Hey! – Rob here
Your Daily Health Fix today is about …
Beating forgetfulness and procrastination to form lasting healthy habits
Forgetfulness of Procrastination?
Even with the best of intention, it’s easy to fall into the ‘soon’ trap. Sometimes this can be simply that the task isn’t part of your routine, so is easily forgotten until an inappropriate time, but more often than not the reason for procrastination is that there is an element of uncertainty or the perception of difficulty.
Try this:
Implement the use of positive obstacles – here’s an example . . .
If you’re trying to adopt the healthy habit of exposing yourself to sunlight first thing, then at night place your phone on charge outside the bedroom. Not only will this break the cycle of checking messages and social media (and generally wasting time or increasing stress before the day starts), but it will serve as a reminder to your ground rule ‘I don’t use my phone until I’ve been outside for 10 minutes’.
A different example might be trying to adopt the habit of walking for 15 to 30 minutes after dinner – trigger this reminder by putting the TV remote inside your shoes. You’ll know why you’ve done it, and will be more likely to carry out your intended action.
Choose carefully –
An obstacle placed with the intention of triggering an action should be a friction of only mild inconvenience, and the task or new habit should be only of the magnitude that is attainable for the amount of time and energy available to you. Choose an obstacle that can’t be ignored, and pair it with an attainable (tiny)habit that you have fully committed to adopting.
. . . That’s it for this dose,
Until the next time – Stay Motivated!💪🏼
Rob
P.S. If you’re enjoying these updates and they are helping you, please support me and The Health Fix by buying me a coffee ☕️
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