How to build healthy habits?

The things you usually do, from brushing your teeth to having a few drinks every night, can become habits. Make a plan that includes small, reasonable goals and specific actions you'll take to achieve them. Look at the places where you spend your time. Reduce the steps between you and a good habit and increase the steps between you and a bad habit.

You'll rely less on willpower and motivation, and you'll be more likely to adopt the healthy habit or skip the bad habit. There's no doubt that establishing regular healthy habits (or quitting bad ones) can improve your longevity. Once healthy behaviors, such as quitting smoking, drinking only in moderation, or exercising regularly, are embedded in your regular schedule, you're more likely to do them consistently. Last year, on his blog, Jay Z announced that he and Beyoncé were going to follow a 22-day vegan-only diet, and wrote: “Psychologists have said that it takes 21 days to create or break a habit.

On the 22nd, you found your way. So where do the “21 days” come from? “This myth seems to have originated from anecdotal evidence of patients who had received plastic surgery treatment and generally adapted psychologically to their new appearance within 21 days,” said study director Phillippa Lally, Ph. D. One of the easiest ways to commit to a new habit is to associate it with a current one.

This is known as habit accumulation. Your current habit may be to eat breakfast every morning and the habit you want to add may be walking. In this example, completing breakfast triggers the start of the walk. After a while, after breakfast, you'll go out for a walk without having to think about it or remind yourself of anything.

Harvard Business Review reports that repetition is key to making a new habit stick, ² So once you've completed this new set of habits several times, it should be easier. With the right mindset, a positive attitude, and proper planning, you can develop a healthy habit that stays the same. And the habit itself pales in comparison to the momentum generated by creating a new habit.