As we reach the end of 2016 I’m sure many people are already thinking about things they are going to change for 2017.
The New Years resolution is tradition, and it goes like this ‘on the 1st of January I am going to stop drinking wine, stop eating chocolate, cut out caffeine, ditch the sugar’ etc etc.
Whilst these are all resolutions which will improve your health, my tip to you would not be to try to break all or any one of these habits, (as this is what they are), or any other habit you wish to break, in one go. Imagine your first day back at work on a dark and dreary January morning, its so miserable and you can’t even look forward to your elevenses….ever again!
The habit you have chosen to break has been formed over a very long time, it has been formed out of your repetitive actions or behaviours and slipped into your daily routine without any thought. Habits are meant to be difficult to change, habits are done without thinking and therefore means you can focus more on other new things that arise during your day.
Instead of the all or nothing approach, make yourself a chart with three things written on it that you would like to change, for example, ‘I will have a piece of fruit instead of chocolate with my morning cup of tea’, or ‘I will drink less coffee’ or ‘I will take the stairs instead of the lift’. Put on the chart tick boxes for every day of the month and every time you implement one of those changes on a given day, tick the box which corresponds to the new habit. Display the chart in a prominent place and make yourself accountable.
Don’t stop after one month, add an extra three habits to change for the following month and so on.
Studies have shown that it can take from 18 to 254 days to change a habit, so set yourself up at the beginning of the New Year to succeed, new habits need to be formed, not forced.
