How Can You Develop New Habits?

By developing healthy habits, we can achieve our projects and goals more easily. But what is the best way to start? Read our article today which can be of great help to you with this.

Do you have good resolutions and want, for example, to protect your health, achieve a professional goal or learn a new language? Or is your wish to experience more harmony and spirituality in your life? If you want to develop new habits then read on because we have useful tips for you.

Habits are very important to achieve our desires and goals. But very often we have many excuses, such as “I don’t have time”, “I’m not motivated”, “I don’t feel ready yet” or similar negative pretexts and justifications.

What is a habit?

As mentioned at the beginning, habits are actually very important in our life. Because you can concentrate on your goals and achieve them. Various research studies define a habit as follows:

Psychologists also define habits this way:

Getting into a new habit is not always easy. But this is important in order to be able to achieve our goals and wishes. This is why you should overcome your excuses!

Habits and routines control our behavior in everyday life. These are important automatisms that make our daily routine easier. But you can also consciously develop new habits and choose to achieve a certain goal.

So we can consciously adopt a habit, which is why current theories attach particular importance to the following statement about habits:

This definition assumes that habits are learned through a process in which memory plays an essential role through associative learning.

How can you develop new habits?

As various experts point out, it is important to know that if habits are already cultivated in the family, the more likely they will persist later in life.

Children often start out playfully with different habits by mimicking the behavior of adults around them. But knowing that habits are learned, they can be developed at any time in life. You will then find various tips to make it easier for you to adopt new habits.

1. New Habits: Set a Goal!

Maybe you want to improve something in your life, adopt a healthy diet, get rid of an addiction, introduce a morning routine into your everyday life, or accomplish other things.

The first step is to clearly define what you want to improve or what habit you want to develop. Once you are aware of this, you can start making gradual changes and then actually adopting new habits.

2. New Habits: The First Step

You don’t have to achieve almost impossible changes or goals in one day. For example, if you want to go running every morning, start with five minutes on the first day and ten minutes on the second day, gradually reaching the time you set for your morning routine. You can reach your goal step by step.

3. A concrete objective is essential!

Avoid setting vague resolutions or goals. “Tomorrow I will run” will not get you there. Formulate your projects very precisely: “Tomorrow I will get up at 6 o’clock, get dressed and then go running for five minutes.” Be specific in setting goals in order to introduce new habits into your everyday life!

4. New habits: make a precise plan!

Remember that you will always have excuses to fall back into your old routine. Typical pretexts and justifications are:

“If I just don’t do it once, nothing will happen.”
“I’ll do it later.”
“Today I have no desire.”

The best way to prevent this from happening is to create an accurate plan that you will always have on hand when excuses come up.

For example, if you want to plan a daily meditation in your everyday life, you can prepare everything the day before so that you can start the next morning without delay or pretexts. Did you plan to run in the morning? Then prepare the sportswear in the evening so that you don’t find an excuse the next day. If necessary, you can silence your phone and avoid other distractions to better focus on your goal.

5. Develop new habits: wake up calls by mobile phone

So that you don’t forget specific habits, you can set up a special ringtone on your mobile phone for it. You will then know exactly when it is time to go running. Another option is to stick notes in strategic places around the house; for example on a mirror or a small chalk board in the dining room.

A specific ringtone on your cell phone can remind you of certain habits.

6. New Habits: Self-Regulatory Notes

Once you have planned the habits that you would like to adopt, you will feel comfortable in being able to accomplish all of the steps and organize your life as desired. For self-control you can “keep a record” and write down your successes, which will motivate you further.

Final remark

Remember that shedding an old habit and developing a new one begins with changing various attitudes that are limiting. Some people hinder themselves with statements like: “I am like that.” This belief is very limiting and can prevent you from achieving your goals. You should therefore review your attitudes and realize that life is made up of changes.