Forget new years resolutions – 5 tips on making new habits

Just to prove how daft setting new years resolutions can be, here would be mine if I got off from cloud cuckoo land:

Eat a raw food diet. Walk for 1 hour a day. Practice yoga for 7 hours per week. Meditate daily. Play constructive games with the children, thus spending more quality time with them. Who are by the way eating a wholefood diet. Don’t yell. Get more sleep. Spend more time with friends. Go on a holiday. Open a birthing centre.

You get the picture?

I am setting myself up for failure straight away by setting unrealistic goals.

So what to do in January to improve your health and happiness factor?

Start off small. Make habits. Not drastic changes.

Here are 5 tips to making a real change in your lifestyle for the better.

1. Make one change only. Changing too much is just setting yourself up for failure. When we fail we tend to throw the towel in completely and go whole hog on binging, overdoing it etc.
2. Make your change a small one. If I was to look at the list above. I would pick take a walk every day. But not for an hour. I would start with 15 minutes. If I go longer great. If I stick to 15 mins, I have reached my goal. But 15 is an easier number to achieve.
3. Keep doing it for at least a week, maybe two. Then it becomes a habit.
4. Enjoy the success of the small change you have made. And reward yourself. If you feel a sense of achievement you are more likely to keep that change in your life and go on to make new ones.
5. Make a further incremental change to keep your momentum going. You will find the more you look after yourself, these habits start to become infectious.

So. Considering I am planning a 21 day juicefeast challenge at The elbowroom, I need to get some things in place before the end of the month. Otherwise the detox will just plain HURT.

Here are my weekly challenges for the next 4 weeks

1. Week 1 – No more boozy drinks. I have really had enough the last few weeks anyway.
2. Week 2 – Ditch the bread – not hard for me as it doesn’t like me at all.
3. Week 3 – Juice 1 meal every day – again not hard for me as I do this most days anyway after my last Juicefeast in July (see a habit formed).
4. Week 4 – Ditch the sugar – Difficult as I love home made dark chocolate. But

Good luck with your own new changes and start slowly!