How to Build Healthy Habits That Last Beyond Motivation

Building healthy habits can be very exciting. Whether you choose to go to the gym, eat better, get out of bed earlier, read more or avoid your phone too much you will feel super motivated to start doing these healthy habits. However, after a few days or weeks you will lose motivation as life gets busy, you’ll get exhausted, stressed and even encounter some hurdles along the way which will really make sticking to those habits a struggle.

You need to learn about the importance of your motivation being temporary and the importance of building good habits into your daily routine. Your habits shouldn’t be dependant on your motivation; you should put measures in place so you can easily stick to your healthy habits.

How to build sustainable healthy habits

1. Set small goals

A common mistake when building healthy habits is to set large goals. This can include exercising everyday for an hour, completely changing your diet and waking up at 5am.

Although these goals might be exciting they can be overwhelming.

Set goals that are small and can easily be applied to your lifestyle. If you want to become more active try walking for ten minutes. If you want to read more try reading two pages per evening.

Smaller habits can be easily repeated. The more you do them the more they will become a habit.

2. Pair your healthy habits with things you already do

An easy way to keep reminding yourself to do your new healthy habit is by pairing it with something you do regularly.

This can be:

Drink a glass of water after you wake up. Do some stretching for five minutes after brushing your teeth. Read a few pages before bed. Go for a short walk after lunch.

Sometimes this process is known as habit stacking. You pair your new action in with something you already do.

Over time you will begin to see this as a natural part of your day.

3. Make it easy to make healthy choices

Your behaviour can really be influenced by what and where you are. If you’re wanting to eat healthy, keep healthy food in sight (easy to grab). If you’re wanting to exercise then line your activewear up ready the previous night.

If you’re wanting to limit your screen time, leave your phone out of your bed or disable any unnecessary alerts.

The idea is to remove any resistance when trying to make healthy choices. This will also stop you from wanting to make bad habits.

4. Don’t be discouraged

If you miss one session or eat an unhealthy meal, this is not failure.

Many people stop because they feel like they messed up but actually long-term improvements come from getting back on track with healthy habits. Try not to get put off if you miss a session. Just start again the next day. Don’t let missing one session turn into weeks of inactivity.

Consistency doesn’t mean perfection. It just means doing what you can.

5. Keep a record of your progress

Keeping track of your habits can help you see the improvements you’re making.

Use a journal, calendar or habit app to record what you’ve been doing each day. This could include going for a walk, drinking enough water, reading or practising mindfulness. Keeping track of these things can really inspire you.

However, don’t get discouraged if you’re missing a few ticks. Your tracking tool should help you.

6. Learn why you’re doing them

When healthy habits are linked to your values they hold more meaning.

Instead of just exercising to make yourself look good think about how much more energised you’ll become, becoming stronger and looking after your health in the long term.

Instead of just reading to get more books done think about learning something useful or taking time out to be relaxed.

Knowing why is important to keeping you motivated when your motivation is low.

7. Be patient

Building sustainable habits won’t happen overnight. Depending on the habit, person and situation it can take some time.

Some habits may take a few weeks to become easier. Whereas others may take a few months of consistent activity.

Don’t compare your habits to someone else. Just focus on making small improvements.

Final Thoughts

Building sustainable healthy habits doesn’t just involve making big changes. To make sure you’re choosing meaningful small habits, you need to keep going consistently.

Start by setting realistic goals, pairing new habits with current ones, creating a positive environment and learning how to bounce back.

Most importantly, you don’t need to be motivated every single day.

Once healthy habits become natural and aren’t dependent on your mood they become powerful.