Written by: Abbey Riendeau, LMHC
Consider your experience when performing a task for the very first time. You are probably thinking through your choices and decisions and planning the best course of action. Imagine you are cooking a Thanksgiving turkey for the first time. You are going to be focused on the task because you have many things to do and to consider: the right pan, temperature of the oven, how to season or prepare the bird, what vegetables to put in with it, how to keep it from getting dry, and how long you will need to cook it so it’s done on time for dinner. Now consider the experience after you’ve made a Thanksgiving turkey 30 times. You may still need to review your recipe but the process requires much less thought. You can easily complete all the steps while chatting with family and multitasking with other food preparation.
Our brain wants us to turn actions into habits because it allows the brain to conserve energy. When an action is repeated and made into a habit, the brain can convert conscious decisions into automatic actions that don’t require us to think intentionally. The more habits we have the less energy the brain has to dedicate to making decisions. Some research suggests that at least 40% of a person’s daily actions are done out of habit. This means we are not consciously aware of almost half of the behaviors we engage in everyday!
How does this knowledge help us if we are trying to live more intentional lives or practice being more mindful? How can we live intentionally if many of our actions are done unintentionally or automatically? We must examine our habits and choose to break habits we no longer want by retraining ourselves to perform the habits we do want. “The process of behavior change starts with awareness,” says James Clear, author of Atomic Habits. For more information on how to break unwanted habits and develop desired habits, check out Atomic Habits!
Wanted habits that move us forward and towards meeting our goals can make a real difference in our everyday lives and in our long-term success. Just like all good things, anything worth having takes effort, and it will take effort to develop healthy and wanted habits. Our habits have the potential to help us level up and become the people we want to be. Successful people have a successful and capable mindset. Successful people put in the work and are effective with their time, not just busy.
Consider the following small behaviors that you can develop into habits that can make big changes in your life by helping your level up:
Scheduling your day - Life is crazy, life is busy, and days can get away from us. Without effective time management and scheduling, you might be getting through the chaos of each day, but not really moving forward on your goals. Making a habit of scheduling out your day can help you improve your discipline by sticking to your intentions. It can help you feel less anxious about remembering to accomplish what is necessary for the day. Lastly, and most importantly, it can help you plan your time effectively and move towards your long-term goals. Anybody can stay busy all day every day, but not everyone can be truly effective with the time they have. Similarly, preplanning for events or wanted behaviors can help reduce barriers to engaging in wanted behaviors. Preplanning your meals for the next day can make it easier to eat regular meals and to make more nutritious choices. Preplanning to exercise can help to reduce procrastination by having completed some of the needed tasks (packing gym shoes, headphones, etc).
Eating breakfast - Starting off your day with water and a nutritious meal will set a successful course for your day, within your body and within your mind. Ideally, we want nutritious and healthy foods for each meal but changing our entire diet can be challenging. By focusing on a nutritious breakfast, we are starting off our day with a well balanced meal, which has the potential to encourage us to continue making healthier food choices throughout the day. When we begin our day with sugar or carbs, our blood sugar spikes. This causes an unstable and up-and-down blood sugar throughout the day, which causes cravings. If we begin our day with a nutritious, protein-focused breakfast, we avoid a spike in blood sugar, experience less cravings, and feel more satisfied for longer. Focusing on implementing nutritious eating habits for breakfast can set us on the right course for the rest of the day!
Delayed gratification - Delayed gratification is the underlying process when you choose to invest in desired habits for the purpose of experiencing big changes in your life and in reaching your goals. Delayed gratification comes in many forms, including eating healthier, investing money, not using cheat codes for a video game, working on an art project, and strength training. Delayed gratification involves sacrificing instance pleasure for long-term benefits. It’s not an easy habit to form, but it is almost always worth it. Our society often revolves around instant gratification, which can be seen in social media, fast food, and other similar things. Learning to purposely delay gratification for the long-term benefits is a habit that will pay off dividends in the long-run.
