How to Beat Bad Habits

If you know anything about me and my planning process, you’ll know that I love habits! I personally find they are the easiest and most actionable way to make progress towards achieving your goals. They’re also super trackable and easy to build into your daily routines. Start/stop habits is a simple technique to help you ensure that you’re only bringing positive habits which help you accomplish your goals into the new year. Out with the old and in with the new!

We all have habits we wish we could rid ourselves of. Whether it’s reaching for coffee instead of water, or going on our phones straight after we wake up. Big or small, habits are a powerful way to break behaviour patterns and build pathways for success!


Start/stop is a simple technique to help you re-evaluate the habits which make up your day. It encourages you to observe your behaviour and find the ways to help redirect your energy more positively.


The technique is simple, so grab a piece of paper and join in with me!


Divide your piece of paper in half. On the left, write ‘stop’ at the top of the page. On the right, write ‘start’ at the top.


Underneath each label, begin to list the habits you wish to implement or remove from your life. With each habit you wish to stop, write a habit you wish to replace it with in the opposite column.


For example,
STOP bringing junk food into the house
instead…
START walking to the farmer’s market every saturday to get inspired
START buying organic fruits and vegetables
START planting a vegetable garden
START meal prepping


Remember to refer to your goals and use these as a guideline to help you out!


Check out our blog post here all about 2020 planning and our available resources to help you make 2020 the best year yet! 


The idea behind this is that your main focus is on the positive habits you wish to fill your day with, rather than the negative habits you’re striving to replace. Once you focus on implementing the new habits, it’s easier to let to old routines slip away as they are replaced by your new behaviours!

It’s a great way to visually remind yourself to focus on the positive, rather than punishing yourself for negative behaviour!


While it may be easy to find areas of your life you wish to make changes/improvements, it may be more difficult to come up with things to replace them with!


Here are some ideas for your start column:


START…

• drinking 3L of water a day
• going for morning walks with the dog
• watering my indoor plants after I make my bed
• cleaning my makeup brushes once a month
• walking to the Farmer’s Market
• buying organic fruit/vegetables
• meal planning!
• having a GYST day every Sunday to help Get Your Shit Together
• bringing your keep cup to your local cafe
• bringing reusable cutlery in your handbag
• listening to a meditation every evening
• setting your clothing out the night before
• reading for 30 minutes each night
• going to bed before 10pm
• removing your devices from your bedroom 1 hr before sleeping
• going to Pilates at The Pilates Room

Whatever you do, find ‘START’ things which inspire and excite you. Therefore you are more likely to stick to them!


What new habits and behaviours are you bringing into 2020? Let us know in the comment section below and let’s inspire each other!


From my home to yours,