Nailing a New Habit
I know that most people think about ‘creating’ a new habit. But I’ve found the creating part is only one step and not usually the step that trips me up. The harder part is what I refer to as ‘nailing the habit’. That’s where the change in behaviour becomes an automatic part of my routine, like brushing my teeth morning and night.
Well, here’s the fun part in the year 2022. There are lots of great ways to use technology to assist with forming new habits. For instance, many people already walk around with a smart phone in their pocket, which is automatically recording their ‘steps’. So, if one is interested in tracking their daily steps, boom - the information is literally sitting in their pocket.
I had a new habit I was trying to incorporate but was having a tough time making it stick. In the past, I was more of a headache sufferer (well, neck aches that I’d call headaches). Keeping in mind that I’m pretty active, I wondered if part of the problem was the lack of liquids, specifically water, that I consumed. But every time I tried to increase my water intake, I never stuck to my desired habit.
And then I found another piece of technology that worked really well for me, a water minder App. First, answering some questions, it figured out how much water someone my size, activity level, gender and age should aim to drink. Next, with little ‘sound’ reminders, it let me know when I needed to be drinking some more water. And finally, I entered each glass of water (or other liquid like espresso, soup, smoothie, wine, etc) I consumed and with a body avatar of me, showed where my water level was, a full body indicating that I had reached my daily fluid intake.
Yes, the App I used would also send out little rewards like a congratulation burst of streamers when I met my daily goal, reward badges for the first day the goal was met, then badges for a consecutive week, month, etc. Well, I think you get the idea here. And while I don’t really want to admit that these worked on me, they really did, especially at the start. I liked the sound and burst of confetti every time I reached my daily goal. I believe it motivated me to continue, to try and reach a consecutive week of water consumption. And I did it…and I don’t think I’ve ever done that before!
Eventually though, I gradually stopped paying attention to the App because I’ve nailed this new habit! Drinking enough water everyday is so natural that I don’t even have to give it any thought. In fact, entering the data now is more of a hassle and the rewards were no longer effective. I simply don’t need them any more. I’m clear on how much water I need to drink and have an ingrained schedule for the best time each day to get sufficient water intake. In other words, drinking enough water for me is as much a pert of my routine as brushing my teeth! Oh, and the head/neck aches…far far fewer!