Have the New Habits Stuck?

• By Beth Meirav
• My Blog

At the start of January I wrote about tweaking a few of your habits. Did you take stock of your existing habits and try to make any little changes? Remember, I didn't feel it was necessary to make any huge resolutions, but analyzing your habits and seeing where you could perhaps make a slight change is definitely beneficial.

What can we do so you don't give up as so many do at this point or by the end of January? How can those small "tweaks" become habits that stick and become something you can build on?

1. Celebrate your wins. Pat yourself on the back. I just had a client leave the office that lost a few less pounds than she wanted to this week (she lost 5). That being said, she increased her water intake, she started exercising and she is eating slower. Hello! Those are huge wins! We need to congratulate ourselves for each and every improvement and the effort behind it.
2. Don't beat yourself up for any setbacks. Setbacks happen. Perhaps your intention was to have a dry January but you went out to celebrate a friend's birthday and had a glass of wine. Ok, no big deal! I don't believe in guilt. Any of my clients will tell you that. Hopefully you enjoyed that wine and now you can resume your goal and take it from there.
3. Tell a friend. Having a friend or two know what you are hoping to achieve and holding you accountable can be a huge help.
4. Prep. When you made that detailed list of your habits a few weeks ago (hopefully you did), did you then write a course of action? The example I had given was meal planning. Writing out how this tiny change will take place is imperative. Make it real. Time block it. If I didn't time block my workouts I would never make it to the gym.

Perhaps you didn't quite start out as strong as you had hoped with the "tweaks", but we are only 3 weeks in folks! Each day brings new opportunities for you to make changes happen in your life. I have a sign above the office to my door that says "There is nothing that cannot happen today." I firmly believe that.

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