How To Create A Life Changing Habit

A habit is something that you do regularly and sometimes without knowing that you are doing it. Take brushing your teeth for example. This is something you just do without even thinking about it right? We’ve done it for as long as we can remember and it’s part of our daily routine.

Perhaps you’re thinking ‘wouldn’t it be nice if exercising daily was just part of my routine’ or ‘if only I didn’t have to motivate myself to cook every night and instead I could just do it without thinking’. If this is the case, let’s make that happen! It’s possible to make anything a habit - it just takes some time and commitment.

Generally speaking, it usually takes around 21 days to create a habit.

Take my routine as an example. At the start of lock down, I decided to create some more habits that would enhance my life and could be continued after lock down.

To do this, I wrote down a list of activities that I wanted to start doing on a daily basis:

- Mindfulness

- Stretching

- Exercising

- Eating before 7pm

- Bedtime at 10pm

(Now I know the latter sound like a child’s routine - but it really works!)

Let me talk you through why I chose these activities and the benefits they bring:

Mindfulness

These days, our brains are running at a hundred mph and it can often feel exhausting. From the moment we wake up to the moment we go to bed, we’re actively thinking about anything and everything.

Doing 10-15 minutes of mindfulness each day can simply help you pause for a second and focus on your breathing and body whilst clearing your mind ready for the day ahead. It might feel unnatural to start with and you might get distracted in the first few sessions. However, with time comes great reward.

Stretching

Although the counterpart to regular exercise should be regular stretching, for some reason I always miss that part out. I think it comes from a lack of patience to hold a stretch for 30 seconds or more (I know, silly right!) But when I do stretch, I feel great. I know that stretching is an important part of injury prevention and it also improves flexibility, so it had to become part of my routine. Plus if these guys (^) could do it, so could I!

Exercise

What’s one hour in the grand scheme of things? When lock down is over and life become fast paced again, I wanted to be in a routine of exercising daily. I wanted exercise to be a non-negotiable.

It didn't always have to be a full hour nor did it have to be high intensity exercise everyday. But I wanted to make time to prioritise my physical and mental health on a daily basis and exercise is one of the best ways to achieve this.

Eating before 7pm

Unlike the Europeans, I wouldn’t say I eat particularly late. But then again, I’d never really considered the impact that meal times could have on my health and well-being. After reading Dr Chatterjee’s book, I decided to start eating before 7pm every night.

Now of course, there is the odd occasion where this doesn’t work out, but by making a conscious effort to eat before this time whenever I could, I saw huge benefits.

For example, I’ve started sleeping so much better. Eating earlier meant that my body had plenty of time to digest my food before bed (eating late throws of your body clock). Plus, my evenings felt so much longer. Rather than meal times taking up the majority of my evening, by 7pm I’d already eaten and cleared away the dishes. This meant that my boyfriend and I started to play more games after dinner. On some nights, we’d head out for a sunset stroll or we’d sit up chatting all evening.

The only hiccup with eating before 7pm is that I started to get hungry later in the evening as I wasn’t used to it. However, I overcame this by keeping myself occupied or by brushing my teeth right after dinner so I wasn’t tempted to have a late night snack.

Bedtime at 10pm

I only know one person that can put their head on the pillow and fall straight to sleep and that is my mum. I don’t know how she does it. It usually takes me around 10-15 minutes to fall asleep.

Sleep is a big priority for me, as without enough of it, I’m afraid to say that I'm not the best company. If I stick to going to bed at 10pm every night, I will happily wake up at 7am every morning (this consistency is key for your body clock).

To make sure I get good quality sleep, I like to listen to ocean sounds as I drift off. My boyfriend likes to read before bed to wind down. What works for you?

If you’re someone that struggles to fall asleep, if you find yourself lying there for more than 25 minutes, my advice would be to get up and out of bed (this is to avoid the whole ‘4 more hours until my alarm……3 more hours’ palava).

Perhaps do some mindfulness, read a book or write a list of things that are on your mind. Use this time to essentially re-set your body ready for bed again.

Now let’s get back to creating the habit.

So I considered what habits I’d like to create and why. Next, I started to implement them - one at a time. I chose mindfulness to start with and decided to do it at 7am every morning for 10 minutes. Based on Dr Chatterjee’s recommendation, I sat outside to do this so I could soak up the morning sunlight and fresh air.

To track my progress, I drew a small chart and put it up in my home office. This chart had 21 tick boxes and each day that I achieved my goal of mindfulness, I ticked a box. Not only did this provide an incentive but it also gave a me a sense of achievement.

I ticked the final box about two weeks ago and am still getting up at 7am to practice mindfulness outside. I think that qualifies as a new habit don’t you?

Not only that, over the past few months I’ve also been gradually adding the other activities to my routine and my day now looks like this:

7am

Get up and head into the garden for 10 minutes of mindfulness using the Headspace app

7.30am

Do a 30 minute stretch workout with SYDNEY CUMMINGS on Youtube

5pm

Do up to 1 hour of exercise

6.30pm

Eat a delicious and healthy dinner

10pm

Head to bed for a great night's sleep

I can now proudly say that I’ve made lots of new habits that have enhanced my life in many ways.

If you’d like to develop your daily routine, why not download my 21 Day Habit doc:

21 Day Habit Download.pdf

Download PDF • 37KB

It will take you through the steps that I took to create habits and will lead you toward a more fulfilled and happy lifestyle.

And remember, please share your new habits with me!

I’d love to know what you’ve chosen to introduce into your life and how. I’d also like to know if the 21 Day Habit doc works for you. Did you manage to create a long lasting habit in just 21 days?

Please comment below - I’d love to hear from you.

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