Intentionally doing tough things - When we choose to engage in challenges intentionally we build our self-confidence and our belief that we can do other tough things. Making a habit out of doing an intentional, challenging activity each day can increase self-discipline and impact our perspective of what is considered challenging overtime. That way, when challenging experiences come up unintentionally, we feel capable and confident in facing it head on. Some examples of challenging and uncomfortable activities someone can choose to intentionally engage in each day include: cold showers, self-reflection, meditation, exercise, or anything else that you may find to be temporarily uncomfortable but doable.
Exercise - You have probably heard that it is in your best interest to keep your body at it’s best performance by exercising regularly. Beginning to exercise, especially if you have never done it before, can seem overwhelming. The good news is that you don’t have to start off with a rigorous weight lifting routine to see the long-term benefits of exercise. Starting small by committing to some form of movement and strength training for a set amount of time each day will be sufficient. As you feel more comfortable and begin to see the benefits of exercise, you can increase the challenge of working out. Exercise not only provides health benefits, but it provides improvements to mental health, including increasing self-esteem and feelings of being capable. Once you have exercising established as a habit, it’s likely that you will look forward to your daily workouts.
Reading - Mark Twain said, “The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.” Reading regularly is not only a great practice at discipline, but it also has the potential to increase our knowledge and understanding of various topics, thus moving us forward even more. Reading can open doors to knowledge that allows us to improve in other areas of our lives. Reading also helps us improve our short-term and long-term memory. Additionally, it’s another practice of delayed gratification and a practice of sustained focus; two things our society does not practice often with our quick-paced social media apps. You don’t have to commit to dozens of pages each day. Start small by committing to reading 5-10 pages each day, or set an amount of time you will spend reading.
Spending time outdoors - So much of our daily lives are spent indoors, especially as we get older and don’t have recess to encourage outdoor time. Spending time outside provides multiple benefits: appreciation for nature, encourages slowing down and intentionally noticing the environment, exposure to sunlight helps us make vitamin D, and being outside can have an incredible therapeutic effect. Regularly exposing ourselves to sunlight can also improve our circadian rhythms, thus improving sleep, as well as preventing disease. Consider bundling your exercise with your time outside for an even more effective way to reach your goals.
Tracking - Keeping track of your habits and behaviors can provide valuable insight into how you are actually spending your time, as well as help you improve upon habits and behaviors. Keeping a log of desired habits can help keep those new behaviors in the forefront of your mind and give you a little feeling of accomplishment each day you check off the behavior. Engaging in a time audit can help you analyze how you spend each day and determine if you are just busy or if you are as effective as you can be with the hours you have. A time audit includes writing down each thing you do during the day and the time that you did each activity. After accumulating a few time audits, you can begin to compare and analyze how you spend your time and determine where improvements can be made. Not only is tracking another practice of discipline, but it can also provide small doses of satisfaction during the journey towards long-term benefits.
Many of these behaviors are habits that I have implemented in my own life. As a result of these habits, I have become more focused, mindful, happier, and healthier than I was before. I no longer dread engaging in these behaviors but look forward to completing these daily habits. My mindset has definitely improved and it all started with one decision to improve myself and ongoing decisions to stick with my intentions.
The cumulative effects of all your decisions you have made are reflected in your life. If you want to change your life, you have to change your behaviors. When temptation arises to fall back into previous habits, reflect on why you chose to let go of that habit and consider whether the old habit will get you closer or further away from your goals. Watch out for excuses and justifications to repeat old habits; these will keep you from reaching your full potential. Consistent behaviors create automatic habits. Start small and once you’ve established the habit, begin to build on it. Your future self will thank you for the investments you make today.
If you need assistance on identifying where to begin when it comes to changing your behaviors and developing new habits, our therapists at Forensic Insight Group are here to provide support and help you find the best course of action for you. Contact us today to schedule a free fifteen-minute consultation regarding individual therapy or to inquire about other services we provide.
Citation:
Fornasetti, A. (2023, May 10). Small Habits, Big Results: 8 Small Behavioral Changes That Can Transform Your Life. ILLUMINATION. https://medium.com/illumination/small-habits-big-results-8-small-behavioral-changes-that-can-transform-your-life-53fae10b2f82
Joy. (2019, November 14). How Small Habits Produce Big Changes. Room for Joy. https://roomforjoyblog.com/how-small-habits-produce-big-changes/