Willpower alone will only take you so far. When it fades, habits and routines can help you stick to the changes you are making. That is why it is important to change your mindset when it comes to resolutions. Instead of viewing this time as making a big change, it might help you to look at it as simply adjusting and adding new habits to your routine. Once something becomes a regular practice, it is much easier to continue doing it. With repetition comes real change. In this post I will examine how habits and routines can help you stick to your resolutions.
Make It Automatic
The biggest benefit about focusing on creating habits instead of simply setting a resolution is that habits become automatic once they're practiced enough. If you make a plan and set a strategic goal to add something like going to the gym three times a week to your life, it will likely soon become something you no longer have to think about. Your body will crave that workout time, and you will miss it if you skip a scheduled day.
Improve Decision-Making
When you start to implement habits and routines into the pursuit of your goal, you are actually making things a lot easier on your brain. You do not have to stress out about decision-making because you will already know what you are planning to do. At least for the most part. Habits generally follow a similar pattern each time. It is comforting to rely on that and to know that you will not have to struggle so much to make the decision that is right for you.
Increased Pride
Once the small changes you are putting in place become routine, you will begin to complete them with ease. Before these things became habit, they probably seemed intimidating or out-of-reach. Now that you are accomplishing them on a regular basis, you can definitely feel proud of yourself. That sense of accomplishment and pride will help carry you through to the next goal.
Gain Willpower
Willpower is the elusive concept that allows you to overcome temptation and stick with your resolutions even when they are hard. Once you start turning small changes into habits, you will start to notice you experience less resistance to actually doing these new things. When you are faced with temptation like that birthday cake at the office, it will be easier to decline because you have gotten used to eating less sugar. So, no, willpower alone is not enough to overcome temptation. However, combined with the implementation of small habits, your willpower can definitely be increased.
These are some of the ways that habits and routines can help to boost the potential of your resolutions being successful. Hopefully, you now see the benefits of adding strategic, small changes to your life so that they can become automatic. Each small step leads to big transformation.