Go easy. Go slow. Go simple. Go small.
When we’re creating a new habit, it’s usually easy at first. We’re excited to be doing something new and good for ourselves!
And then the honeymoon wears off and we slide back into our old habits. Have we failed?
No! We just need to keep going and realize that changing habits takes time. You formed your old habits because they were helpful and now they are, well, habits! They’re really easy to do. You do them with out thinking, on automatic! That’s really easy!
And now, you’re changing to something new that you have to think about. That’s much more challenging.
As change coach and professional mentor, Robin Rice, says, this is why we need to make our new habits as simple and easy as possible!
And go slow. We need to give ourselves the time and space to change. Habits take time to form… we have to create new pathways in our brain, and change the old ones. That takes time, so allow yourself the time to do that.
And go small. Rice also points out that small changes are much easier to make and we’re more likely to succeed. Changes that are too big require too much time, space, attention and brain power and thus they usually don’t work!
Go slow. Go easy. Go simple. Go small.
Happy habit change!
