Habits are vital to developing as a leader. They are foundational to success in just about every area of life. But even though we know they are important, many of us struggle with creating new habits.

What holds us back from developing habits, and how can we start taking steps towards creating new ones?

WHY WE DON’T CREATE NEW HABITS:

Guilt

Creating new habits often means taking time for ourselves as women. And what happens when we try to do this? We feel guilty. We look at other women and compare, and think, “Well they don’t need time away from their kids – why should I?” Or, we feel bad simply admitting that we need a break.

Obviously, there is balance here, but I can tell you that my husband and I went away for a weekend as soon as it was feasible for us to do so. Not because we didn’t love our daughter, but because we did! We knew she was safe, and we knew that we needed to reconnect as a couple.

In talking about the concept of taking care of ourselves, Heather from the God Centered Mom Podcast says: “It feels selfish, I think – that’s the lie we tell ourselves.” Kirk Martin of Celebrate Calm replied with this: “It ends up becoming the most self-less thing I can do to take care of myself emotionally, physically, and spiritually – so that, I am now whole, and I have energy to give out to you, and when you have a problem, now I can help you instead of making it about me.” (Listen to the entire episode here.)

What I want moms and women to know (myself included) is that it is OKAY – no, it’s NECESSARY – to take care of ourselves. No guilt for doing this!
[bctt tweet=”I want women to know is that it is OKAY to take care of ourselves.”]

Time

We think that caring for ourselves and our own wellness requires a lot of time. For example, perhaps you think of the “big things” such as getting away for a weekend or going to get a massage. Or maybe we are already so busy that we just don’t know how we could possibly squeeze in any extra time for taking care of ourselves.

But it’s possible to develop healthy habits in just 15-30 minutes per day (sometimes even less). Often we think we need a large chunk of time to work on our goals, so we procrastinate because we never have that big block of time. But the truth is, you can accomplish a lot in 15 minutes of focused time.

[bctt tweet=”Developing new wellness habits doesn’t have to require huge amounts of time!”]

So what now? You know you want to create new habits, and you’re done feeling guilty or using the excuse of time.

Let me preface this by saying that I am NOT an expert. I highly recommend using a life coach if you really want some serious life change. However, I can share what has worked for me, and I will use one example of a change I made in the past year which has made a big difference.

5 STEPS TO CREATING NEW WELLNESS HABITS

Make a decision

If you want to develop a new habit, you must decide to do it. I decided last Spring that I wanted to start getting up earlier. I realized that starting the day by immediately having demands placed on me (daughter wants to play, making breakfast, taking care of the dog, talking to husband) was doing nothing for my personal wellness.

I was feeling stressed by starting my day that way. Many other wise women shared that they valued getting up earlier than their kids so they could have time alone. I decided that I truly wanted to develop this new habit.

Make a plan

You can make a decision about anything, but without a plan in place, you’re likely to fail. When I decided to start getting up early in the morning, I made a plan about how I would do that. I set my alarm – sort of an obvious one. I prepped the coffee pot the night before, so that all I had to do was plug it in when I woke up. And I had my Bible & other reading materials ready in the place I planned to sit when I got up.



Get accountability

This is one of the most effective ways to develop a new habit. I asked a friend if she wanted to get up early, as well, and she said yes. We decided on the time, and we committed to texting one another when we were up. So when the alarm went off, and all I wanted to do was roll over, I knew that I would get the text, and she would be waiting for my response. Having that accountability motivated me when I didn’t have the motivation to do it myself.

Choose one habit at a time to focus on

If you feel overwhelmed thinking about all the areas of wellness you want to work on, instead choose just one area, and then narrow down to one specific habit to develop. Once you’ve got one new habit down pat, then choose the next one.

For me, I had been doing pretty well with getting up early until my daughter went through a phase of waking up multiple times per night. This was physically and emotionally draining, and for a time, I realized that it was more important for me to sleep a bit longer than get up early. However, getting out of the habit made it hard to get back in. So at the start of the new year, I decided to focus on this habit again, even though there are a few others I want to develop this year as well.

Just do it

This may be painfully obvious, but once you decide you are going to change or develop a new habit, and you make a plan, and you have accountability – you have to actually start doing it.

When my alarm goes off at 6am, I get out of bed immediately. I know that if I don’t just do it, I will be hitting the snooze for an hour. Ultimately, changing a habit or creating a new one requires taking action. It might be the action of refraining from something, or it might be the action of doing something. Either way, there is conscious effort involved.

Want help creating new habits as a leader?

Join the Purposeful Leadership Facebook Group to connect with Christian women in leadership. We can help support you as you work towards developing new habits. I can’t wait to see you in there!