Life Fright

So much of our day-to-day habits are done without concentrated thought and for good reason. If we had to devote much of our brain power to every task, motion, and necessity, we would burn out very quickly! Like a well-oiled machine, we become so used to the routines in our lives, dipping into our brain power to make plans for momentous occasions and activities that pique our interests.

But the autonomous habits that we create, nurture, and develop deserve a refresh too. When was the last time you thought about how you brush your teeth? Often, we only reserve these habit evaluations for when it is not working or creating issues. I challenge you to take some time to think about your mundane routines and make some thoughtful modifications to what can be improved. Simple tweaks cumulatively can create big impact and overall improvement to your life!

Think about problem areas in your life and what could be done to reduce them or even better resolve them. For tasks like brushing your teeth or flossing, get up to date with the latest best practices and products. For example, getting an electric toothbrush or adding a tongue scraper can transform your oral hygiene for the better. If I had stuck with the same routine I had when I was a kid, I most assuredly would have created even more problems and expensive ones at that!

This also extends to things you aspire to do. I wanted to get more steps in every day so I bought a walking treadmill. To entice myself to use it, I paired walking on the treadmill with listening to audiobooks. I love to learn about new subjects and I love reading, so pairing this new walking habit with something I look forward to felt rewarding and served as enough motivation to walk everyday. On top of that, I wanted to improve my listening skills so this was a great way to combine everything into a super impactful routine! Including a reward with an otherwise boring task creates strong incentive to keep going.

Lastly, there is an effective technique known as habit stacking which helps to form and cement new habits quickly. The idea is simple. Say you want to add taking a multivitamin every day. Take an existing habit like eating lunch and make a concentrated effort through reminders to take the multivitamin after eating lunch. Very soon after, you will no longer need the reminder and it will become ingrained to take the multivitamin after eating lunch. Building off an existing habit lets us use an established path and branch off of it to easily add new habits that can occur before or after the existing one. Give it a try!

Do you have other tips and tricks regarding habit formation to share? Leave a comment below!