It’s the start of a new year, and you’re excited to begin making changes, creating new healthy habits. Whether you plan to lose weight, run a marathon or spend more time with your family, it’s all dependent on how you approach each goal in order to get results.
By definition, a habit is a regular practice that is hard to give up. It’s often something so routine you really don’t think about doing it, you just do it. So, how do you transition your resolutions into habits? Studies show, if you follow these simple tips on motivation and discipline you can create new habits, in turn achieving success with your resolutions.
1. Start with small daily goals, set to achieve your greater objective. For example, if you’re goal is to run a marathon and you’re not an avid runner start with running a mile or two a day each week for a few weeks until you build up to run more each day.
2. Write down your resolution. Just thinking about it won’t make as much of an impact as if you write it down. Plus, you can place it somewhere you will see frequently to keep it at top of mind, like on your refrigerator or bathroom mirror.
3. Create behavior change with “if-then” planning. This approach is about building upon something you already do in your daily schedule. For instance, if your goal is to improve your oral health care then you could aim for, “when I brush my teeth before bed, then I will floss afterwards.”
4. Eliminate too many options or temptations, in order to make fewer decisions. For lasting results, the steps you take must change your daily activities. Stop buying cookies if you want to stop eating sweets. Make the same breakfast every morning for a week to embrace routine which will help you get the necessary done each day.
5. Know the reason for change. Many wish to make changes in their life without really defining why they want to make the change. They often don’t visualize the end result, which is key to making an action routine. Imagine yourself practicing yoga every day, or visualize eating healthy food.
6. Eliminate any “slip up” moments. Often times, when push comes to shove and we slip up once or twice we tend to abandon our goal altogether. Examine where the breakdown occurs and see if you can add an “if-then” or eliminate other choices in order to make it right.
7. Find someone to hold you accountable. When we have a buddy to work toward the same goal, it’s easier to stay motivated.
At Bonita Del Rey, we too look at the New Year as a fresh start. We review our business and determine how best to approach servicing our patients. And every year we always come back to the same resolution, which is to provide you unparalleled service and personalized oral health care. We use the same steps above to achieve this goal, because if you’re satisfied, then we have done our job! Call for a free consultation today, (619) 482-3264.
