If you are like many people, you may have already fallen off the wagon for your New Year's resolutions goals. Rather than trying to stick to resolutions that are almost always set up to fail, you are better off trying to train your mind to make this a long-term habit. A habit is an action that becomes a routine so that it becomes automatic. Instead of a resolution that you constantly have to work toward, a habit will naturally become second nature so that it does not feel like as much work.

Habits are triggered by inherent cues, forming a loop that repeats itself. For example, your initial trigger may be a particular smell, a person, or finding yourself in a certain emotional state. Once you experience this trigger, you will then find yourself craving the rewarding outcome associated with this stimulus. Your response is what propels you to achieve this outcome. When the positive outcome is achieved, your craving is satisfied and this feeling reinforces the initial cue. This habit loop becomes automatic over time.

When it comes to habits, you may be looking to create new healthy ones or aiming to break harmful ones. Regardless of your intention, there are a number of ways that you can rewire your brain to support this habit loop to achieve your ultimate goal.
 

Start Small

You will set yourself up for a greater chance of success if you start with smaller goals. It will be easier to form the habit if you aim small to start. This is because even reaching the smallest of goals will provide the dopamine rush that inspires you to reach toward the next step. Once you have this smaller goal engrained as a true habit, you can begin to aim for the bigger goals in manageable increments. This is how the best lifelong habits are formed. If you start too big, you are more likely to be setting yourself up for failure.
 

Replace an Old Habit with a New One

Rather than trying to eliminate a bad habit cold turkey, try taking incremental steps to get rid of it. For example, go from two glasses of wine at dinner to just one. Then try replacing the wine with sparkling water in the same glass. If you make the steps small enough, it will be easier to kick the bad habit.
 

Do Not Make it All or Nothing

It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that your habit means to be an all or nothing approach. Just because you slip in the morning and grab that donut instead of the protein bar, it does not mean that your whole day needs to get off of the tracks when it comes to healthy eating. Recognize that you are going to make mistakes and give yourself grace to start over again right away.

Even if you cannot make it to the gym all five days this week, three days is better than none. Change your definition of success to include those small victories. Be sure to keep in mind that these small victories can really add up over time.
 

Consider Your Strengths and Weaknesses

Before coming up with a pathway to create these habits, it is important that you consider your individual strengths and weaknesses. For example, if you are not a morning person, it is probably not a good idea to bank on a plan that makes an early run a new habit. Instead, choose a time of day that will support the formation of this healthy habit. Recognizing your strengths and weaknesses will go a long way in helping you to reach the ultimate goal of creating automatic habits.
 

Visualize Your Success

Any professional athlete will tell you that you need to visualize your success in order to make these goals a habit so that you do not even need to think about it to make it happen. Imagine what your life is going to look like once you make these goals a part of your everyday routine. Continually visualizing this success will help to manifest it into reality.

Make 2022 the year that these pesky resolutions become lifelong habits. By following these tips, you will be giving yourself the tools to make meaningful and lasting changes in your life.