Five ways to change your life for good.
We all have them. They make the resolution list every January. It’s that thing that we take turns arguing why we can’t let go of it and swearing that we’ll never do it again. Ever. (Until the next time we do it.)
I’m not going to bother arguing for or against specific habits, though I think we’d all agree that some basics, like smoking, are unhealthy. You can find as many studies and articles showing the health benefits of coffee as ones damning it as a poison. Every week a new food is on the naughty list, and it’s often one that made the superfoods list the week before.
The big issue here isn’t whether any particular action or habit is or isn’t healthy; the issue is cognitive dissonance. If we are actively engaging in something we believe we shouldn’t, it’s tremendously stressful.
5 ways to help ease the transition:
- Know why you are quitting. What’s your big goal? What do you want to see happen as a result of the change? Are you quitting because it’s what you want, or what someone else wants? If you are giving up smoking because you want to and are ready to, you are more likely to be successful than if you are quitting because you want your partner to stop bugging you about it.
- Be specific. “Stop eating junk food” is not a specific habit change. The more specific you can make your goal the better. If you are looking to eat healthier, consider making a more specific goal like, “Stop eating at McDonalds” or “Keep red meat to once a week.” The more vague you are, the more you set yourself up to either fail or give yourself too much wiggle room. If you just want to eat “healthier,” you’d be amazed at what you can convince yourself is healthy when you are hungry.
- “Wear one hat.” We often get that temptation to make a complete overhaul. Starting today I am going to go to sleep earlier, stop drinking coffee, quit eating sugar, stop procrastinating, get more organized and leap tall buildings in a single bound! Yeah…good luck with all that. Even if there are multiple health habits you’d like to change, it’s most effective to work on them one at a time. Barring some extreme examples of people facing terminal cancer or possessing vast will power, most of us will not succeed at trying to makeover every area of our lives at once. Pick a habit to change that is causing you the most distress.
- Find a replacement. We hate feeling deprived. We fight it at all costs. If you tell yourself you are taking something away, it’s easiest to sustain the change if you replace it with something else. Instead of just quitting coffee, add green tea. Take the five minutes you used to use for a cigarette and meditate; five quiet minutes and some deep breathing is a simple change that can yield huge results.
- Commit and ask for support. While it’s important to have a strong internal commitment to the change, it’s helpful to have external accountability as well. Find someone in your life who supports your decision and will encourage you along the way. If you don’t feel comfortable telling anyone you know, consider either an online support group. Other helpful external cues as you are making a change include using a visual reminder somewhere you see it often (a bulletin board, mirror or your computer desktop) as well as any number of apps available to help with health habit changes.
Read more on Quitting on The Good Life.
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