7 steps to new habits

Seven steps to new habits

If you want to really make an everlasting change this New Year’s, you need to change your habits. That’s easier said than done. It begins with these seven steps.

“Habits are hard to change,” said Mia Tischer, executive director of LearningRx Chicago-Naperville. “The key is routine, reminders and rewards,” she said. Here are seven ways to get to new habits.

1. Set broad overarching goals

Think about the big picture and what you want to accomplish. Ask yourself what are the top three things you want out of the New Year. Dream big but be realistic. These will help you determine the next steps.

2. Next, break them down into specific, measurable goals. Focus on your lifestyle, not life-changing goals. For example, losing 50 pounds is life changing. Drinking 8 glasses of water is changing your life style. “A series of small victories are best,” said Tischer. “You are training your brain to succeed,” she said.

3. Apply the SMART method to each goal.

Specific- Instead of a general goal, like “I want to get in shape,” revise to “I will go to the gym 4 times a week,”

Measurable - In order for us to track progress, goals need to be quantifiable. “Two days a week, I’m going to attend a fitness class, two other days I will lift weights and run on the treadmill.”

Attainable – Be honest with yourself and recognize which goals are realistic. If you’re not a morning person, is it reasonable to go to the gym before work?

Relevant - Is this goal relevant to your life? Is it worthwhile?

Time-related – To keep you on track, set a due date to meet your SMART goals.

3. Set prioirities. Only go after habits or goals that are important to you.

You may have three different goals – one for your family, another for your career and another person. Determine which is your priority for the year and which one you absolutely can’t break.

4. Check in with a mentor, trusted friend or family member about your goals. This feedback can focus your time and energy so you can maximize your goals and clarify your thinking.

5. Set daily and monthly reminders and visual cues.

Reminders are key to reaching your goals. Set goals for each month. Make lists for each day. Schedule in your SMART goals for the day. “Reminders are critical to reaching your goals and forming new habits,” said Tischer. Or, you could remind yourself by visually linking one existing habit with a new goal. If you want to remember to exercise, set out your workout clothes for the morning when you get into your PJ’s. Make the new habit so easy that it will be hard to say no.

6. Track your progress. Reward yourself when you accomplish the first step in a goal, like going to the gym the first day. Some people take the affirmations they’ve created and make an audio recording of them that can be played back each morning as they exercise. Some reward themselves for new tiny habits, like setting out their gym clothes. Either way, these help encourage a new habit.

7. Notice when you don’t follow through.

Ask yourself why, and develop new strategies to get back on track. The results you get are the product of your thinking, so if you continue to be disappointed at what you achieve, you must be willing to ask yourself some hard questions and change your beliefs.

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LearningRx specializes in treating the root cause – not the symptoms – of learning struggles. Many students are able to get off medication and are able to manage their learning through brain training. The programs’ game-like exercises and 1:1 trainer-to-student ratios offer dramatic improvement in as little as 12 to 24 weeks. LearningRx brain training helps students from 5 to 85 increase the speed, power or function of their brain. LearningRx Chicago-Naperville opened in November 2011 in Naperville and is the only one-on-one Brain Training Center in Illinois.