As we enter springtime, you may feel far away from your New Year’s resolution. That may be because of the success rate of NYE resolutions. In fact, January 17 is often hailed as “Quitter’s Day.” If you want some stats, only 8% of respondents tend to stick with their goals for one month, while 22% last two months, 22% last three months, and 13% last four months.
I personally think the problem is that people focus their motivations on the turn of the year rather than focusing on creating long-term, healthy habits that turn into healthy, successful lifestyles.
Welcome to my new blog series, 7 Days of Healthy Habits, where we will talk about the top seven areas where you can make small changes for big results. Creating a healthy habit is an example of an esteemable act because you increase your self-esteem by trying to improve your lifestyle. Not only do you benefit, but you will find your self-improvement impacting others – in a good way!
Let’s keep it simple and start with the question, “What is a habit?” The Oxford Dictionary defines a habit as “a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up”.
To start a habit, you need to examine yourself. Having the courage to continuously analyze our behavior, motives, and even our thoughts is an act of self-love. It isn’t easy because we must see past our filters and defenses. It’s also important to acknowledge our assets, but we can’t see our part in problems that occur unless we can balance our perceptions. Self-examination is life transforming!
Next, you need accountability. You must be willing to be held accountable for your choices, actions, and decisions. Accountability is a point of view that is practiced through action. It means looking at our part in everything that happens to us. It means seeing ourselves as volunteers and participants in our lives, not as victims of circumstance. This mindset is difficult to master, particularly when we don’t like what’s happening. But once we get in the habit of seeing our part, we profit in many ways, such as the following:
- You get greater results because you’re focused on solutions. Victims wait for things to change to feel better. Accountable, people take charge and recognize what they can do now.
- You feel more empowered because you’re more in control. When you’re not sitting around waiting for something to happen, you feel good and in control of your life.
- You genuinely feel better about yourself because you make healthier choices. There is a sense of self-esteem that results from making right choices.
- You make different choices because you know you’ll be held responsible.
- You are smarter because you learn from your mistakes. It’s less likely you’ll repeat them.
Step 1: Examine yourself.
Step 2: Take ownership of your actions and find someone to be accountable to.
Step 3: Choose a healthy habit to focus on. We’ll address 7 healthy habits you can choose from throughout this blog series.
Until then, I’m Francine D. Ward, here to help you create healthy habits for a successful life.
Francine D. Ward
Attorney-At-Law, Author, Speaker
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