These words come from legendary athlete Jim Ryun. But how do we motivate ourselves to get started? We all want to fill our lives with more positive and healthier activities- from workouts and meditation to getting enough sleep and eating a healthy diet with whole foods.
Establishing a new habit in your life can help you embrace things that really matter, pursue goals, stop the “up-in-the-morning procrastination”, make you healthy and give you a longer life. Here are tips on how to develop this new habit and put your goals into action.
Tip 1: Find out what is important to you.
What is important to you in life? Start your day with an intention or a mantra to positively influence your mind and help you focus. Ask yourself, “What things would I need to stop doing to achieve what I want?” Once you know what is important to you and what is not, the new habit can be established as if by itself.
Tip 2: Get an overview of your time management.
We all sometimes fritter away our time on unnecessary things – whether it’s half an hour or a period of weeks. If you have lost track of your time management, start a diary and write down everything you do during the day for a few weeks. Be honest and assign your activities to certain categories like working out, working, studying, watching TV, etc. This way you can see which category you belong to. This way you can see which category you spend the most time on, where you want to spend less time and where you want to spend more.
Tip 3: “Eat the frog”.
This is not meant literally! Before you sprint to the nearest 5-star restaurant and order a French delicacy, here’s the clarification: the English saying “Eat the frog” ultimately wants to describe the following: If you were to eat a frog first thing in the morning every day, then nothing worse could actually happen to you.
So if there is something you absolutely have to do, such as: the morning run or an important phone call, do it first thing in the morning. This way you can relax and enjoy the rest of your day and tick off important things.
Tip 4: Take it slow
If your new habit involves going to the gym three times a week, make sure your gym bag is always packed and ready the day before. If you want to meditate every evening, set up a quiet space for it. If you want to eat healthy at work, prepare your meals for the week in advance, on Sunday.
Tip 5: Share your new habit
If you go public with your new plans, you are more likely to stick to them. Take it a step further and involve your friends in your new habit, especially if you want to get fit. You’ll also be more likely to stick to your workout times if you have a workout buddy. You will find it much harder to cancel your workout when you know a friend is relying on you.
