Start and stick to a new routine with colourful dots.

Do you know that feeling when you plan a new routine, whether it’s to meditate daily, do yoga, or go for a run and day after day somehow it is not happening?

Have you ever scheduled it in your calendar and day after day you miss it as if was completely invisible in your calendar while you never miss other appointments?

No matter what strategies you try, starting a new habit can be hard, so here are some ideas to make it easier.

I could call myself a queen of procrastination. To get this post written and published I have used the strategies I am going to tell you about. It worked, I managed to get it done so I’m going to share with you how I get things done and how you can make it easier for yourself to find the motivation and actually do what you planned.

I like to use the analogy of running here because I remember how long I struggled to get to the point of running three times a week…

I struggled to create a new routine for many years, and then… something changed. I changed the way I go about making things happen.

Replace the voice of your inner critic with a helpful cheerleader.

There were years when I would manage to get out on a run two times within one week, sometimes even three and then I would do nothing for the next few weeks. Then a month later I would get out on a run once and then nothing for ages. I couldn’t make it stick.?

And I was wondering: What’s wrong with me?

Sounds familiar?

Of course, it’s so easy to beat yourself up for everything you’ve not done or have done wrong or too late. It’s a lot harder to notice any time you have completed something.

The first step in creating any new routine is to help yourself by replacing that inner voice of your biggest critic with your biggest cheerleader. You probably heard many times and you may know it already, that you need to be kinder to yourself. But how to do it? It takes practice.

I practice by grabbing a pen and paper (or a voice note I send to my own WhatsApp if I’m in the car) and writing it all down. I would write that I notice I am not doing anything that I planned. I will offload my thoughts and even let the critic say what she wants to say. Then, I’d change the pen, move around (it’s crucial to change the position as it is really hard to get out of your own head and imagine being someone different). And then I'd read what I wrote as if I was reading a message from my friend and write my encouraging response. I will go back and forth with those messages until something clicks and I feel like I want to take action, change something, do something differently. It is so simple yet it always works! Instead of beating yourself up, you can just get curious and wonder what could help you.

Design your own challenge.

One day I was chatting with a friend (in a real life this time) and she mentioned to me a half marathon. At that point, I wasn’t quite sure if I could do it, but it gave me the idea to sign up for something, to have something to look forward to, to have something to train for.?

So I signed up for a half marathon. I knew that to be able to finish it, I needed to run more than once a month. And I got myself on strava and started tracking my activities.?

What could you like to challenge yourself with? 30 days sugar-free, daily meditations or daily walks during your lunch break?

And by the way, you don’t need any app - I will show you in a moment what I’ve learned from that app that gave me an insight into human motivation (especially helpful for neurodiverse individuals) and the dopamine hit from tracking the progress. Let me first finish the story and then I’ll unpack it all for you.

Break it down into smaller pieces.

I've had three months to wait for my half marathon. It felt a bit long to wait for, so I signed up for a 10km race in a few weeks. That’s how simple it is. Any task that feels overwhelming or too big, needs to be broken down. I usually use post-it notes and write down all the steps I need to take to achieve what I want to achieve and then specify how much time it will take.

Create your accountability system.

Have you ever noticed how much easier it is to do something because you promised it to another person? A lot easier than to keep your own promise to yourself. To make sure I didn’t forget about my 10k race, I registered to raise some funds for a charity. This way I knew I would have to do it.

Break it down even further.

In the process, I also challenged myself to run the entire length of the longdendale trail. I haven’t done that distance before so I thought I would check if I can do it. I asked my partner David to drop me off at one end of the trail and I ran to the other end. Specifying extra little steps in between where you are now and where you want to be fills that gap so it’s harder to get stuck and easier to keep going.?

I would even say, aim smaller, so you may surprise yourself if you achieve more than you wanted, instead of beating yourself up for not achieving what you wanted (while your expectations were crazy high).

Track it, stare at your dots and give yourself a dopamine hit.

In the process, week after week I kept looking at my stats on strava. I’m not a fan of stats, I don’t care how many miles I run monthly, but there was specifically one page that I really loved - the page that showed me visually my training log with colourful dots. Week after week I could scroll and see a colourful dot for every run that I've done.

I noticed how much joy I got out of watching these dots. Since then I used this colourful dot strategy for other things. Created my own logs with colourful dots in excel, and drafted dots on paper and on post-it notes.

Would you like one?

As I’m writing this post it gave me an idea for a really good workbook that I could put together, with some colourful dots for tracking your progress. With a space where you could break your new routine down into smaller pieces, add some tips from the cheerleader, design your own challenge and most of all - track your progress and watch your dots - who would like that?

That's my challenge - if you say you want it, then I will find it easier to put it together.

Happily ever after.

After some time, a new routine becomes a norm. I don’t need to race any more to keep going and running. It became a part of my life. To start a new routine or any task start by replacing your inner critic with a friendly helpful voice, look for ways to help yourself. Then break things down into smaller pieces that are within your reach, add some extra accountability (tell someone what you are doing, ask them to check in with you or sign up for a challenge), track your progress and show yourself how you are doing - give yourself a big credit for every little step forward.?