90 Day Tracker

 

Does it take 21 days to build or break a habit and 90 days to make it your lifestyle? According to research, it takes about 66 days on average. However, it doesn't stop this statement from becoming a fact.

How to Build or Break a Habit in 90 Days

For many of us, habits drive our day-to-day lives. Getting into the habit of eating healthy, exercising regularly, and meditating can lead to better health and happiness overall. But breaking bad habits such as lying, negative self-talk, or binge eating can have the same positive effect on your life. The trick to building and breaking habits is knowing how long it may take you to do the task. Also, this depends on the type of habit you are working with. Here are some tips on building or breaking a habit in 90 days or less.

1. Identify the habit you wish to change

In total, if it takes 90 days to build a habit, a habit that will stay with you for the rest of your life. Since it can take time, the first thing you should do is to identify the habit you wish to change. Make changes to your routine in a gradual and non-destructive way. If you start making too many changes, that may be unsustainable. 

To identify a habit worth changing, stay aware during your day-to-day life. Be mindful of the choices you are making. Once you figure out something that you are doing without necessarily thinking about it, then you've identified a habit. It is important t look at what triggered it!

For example, if you are talking negatively to yourself, ask yourself if it is your fault. When you know the root cause of why you do what you do is very important. 

2. Be specific

To build a habit in 90 days, write down your goal using actionable words that describe it. For example, instead of 'I want to be happier', write 'I will exercise at least three times per week'. This makes your goals more specific and makes them easier for you to measure success against. 

The simpler your goals are, the better: there is little chance of confusing them with other tasks and they are therefore much easier to achieve. Here’s a great article from MindTools which provides step-by-step instructions on how to create specific goals. 

3. Prepare Yourself

Your mindset towards habits and change can make or break the challenge. To build a habit in 90 days, you need to desire it! How badly do you want this? How badly do you hate it? How much of your life has it affected you? Use the answers to these questions to prepare yourself mentally and physically for this. 

For example, if you're sick of grabbing snacks, why not you bin them all or give them out to kids. Don't keep them in your house as they can entice you. This process will help you better manage cravings and make you feel empowered. 

4. Make Your Routine Easy

Making drastic changes to your everyday life and your routine is not going to work. You need small changes or milestones that will gradually break the bad habits, and you can then start building new ones. The purpose is to use the small changes in a way that already starts building healthy habits. For example, if you go to the shops and you no longer want to buy snacks and candy so you can successfully lose weight, it might be worth avoiding the aisles altogether. This change won't be so invasive, but it will certainly challenge your willpower. 

5. Avoid Temptation

Temptation is the worst enemy when it comes to building or breaking habits in 90 days. 

Whatever you do, limit the visibility of temptations as much as possible. Every habit can be tackled with limited temptation. 90 days to build a habit sounds like a lot, but it isn't. You're going to experience downfalls and setbacks, and that is OKAY! Here are a couple of things you can do to reduce temptation:

• If it can be taken away out of sight, do it. 
• Speak to your friends and family about your goal. You'd be surprised how much peer support can be helpful. 
• Keep yourself occupied
• Journal about your feelings and emotions when you are feeling tempted and how you overcome them. 

6. Persistence Pays Off

Perseverance is your number one ally when it comes to building new habits. More you practice and repeat, and repeat (and repeat), eventually those new behaviors will become automatic. This takes time: don't try to change too many things at once, and know that setbacks are normal. To build or break a habit, stick with it for 90 days—the length of an average gym membership. By then, if you’ve followed through every day, it’s yours for good.

Remember, this habit will be beneficial to your health and wellbeing for the rest of your life. Just keep going. 

7. Reward Yourself

If you want to break a habit, reward yourself for your efforts. For example, if you're trying to stop eating junk food at night after dinner, give yourself until day three and then allow yourself to have one piece of junk food that night as long as you continue doing well for another seven days after that. Reward helps improve your willpower. Instead of having willpower once and then exhausting it; self-control will be more stable if reinforced by rewards over time. On day eight, start fresh again! Don't let your reward affect tomorrow's goals. You might be able to stick with rewarding yourself on weekdays, but weekends might prove challenging when all bets are off!

To help you break or build a habit, check out my 90-day tracker. It is an instant download upon purchase. Check it out in my Etsy shop.