How do you remember new habits? As you develop healthy habits, a good trick is to anchor it to something you already do. In fact, this trick works so well that I just accidentally worked myself out of my daily chocolate habit.
Anchoring is when you pair something new to something that you already do. I had a client who could never remember to take her vitamins and supplements. But she already drank coffee every morning. When she paired taking her vitamins with drinking coffee, it was easy to remember.
Another example is my sun salutations (a yoga exercise). I wanted to make them a regular habit, but always forgot. So I attached it to my morning shower. Now I think about them as soon as I get out of the shower. New habits are easier to remember when paired with something that you already do.
Now, back to my lost chocolate habit. For a long time I’ve had a piece of dark chocolate every evening. It started off as a way to stop eating sweets (see my earlier post on this). But I have trouble sleeping, and decided that I wanted to avoid even the small amount of caffeine in chocolate that late in the day. I switched to eating my chocolate in the afternoon.
But suddenly I’m not eating the chocolate. I didn’t anchor it to another habit and I keep forgetting! I could anchor it to lunch – then I’d remember. But maybe it is just as good to have it less often. I’m sure I get plenty of other antioxidants in all the wonderful summer fruit that is available now.
What healthy habits do you want to develop or improve? Drinking more water? Remembering to stop and eat lunch (or an afternoon snack)? Going for a walk? Try pairing it with an activity that already happens: it will help you remember.
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