How to Create Healthy Habits: 5 Simple Ways to Get Back Into a Healthy Routine

This is the week!

For many of you, this is the week you've been excited for or perhaps dreading.

School starts!

Even if you don't have kids in the school system, the start of the school year often signals a return to normal schedules as summer vacations wind down.

And getting back into a routine isn't always easy.

Summer tends to disrupt our normal schedules. Maybe you've been traveling, staying up later, eating differently, or simply enjoying a slower pace. That's all part of summer!

But eventually, it's time to get back to those healthy routines.

If you're looking to get back to healthy eating, regular exercise, better hydration, stretching, and recovery, this is a great time to start.

The good news is that you don't have to change everything at once.

In fact, one of the best ways to create healthy habits is to start small.

How Do You Create Healthy Habits?

One of the most popular approaches to habit formation comes from Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit.

The basic idea is:

Create a cue → Perform the habit → Get a reward.

A cue is something that reminds you to perform the habit. You perform the behavior, and then you experience some kind of reward.

Let's look at how you can use this simple concept to build, or rebuild, healthy habits.

1. How Can You Drink More Water?

Let's start with one of the simplest healthy habits: drinking more water.

Drinking a tall glass of water first thing in the morning is an easy way to start your day with a small victory.

The trick is making it easy to remember.

How to Build the Habit

After you do the dishes from dinner, pour yourself a glass of water and leave it wherever you start your morning.

Then connect the water to something you already do.

What's Your Cue?

• Make coffee first thing? Leave the water next to the coffee pot.

• Check your phone first thing? Leave it next to your cell phone.

• Take the dog out first thing? Leave it next to the leash.

• Go to the bathroom first thing? Leave it on the sink near the soap.

You're essentially making the healthy choice the easy choice.

What's Your Reward?

Staying hydrated supports normal digestion and helps keep your joints lubricated. And if you've ever struggled to get your digestive system moving in the morning, you know that water can be your friend!

The bigger reward, though, is knowing you started your day by doing something good for yourself.

2. How Can You Get Back to the Gym After Summer?

Summer schedules can make it surprisingly easy for your exercise routine to disappear.

Vacation happens.

Kids have camps and activities.

Work schedules change.

And before you know it, your regular workout routine has become a distant memory.

So how do you get back into the habit of exercising?

Sign Up Before You Go to Bed

Here's a simple strategy:

Sign up for your next session at Revity3 before you go to bed.

That's it.

Just before you put your phone down for the last time at night, sign up for your class.

Now you've made the decision before you're tired, busy, or looking for an excuse the next morning.

Add Accountability

Here's a bonus:

Tell someone you did it.

Accountability can be incredibly helpful when you're trying to rebuild an exercise habit.

Tell your spouse.

Tell a friend.

Tell your gym buddy.

Or tell your coach that you'll be there.

Now someone else knows about your plan.

And the Reward?

Do I really need to extol the virtues of exercise at this point?!

You know how good you feel after a great workout.

Sometimes the hardest part is simply getting yourself through the door.

Once you're there, you've already won.

3. How Can You Stretch More?

Another healthy habit that tends to fall by the wayside is stretching.

Working on your flexibility and mobility can help you maintain your ability to move as you age and support your body as you stay active.

But, just like exercise, stretching is something that's easy to put off.

So, let's make it part of the routine.

Create a Cue for Stretching

Once again:

Sign up for your session at Revity3 before you go to bed.

Then tell someone you're going.

By creating a plan ahead of time and adding accountability, you're much more likely to follow through.

And once stretching becomes part of your regular routine, it stops feeling like one more thing you should be doing and starts becoming something you simply do.

4. Try Habit Stacking to Build Healthy Habits

One of my favorite ways to create a habit is a common thread through all three examples above.

I tie one habit to another.

This is often called habit stacking.

The idea is simple: Take something you already do consistently and attach a new habit to it.

For example, I already brush my teeth every morning.

So, what can I add immediately afterward?

I now:

Brush my teeth → Wash my face → Put on sunscreen.

The first habit becomes the cue for the next one.

You can use the same strategy with exercise and nutrition.

I work out in the morning, so how can I get some good nutrition and hydration into my body right afterward?

Before I leave the house, I pour 16 ounces of water, steep some tea, and leave it next to the blender.

After I work out, I come home thirsty.

I walk over to the tea that's waiting for me.

And that becomes the base for my smoothie.

Presto!

The workout became the cue for the next healthy habit.

5. Get a Friend to Help You Build Healthy Habits

You don't have to create healthy habits entirely on your own.

Sometimes another person can become part of your routine.

My wife does this for me.

When she makes coffee at night, she leaves a glass of water with a green tea bag in it overnight for me the next morning.

I wake up, walk over to turn on the coffee machine, and drink my tea while I'm waiting.

Presto!

Another healthy habit.

And notice what happened here.

I didn't have to rely entirely on willpower or motivation.

The habit was already waiting for me.

That's an important lesson when you're trying to build healthy routines:

Make the behavior easy to do.

You Don't Have to Change Everything at Once

When people decide it's time to get healthier, they often try to change everything at once.

They'll create a new workout schedule, completely change their diet, start drinking more water, promise to stretch every day, go to bed earlier, and decide they're never eating dessert again.

How long does that usually last?

Instead, try starting with one small habit.

Drink a glass of water when you wake up.

Schedule your next workout.

Spend five minutes stretching.

Prepare a healthy breakfast the night before.

Then, once that habit becomes part of your routine, stack another habit on top of it.

Small Steps Add Up

No matter which method you use - cues and rewards, habit stacking, accountability, or a combination of all three - now is a great time to get back to your healthy habits or start building new ones.

Don't worry about doing everything perfectly.

Start small.

Drink the water.

Sign up for the class.

Stretch for a few minutes.

Prepare your smoothie.

Tell a friend.

Each tiny step makes you healthier, and the accumulation of those tiny steps takes you where you want to go.

So as summer winds down and the school-year routine begins, don't think about it as starting over.

Think of it as an opportunity to create, or recreate, healthy habits that support the life you want to live.

And if getting back into your exercise routine is one of those goals, we'd love to see you at Revity3.

See you on the mat!