life, but are also more realistic.

 

Combine Your Habits

 

Try taking habits that you can do at the same time, and combine them. This is going to make it easier to stick to these habits, because they take less time and you don’t have to think about them quite as much. For example, if you have reading a book in the morning and eating breakfast as part of your morning routine, combine them!

You can eat your breakfast slowly (or drink your smoothie) while you are reading or writing in a journal.

Go through your habits in your morning and afternoon routines, and consider some that can be combined. Here are a few more ideas:

 

Relaxing with an aromatherapy candle while you are reading.

Doing your breathing exercises/meditation while you do yoga.

Taking a bath at night and listen to an audio book at the same time.

Write your gratitude in the evening while also supervising your kids during bath time.

 

 

Use Your Current Routine as Inspiration

What is your routine like right now?

Think about your morning or night routine, and write down what you tend to do each day, and in what order. Don’t think you have a routine? You do! Everyone does.

 

Even the smallest thing quickly becomes a habit. Say for example, you get up at 6 am every morning when your alarm goes off. You probably do the same things in roughly the same order, without even thinking about it. This might mean using the restroom, then washing your hands, putting on your robe, and going to the kitchen to make coffee. Simple tasks you are so used to doing, that you didn’t realize were your routine.

 

Go through a typical day and write down what you do throughout the ay. This will show you what your current routine looks like.

 

Don’t Change Everything at Once

 

Your new lifestyle changes are not going to stick if you try to change 10 or 15 things all at once. After writing down your routine, write down a list of healthy habits you want to add to your regular routine. Then pick 1 or 2 that you can start with this week. NOT all of them! This is very important.

 

If you want lifestyle changes you’re going to stick to, you have to go slow, easing them into your normal routine one at a time.

 

 

Easy Habits You Can Change Right Now

 

For some simple lifestyle changes you can start with right now, here are some ideas:

 

Drink water first thing in the morning before your coffee.

Do yoga or go for a walk at least once a day.

Eat a healthy breakfast.

Pack your lunch the night before during your nighttime routine.

Start reading a chapter from a book every day.

Give yourself a block of free time to do what you want.

Make your bed.