Sometimes these periods of turmoil in your life are just the right moment to shake up your habits and create new ones that will push you forward onto bigger and better things. During stressful times especially, you tend to fall back on old comfortable habits, but that doesn’t necessarily serve you well. Let’s talk about embracing challenges and creating new routines so that you can learn to better roll with the punches to make a real impact on your circumstances.
Examine Your Routines
In order to begin a journey of embracing new habits and routines, it’s first important to examine your old ones. Set aside some time to take stock of the habits in your life. Make a list of which are healthy and seem to be serving you well, along with a list of the things you’d like to change. Remember, this is about mindset. I know it can seem like a chore to consider forming new habits. Try to remind yourself that this tumultuous time is an opportunity to make things better and that forming new habits will get you there.
Keep It Manageable
Next, you’ll need to prioritize which routines you’d most like to change. Sure, there may be a lot of things you’d like to do differently in your life. However, trying to take them all on is likely to set yourself up for frustration and failure. For now, choose one or two prime actions. This will allow you to better concentrate on making these changes a habit.
Focus on the Rewards
Consider why it is you want to instill these new habits. If you’re in the process of adjusting to your new job, one of your desired actions may be to be more outgoing by talking to your new colleagues each day. Remind yourself why it is you want to do this and what rewards will come from being more social. Perhaps, your new habit will be to engage in meaningful conversation with one person each day. What’s the payoff for doing so? It might be so that you can form closer relationships or maybe it’s so that you can better network, potentially opening doors to promotions and other such opportunities. Remind yourself of the reward when you’re feeling too introverted to initiate conversation.
Give It Time
If you’re a natural introvert, using our above example, you’ll need to be realistic and to realize that moving past your comfort zone will be a process. Actions require repetition in order to become habits. Becoming a social butterfly won’t happen overnight. In fact, you may never be the life of the party. However, increasing your social and professional connections is a realistic goal. Give yourself at least a month of repeated practice to see if being more talkative becomes a part of your routine. Most importantly, don’t give up. Be easy on yourself if you don’t meet your objective one day. Give it a go the next day and keep trying. Forming new routines is an investment that can serve you well when navigating challenging times.
