A Simple Blueprint to Create Healthy Habits that Stick

This is a guest post written by Eli King.

I always find June a time to re-assess my goals. We are half way through the year, so it’s a good time to look back at my new years resolutions and re-assess. How many have I accomplished? Do I still want to work towards the others? Have my priorities changed…

I usually create a second list of goals that I want to achieve. But the question is, how many of those resolutions get forgotten? We try so hard for the first few weeks of the year and then we lose interest, or it becomes too hard.

Here is my simple blueprint to really make those habits stick for good!

Take it only 1 step at a time. Often trying to do too many things at once overwhelms us. Take one of your goals – losing weight for example – and work on one step for the next 30 days. For example you might work on exercising every day for 30 days. Then you might work on cutting out processed food for 30 days, then you might focus on eating more vegetable, or drinking more water.

Build your healthy lifestyle one brick at a time. Take time to get each thing right, to make it a habit before you try adding something else.

This will work for any habit you want to include in your life. Try each one for 30 days before moving on to the next.

Here is a list of 30-day projects you could try:

1. Go to bed / get up earlier
2. Watch less TV
3. Exercise every day
4. Eat Clean Food
5. Be a Vegetarian
6. Run 1km every day
7. Do 10 push ups every day
8. Quit smoking
9. Write an email to a friend or family member
10. Only check your email once a day
11. Study for 1 hour every day
12. Watch a daily documentary
13. Read for 30 minutes – just for fun
14. Give up facebook
15. Drink 2L of water
16. Switch to decaf
17. Do something for yourself
18. Go for a walk every morning
19. Meditate
20. Phone a friend just for a chat

Discussion:  What habit will you work on first?

About:  Eli is a Personal Trainer based in Brisbane, Australia.  She blogs over at www.elikingfitness.com providing health tips, free workouts and motivation.

Image courtesy of Imagery Majestic / FreeDigitalPhotos.net