Tips to make new year resolutions lasting habits

We all have habits.  Some of us are ‘creatures of habit’ enjoying the stability and comfort of a good routine.  Some habits we are very aware of, whilst others may be lurking in our unconscious, for better or worse.  Habits can vary in their levels of helpfulness in our lives, like flossing after brushing our teeth, putting things away when we’ve finished using them, through to doom scrolling into the wee hours of the night on social media or consistently arriving late to appointments.  What makes a habit a habit is that it is a pattern of behaviour that has become automated in our lives, it has been repeated enough times in the same context to occur without us needing to create a specific intention, plan nor muster the willpower and motivation to take action on.  Creating automaticity in our behavioural patterns can reap tremendous benefits by saving the mental resources and energy usually required to put an intention into action; provided it is a behaviour that is somehow enhancing our lives or moving us towards our desired life course.

Before busting out a list of goals for a new year or a new season, take some reflection time to do a habit audit or ‘AHA’ record.  Take out a piece of paper and make two columns titled ‘Helpful habits’ and ‘Unhelpful habits’.  List all the habits that you currently do and categorise them, noting some may fall in both columns, depending on the context.  Before embarking on a change to our behaviour, having greater awareness of what our current automatic behaviours are allows us to clarify what type of changes we would like to make, such as doing less of or eliminating unhelpful habits, and doing more of or creating new helpful habits.  Having a list can also help us prioritise which habits to focus on first.

Next step is to take some time to zoom out and re-visit your life compass to remind yourself, refresh, identify or update your values - what is most meaningful to you?  How do you want to spend your one wild and precious life?  What would you want someone giving a speech at your 60th or even 80th birthday to say about you and the way you have lived?  Here is a list of values from Brene Brown to help you out.

We are more likely to feel motivated to create and maintain habits that are underpinned by our core values, as we get to experience the intrinsic reward of living authentically each time we do them.  For example, if one of my values is creativity, being reminded of this can help me in maintaining a regular habit of engaging with this in my life such as through an art class, playing music, or writing.  If health is an important value, staying connected to this value might help me to maintain motivation with a new exercise or wellbeing habit.  

Once you have identified 3-5 core values, re-visit your ‘AHA’ list and consider which habits are consistent with your core values and which are out of alignment.  Choose or create a new one if your current habits are not reflective of your values. You now have a greater awareness of your current habits and have connected with why making a change is important to you.  Next step – action!  

For further tips for forming lasting habits have a look at the books Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg or Atomic Habits by James Clear.  You can also book one of our Heathy Habits for Life workshops!