Bite Sized Habits Newsflash: some ideas for healthy habits

“You’ve been criticising yourself for years and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.”

Louise L. Hay

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Our inner critic gets the better of us a lot. Especially when we are being challenged in new ways. Let's reframe our thinking and try something different, shall we?....

Something to listen to

In this podcast, I talk about how we can set ourselves up for healthy habit success without the striving; how to set goals when the world is a mess.  

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Something to read

Loved this NYT article. Essentially it reflects exactly what we try to emphasise in the behaviour change field. That instead of solely centring in on breaking our "bad" habits (which everyone tends to be far too focused on) we need to instead reframe things and look at how we crowd out these so-called "bad" habits with new more productive, positive and helpful habits.

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Bite Sized Habit tip - Cultivate patience

How long are we commonly told does it take to make a habit? Unfortunately, 21 days is a myth. Research now tells us it can take anything from 66 to 122 days to break/make a habit depending on how complex the habit is. Arguably it can be said that habits take a lifetime to form. If you are no longer following them they are no longer a habit. I’m not telling you this to put you off but to show you that habit change is not something that happens overnight. The good news is once a habit is formed it can then become automatic so it no longer uses up your willpower and then you don’t have to even think about it you can then move on to making other small changes. The key with habit formation is consistency, the more often you repeat something in a given situation the more likely it is that it will become a habit. We need to look at habit formation as a marathon not a sprint. It’s not like we just brush our teeth for January and our toothbrushing for the year is done! Think about what the smallest step (or Bite Sized Habit) you can take this week towards your goal? And if you are not 70% confident in achieving it, make it easier. When it comes to habits small is powerful.

If you want to dive into habit change, why not sign up for the FREE Small Changes, Big Results masterclass! Click here to access it now: FREE Habits Masterclass