Healthy Habits: A Revolutionary Way to Set and Achieve Goals

Are you wanting to create some healthy habits for the new year? Has the challenge of goal setting ever left you a little disappointed with yourself come mid -year? Or sometimes even sooner?

This year I’ve decided to try a revolutionary way to set and achieve goals through creating consistent healthy habits. I also implore you to give it a go.

 

Each year for the last 5-10 years In January I have diligently set my goals for the year ahead. I have broken them down into:

 

1. Personal goals
2. Business goals
3. Spiritual goals

 

Some of these goals I have achieved throughout the year and some I haven’t. This is completely normal, and the reality is that your personal goal posts can change throughout the year.

 

            Instead of goals setting this year I will be focusing on habit formation.

Whilst still having particular goals set as ‘Projects” for the year, my main strategy will be around habit formation.

 

What is Healthy Habit Formation?

 

Now let me give this some context. 

 

Forming a habit such as exercising 3 times a week or eating most of your calories from healthy fats and good protein. These habits will consequently result in fat loss without setting a specific goal such as losing weight!

If one of your regular goals is to “manage stress” better, then why not set a new habit like conducting 10 minutes of daily deep breathing or meditation.

How about, have a goal of becoming more flexible and reducing pain in your lower back? It would be a good idea then to consistently do 2 x flexibility sessions a week.

Developing positive habits has a flow on effect. With new habit formation and consistency, quite often find you will achieve more than your initial goal that you set out to achieve.

 

 

 

 

 

Is habit formation only for health & fitness goals?

 

Definitely not, it can be related to any aspect of your life including;

 

• Finances
• Family
• Work
• Relationships

 

Examples:

 

Finance: Do you have certain money savings and investment goals? Maybe create a habit around saving 10% of your income to invest. It’s easier than it sounds and the compounding effect of the investment will pay dividends in the long run. This is a great money saving goal without setting a “money saving goal” like saving $2000 a year.

 

Family: Have a goal to spend more time with family? Create a habit where Sunday night is family night, every week!

 

Work: Want to suffer less work-related stress? Schedule in all your major work-related tasks for the morning and then only put out fires (unless extremely urgent) after lunch, therefore your maximum brain capacity is spent doing the big-ticket items in the morning.

 

Relationships: Have a goal to catch up with old school friends more? Great! Every Tuesday doing a walking catch up with your ol pals.

 

I could go on, but you get my drift around how to successfully shift goals to positive habit formation

 

Click HERE to download your own habit tracking document.

 

Should you still set goals?

 

 

You’re probably thinking, what if I do have a particular goal of saving $3000 to go to Bali, or to lose 5cm off your waist, or to renovate an outdated bathroom. Should you still set goals?

 

These goals (or projects) are absolutely fine but having consistency through healthy habits will make these goals much easier to achieve.

 

 

How Often Should You Set New Healthy Habits?

 

Think of Habit Formation like reverse engineering a goal.

So at the start of a year when you may normally set some goals for yourself, set intentions or healthy habits as opposed to just the goals. If you set a goal without setting a new habit on how to get to that goal, it’s like deciding on a travel destination without knowing out how you will get there.

 

 

Creating habits can be hard, especially if you (like me) have been guilty of succumbing and adapting to poor habits far easier than creating good habits. However, it has been scientifically proven that a habit takes around 40 days to form. So, if one of your new habits is to exercise every Monday and Wednesday morning, do it! Stay disciplined for the 40 days. Push yourself to do it (as you know it’s good for you), and with consistency and time this revolutionary way to set and achieve goals can help you improve many aspects of your life.

 

Don’t forget to download your FREE Habit Tracking Document HERE

 

 

And HAPPY NEW YEAR team!

 

Heath

 

 

Heath Jones is the founder of Active & Ageless and has over 20 years’ experience in the Health & Wellness space.

He holds the following qualifications:

Bachelor of Nursing

Postgraduate in Exercise Science

Diploma of OHS

Cert 3 & 4 Fitness

Cert 4 Training & Assessment

Older Adults trainer