Incorporating positive habits like exercise, meditation and healthy eating into our lives can increase our sense of contentment, happiness and wellbeing. We can make improvements to our mental and physical health by making one small change at a time. 

There’s a number of ways we can help a new habit stick. We need to set ourselves up for success. Results aren’t always immediate so think about how your actions will influence your future self. Start small, making incremental changes to our lifestyle so our willpower and enthusiasm doesn’t run out. 

Remind yourself of the benefits 

Before you start, remind yourself of why you want to make a particular habit part of your life. 

Make a commitment and treat it like an experiment 

Give yourself a time frame to try it out and commit fully to completing it. After which you can reassess and see if you’ve found the habit beneficial. 30 days or 4 weeks is a good starting point. 

Make it daily, make it simple 

Doing a task daily will mean you get lots of practice in. Making it simple and attainable means you won’t take too much on and be put off by the pressure or expectations. 

Be kind to yourself and do it without judgement 

Accept your intentions are good but sometimes life will get in the way and that’s OK. If you veer off track, don’t berate yourself, just try again next time. 

Be sure to fulfil your basic needs: eating, sleeping, resting, moving. Ignoring these needs sets us up to burnout and won’t help progress towards our goals. Try and have one more glass of water daily, or forgo one unhealthy snack that you’d planned on eating. Small changes can make a big difference. Don’t agree? Tell that to a person who’s slept in a room with a mosquito.