How to build habits that stick for 2025
All big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision. But as that decision is repeated, a habit sprouts and grows stronger. Roots entrench themselves and branches grow. The task of breaking a bad habit is like uprooting a powerful oak within us. And the task of building a good habit is like cultivating a delicate flower one day at a time.
James Clear, Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
What if for 2025 you committed to taking daily steps to be a better you? What would that look like? How can you take these steps and build habits that last?
Before we start discussing this, a simple activity I like to do is to sit with a warm drink, a blanket, a notebook and a pen and my thoughts in a quiet room. I go through all the areas in my life and rate them out of 10. 10 being most fulfilled, 0 being least fulfilled for example:
Relationships
Health
Personal development
Spirituality
Wellbeing
Financial
Work
I then reflect and make a plan for what I need to do:
Where to STOP doing/what hasn't or isn't working for me.
What and where to START doing something to get me where I want to go.
What has been working for me? And where to CONTINUE to build on going forward.
What are the barriers that have stopped me from adopting the habit I wish to adopt?
Once you have reflected and got to know where you wish to move forward for 2025 you can move on with habit formation. The best thing to do when starting with a new habit is to start small. Choose something that you can easily incorporate into your daily routine and then build and grow from there. For example, last year I wanted to develop a morning meditation routine. To do this I did the following until the habit became automatic:
Develop a clear goal, detailing what I want to achieve. So my goal was, to incorporate meditation into my morning routine. However, a better idea is to set a specific goal to work towards such as I will meditate every morning when I wake up for 5 minutes Monday-Friday.
Linking the habit to a specific trigger or cue can further drive the habit formation. So, once I come downstairs in the morning while the kettle is boiling for my morning tea I will meditate for 10 minutes using an app on my phone. The cue for my new behavior is putting the kettle on. Something I do every morning. I have simply tagged my new desired habit to a current behavior.
Record your new habit in a habit tracker. Marking off when you have accomplished the behavior helps to motivate and holds you accountable. I made sure to mark off my meditation in my morning journal after doing it.
Reinforce the new habit formation by rewarding yourself. This can be as simple as a 30-minute soaking in the bath, to extra time relaxing with a book at the weekend, to a bunch of flowers, in my case, once I had a 30-day streak of meditation every morning, I rewarded myself by booking a back massage. Something I consider to be the biggest and most enjoyable treat and luxury (well that and a facial).
The habit has to be enjoyable. Romanticising habits is one such way of doing this. So when I meditate, in the winter I wrap myself up in my favourite blanket and light a candle. In the summer I take my meditation outside listening to the birds with the sun on my face.
Consistency is key. When building a habit the behavior needs to be repeated over and over to support the rewiring of the brain to form the new habits. Science says that it can take up to 66 days for habits to fully form. In that time routines can easily become disrupted. If you miss one day then get back into the habit the next day. Whatever you do, do not become discouraged, you are human. Do what you can to set yourself up for success and preempt anything that may get in the way of your habit. For example, while traveling around Bali last year my morning routine was completely disrupted. So I shifted my meditation practice to slightly later in the morning.
Once the habit is automatic, you have the option to increase it. So originally I set the goal of 10 minutes of meditation for five days Monday-Friday. I did this knowing that it would reduce the pressure on me at the weekends which tend to be busier with family activities and when I need a little lie-in! However, noticing the benefits I extended my routine to 5 minutes of meditation first thing at the weekend while extending my weekly practice to 15-20 minutes.
To finish, if you take three things away from this journal let them be - start small - set yourself up for success and plan for your failures - add your desired habit to a behavior you already do automatically.
I hope this journal is helpful for you.
May the year 2025 be the year all your habit desires become automatic.
Katie xx