Spring is the perfect time of the year to reflect on the year so far and make changes were we need to, here is a guest post for inspiration:
Three Good Habits and How to Form Them
If you are trying to live a healthier, happier life (and aren’t we all?) then forming good habits will be just as important as breaking bad ones. Here we list three habits that you should definitely consider taking up, and the best ways to do so successfully.
Exercise
An obvious one to start with; between work, family and social life, many of us simply cannot find the time or energy to put in the hours at the gym, on the tennis court or doing laps of the park. Studies show that it takes sixty six days of exercise before we have truly formed an exercising habit. That’s why it’s so easy to purchase a gym membership in January, use it obsessively for four weeks and then stop attending in February.
The key, then, is motivation. Make sixty six solid days of training your goal. Hang a calendar somewhere you’ll see it every day and mark it off after each session. Once you hit sixty six, you will genuinely have a fitness habit and will find it much easier to workout.
Read
Books are a strange thing. Just about everybody will tell you they love a good book, yet the numbers of people reading them seem to go down each year. That’s a terrible shame, because studies have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that regular readers are better informed, better at making decisions, more creative and have better memories then those who don’t read. Plus it’s fun to do! But how do you make more time to get books into your life?
The first thing to do is choose books you actually enjoy reading. Don’t be ashamed to pick up the soppy romantic drama or the pulpy erotic thriller if that’s what holds your interest. Then make sure you spend at least fifteen minutes a day with your nose in the novel. If you keep that up, pretty soon you’ll not only be reading for much longer periods of time, you’ll be graduating on to much larger and more complex reading matter as you get used to regular reading.
Bin the cigarettes
Perhaps the hardest habit in the world to break is smoking. As well as their addictive qualities, cigarettes become intrinsic parts of your daily routine and so it is doubly hard to put them down. One great way to do it, however, is to form a different habit that replaces smoking.
Vaping using an e-cigarette is a highly recommended method of achieving this. As well as emitting none of the horrid smells associated with tobacco, an e-cigarette will also contain few of the toxic chemicals that are packed into regular cigarettes and do so much damage to you and those around you.
Forming good habits is not so hard. All you need is to set some clear goals and make small adjustments to your daily routine. Over time, your reward will be a happier mood and a healthier body.
These are great tips. I definitely need to form the exercise habit and replace the treats I eat with healthier snacks.
What are your tips for forming good habits?
Guest Post