25 Great Ways to Make Healthy New Habits

Building healthy habits requires a blend of consistency, motivation and strategic planning. Sam Island Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

Building healthy new habits can be transformative and lead to a more organized, healthy and fulfilling life. Yet it can feel daunting to set up fresh, positive routines. It requires a blend

of consistency, motivation and strategic planning. Whether you’re looking to enhance your productivity, improve your physical health or foster better mental well-being, it’s crucial to

understand the art and science of habit formation.

To help you get started, we’ve put together 25 methods you can use to create lasting change in your life. Find the ones that work best for you, then share your own advice at the bottom of

the page. 

It’s great to have a goal in mind, but it’s important to understand what motivates you to reach the finish line. Putting it in writing can help. “We all start a new healthy habit for a

reason,” says Kelly Smith, a yoga and meditation teacher, host of the Mindful in Minutes podcast and author of Mindful in Minutes: You Are Not Your Thoughts, a guided meditation journal. “So

when you embark on adding this habit to your life, write down why you are doing this.” Next, put the goals you wrote down somewhere prominent. According to Smith, if you see your words

regularly, it will push you to press on, because understanding the deeper motivation behind your goals can make it easier to stay focused and committed.

vision

Most people decide what they want to achieve first, but that can lead to disappointment, says positive-psychology expert Stella Grizont, author of The Work Happiness Method. She suggests

flipping the script. Say you establish a daily exercise habit, but instead of being energized, you feel tired. In that situation, “decide how you want to feel and then work backwards to pick

habits that support that vision of how you wish to feel,” Grizont says, noting that sometimes we set goals that seem like the right thing to do without considering if they are actually

right for us.

When making healthy lifestyle changes, you need a plan before you begin — and that requires some serious self-reflection. “Take some time to do a self-assessment and evaluate where you are

now and where you ultimately want to be when it comes to your wellness goals,” says Reena Vokoun, a fitness instructor and Tedx speaker who helps individuals and companies incorporate

fitness, nutrition, mindfulness and professional strengths into everyday life. “Then develop a specific plan to get there.”

It’s easy to be vague about exactly when and where we’ll pursue our healthy habits, but it helps to get into the weeds, says Katy Milkman, a behavioral scientist, award-winning professor at

the Wharton School, author of How to Change: The Science of Getting From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be and host of the Choiceology podcast. For example, if you want to start

meditating regularly, choose the time and place that will cue you to do it (for example, 7 a.m. every weekday on the back porch) and set a reminder for yourself. “Research shows that when

we create these kinds of cue-based plans and reminders, we’re far more likely to follow through on our best intentions,” she says.

when you reach milestones. Sam Island 5. Make it fun by playing games 

Turn your health goals into a fun and engaging game by setting up challenges and rewards. Jennifer Cohen, author of Bigger Better Bolder: Live the Life You Want, Not the Life You Get and

host of the podcast Habits & Hustle, says to track your progress with points or levels and reward yourself when you reach milestones. “Gamification [adding game elements to activities that

aren’t games] maintains enthusiasm and commitment to your goals,” she says.

Go big or go home isn’t the path to success. When you take on a new mindset and start to build repetition, begin with a bite-sized approach, says Gail Saltz, a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst,

author of The Power of Different: The Link Between Disorder and Genius and host of the How Can I Help? podcast. “The longer, more difficult and/or complicated the habit is, the more

difficult it is to adopt,” she says. Instead, break down something you want to do into smaller parts and incorporate each action one at a time. Then every week, add a new “bite” until you’ve

reached the overall goal. 

Not motivated by games? How about putting some money on the line to help you stick to your habit? For example, you might promise to send $25 to your least favorite politician if you don’t

make it to the gym at least twice a week, says Milkman. If you need the help of a third party to hold yourself accountable, websites and apps like StickK.com, Forfeit and Beeminder let you

set up cash commitments in various ways. (Just make sure you thoroughly understand how they work before you commit to a financial contract.)