How Do You Habit?
They say it takes 21 days to build a habit.
Whether or not that’s true, the main idea remains the same—it takes time.
It can be frustrating to want to create new, positive habits but not always seeing the results you want right away.
If you’re finding it hard to build new habits, take a step back and ask yourself a few questions:
What is the habit you want to create?
Make sure you’re being as specific as you can with your answer. The more you can pinpoint exactly what you want to have happen, the easier it will be to track your progress later.
Is the habit reasonable?
Are you creating too much pressure on yourself to reach a goal that may not be realistic right now? When creating habits it helps to start small. You can’t immediately expect yourself to start exercising for an hour a day, 7 days a week if you haven’t had a routine in place before that.
Do you have support?
I will never stop singing the praises of accountability! Having a support system in place to keep you accountable and help you achieve your goals can have a huge impact on your success. If you don’t have a trusted friend or family member you can share your goals with, the act of writing everything down and keeping it in a place where you can constantly be reminded is a way to get your thoughts and feelings into the universe.
Do you know when you’re done?
It’s important to know what successfully creating a habit looks like to you. Again, be as specific as possible. What do you want to be able to do once the habit is created? How will reaching your goal affect you? How are you going to feel? Knowing these things ahead of time can be a great motivator to keep going, even when you don’t ‘feel like it’.
Whether you’re looking to go to bed earlier, show up to work on time, or make dinner at home 5 nights a week, the framework to creating a habit is the same. With reasonable, concrete, trackable goals in mind and some kind of support system in place, I know you can make your next habit stick!
Have you heard of PACT goals? The PACT system is a great tool created by Anne-Laure Le Cunff with Ness Labs, to help you answer the questions I asked above and give you a great foundation to build your new habits. Check out the episode of Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast where we learn all about creating PACT goals.
Episode 2407: How PACT Goals Work for Your ADHD
‘SMART goals are not so smart: make a PACT instead’ article by Anne-Laure Le Cunff
Thank you for your time and attention,
-Nikki
