3 Ways to Make a Personal Growth Routine Stick
Have you ever jumped into a new routine expecting great results only to find yourself giving up or ditching it weeks later? Here are 3 ways to make a personal growth routine stick:
- Decide what to integrate
- Decide what to eliminate
- Know how to take small, consistent steps
Following these three points can keep your routine progressing with realistic expectations. Before beginning with these steps, let’s look at what makes up a personal growth routine.
What is a Personal Growth Routine?
You may not think you have a routine. However, what you do on a consistent basis becomes just that – a daily routine. When you commit to making a positive change in your life, and design sets of actions and new behaviors that support what you want, you can create a new routine that is purposeful and helps you grow. Use these three ways to make your personal growth routines stick and become the building blocks of the change you want to make.
Once you name the change you want to see, write it across the top of a piece of paper. For example: I want to be more involved in my community.
Next, make two columns – one entitled Integrate and the other Eliminate.
Decide what to integrate:
Under this column, list all the possible actions and behaviors you can add that support this particular desire. Using the initial example, I want to be more involved in my community, your integration list might include:
- research organizations to join
- read about the issues and current topics in the community
- attend a city council or school board meeting
Think of this as a brainstorming list. You’re not committing to all these ideas. You’re simply noticing the supporting action steps you can choose from. Once you have the ideas on paper, circle the ones that seem most interesting to you. Can any of these be divided into smaller steps?
Decide what to eliminate
Under this column, list your daily actions and behaviors that inhibit you to grow and make this change possible. Is there anything you do or think every day that stops you from changing your routine? Examples under this list might include:
- cut down the time spent on YouTube
- eliminate preconceived opinions about people in the community
- stop telling yourself you don’t have time to get involved
These elimination and integration lists go hand in hand. As you brainstorm, you may realize you need to wake up 15 minutes earlier so you have time to read the local headlines (2 different integration steps) and that means you’ll have to stop hitting snooze on your alarm multiple times every morning (an elimination step).
As you continue filling out both sides of the list, notice which of these small steps seem doable and interesting. Circle several under each column. Now, it’s time to follow the last point for making your new routine stick.
Know how to take small, consistent steps
This third point is the most important if you want to make your personal growth routine stick. Change is most effective and lasting when it happens consistently in small increments over time. Look over the circled items. Pick one from each column and commit to doing both of them for the next 24 hours. What will you integrate into your routine and what will you eliminate for today?
Once the 24 hours is up, assess how your routine played out. Were you able to do both things? Do you need to try it again for the next 24 hours, or does something need to be altered? If your integration step feels too big to do in one day, divide it into smaller steps. If you wanted to eliminate certain thought patterns but it didn’t happen, keep going. The fact you were mindful and noticed the thoughts occurring shows you can change.
Use your routine steps one day at a time. Reflect at the end of each 24 hour period. When you’re ready, add or subtract another items from your list. