9 Small Healthy Habits To Kickstart Big Change

I know from personal experience that the hardest part of any endeavor is just getting started.

You’ve probably experienced this challenge as well. Whether you want to pay your bills, go for a run, or clean your house, just getting out of your chair and taking that first action feels so herculean. The mental battle against inertia and dread is exhausting, so you give up before you ever start.

What if you could do something to quickly overcome those negative feelings, so that first step isn’t so daunting? In my own work on forming habits, I’ve found you can bypass most of the dread and inertia by making the first action really, really easy.

In fact, the first action can be so easy that it feels ridiculous NOT to perform it. And when you give yourself permission to stick with that easy first action as long as you need to, then you eliminate the fear of failing or giving up too soon.

It’s actually vital to your success in creating a habit that you stick with the easy actions for a week or more before you make it harder or add more time. You want to first establish a regular routine of performing the habit, even if it’s for just a minute or so.

With any new habit, you’ll need to attach the habit to a trigger — a previously established daily habit like brushing your teeth or making your morning coffee. Perform your new habit immediately after the trigger. This helps remind you to perform the new habit and cements it by connecting it to something you do automatically. You can learn more about the specific techniques for building habits in my book Sticky Habits: 6 Simple Steps to Create Good Habits Stick.

In the meantime, let’s take a look at 9 healthy habits you can begin right away to kickstart big life change:

Exercise

1. Running

It took me a long time to establish a running habit — years in fact. I always tried to do too much, too quickly. Even if you’ve been a runner in the past, and now you’re starting up again, begin really slowly.

2. Rebounding

Rebounding is one of my favorite exercises because…