Seven Secrets to help you stick to your habits and goals…even when life gets crazy

Life can get crazy busy and it is hard to stay on track. Are you having trouble sticking to the new habits and goals you have set? Learn seven secrets to help you stay on track and achieve success when it comes to sticking to your new year’s resolutions, habits, and goals.

1. Schedule your habits into your life-Ideas for making this happen. Put it on your calendar-Give yourself a time and place that it needs to happen.

2. Stick to your schedule-It’s, not the individual impact of missing your schedule that’s a big deal. It’s the cumulative impact of never getting back on track. Consistent progress is better than perfection.

 It’s critical to stick to your schedule, even if it’s only in a very small way. Continue to do your tiny Habit recipes even if you have to scale back/make them tinier. Don’t have enough time to write an article? Write a paragraph. It’s not the individual impact that makes a difference. It’s the cumulative impact of always sticking to your schedule that will carry you to long–term success.  Need help getting your calendar under control https://melindacoaching.com/how-to-get-your-calendar-under-control/

3. Get specific– The bottom line is this: it might be nice to tell yourself that you’re going to change, but getting specific makes it real and gives you a reason. Soon is not a time and some is not a number. When and where, exactly, are you going to do this? You might forget once, but what system do you have in place to automatically remind you the next time? Tie new habits to your current behaviors. Want to be happier? Every time you stop at a red light, create a new habit tell yourself one thing you’re grateful for. The red light is the reminder. Same trigger, same sequence, every time.

4. Avoid false pleasures/buffering- What are false pleasures? These are the unconscious habits that we develop that are sabotaging us are often in the name of false pleasure. It prevents us from feeling unwanted negative emotions like overwhelm, pain, and excess stress/anxiety. Often people buffer by over-eating, over-drinking, binge-watching t.v. and scrolling on social media.

5. Setting yourself up for success- Design/create an optimized environment for the achievement of goals. The signs we see, the things that are on your desk at work, the pictures hanging on your wall at home, or routine activities you do every day, are all pieces of our environment that can trigger us to take different actions

 Dr.  B.J. Fogg teaches us that relying on willpower and motivation sets us up for failure. Because willpower and motivation have varying levels …often we experience waves of motivation sometimes we have a lot at the beginning of attempting to achieve a new goal or create a new habit or achieve a new goal and then other times we have no willpower and motivation at all, zero, zip…nada. If you want consistent change the last thing you want to rely on is something inconsistent.

6. The importance of caring- It sounds so simple, but make sure that the habits that you’re trying to stick to are actually important to you. The Fogg Maxim– Help people do what they want to already do and help people feel successful. You only have so much energy to put towards the next 24 hours. Pick a habit that you care about. If it really matters to you, then you’ll find a way to make it work.

 7. Have someone who expects something of you- What happens when you have teammates and coaches expecting you to be at practice you know that others are depending on you. Try hiring a life coach to help you along your journey and serve as your guide and accountability partner. https://melindacoaching.com/