Hopefully most of our habits are good ones – but probably all of us are carrying around some habits that we would like to change. The problem is that most people choose the wrong time to get started on changing habits.
It is common to try to make changes in response to external factors – like making a New Year’s resolution to go on a diet or quit smoking just because it’s a new year. Some people look at the calendar at spring time and decide to start working out to get their bodies ready for the beach.
While external factors can be motivating, they don’t have the potential for long-term success that occurs when we change habits because of internal motivation. If we are changing a habit because we want to do so, rather than doing so in response to a date on the calendar or because we are trying to impress somebody else, we have a much greater chance of making that change permanent.
I’ve always considered this time of the year as an excellent time to inventory our habits and determine our motivation to make any changes. Most of us are looking forward to a few months of having a pretty regular schedule relatively uninterrupted by holidays or vacations.
If we are internally motivated to get rid of an unhealthy habit or move positively toward a healthy one, this is a great time to do it. You can work behavior change into your normal schedule – which will make it so much easier to sustain the change.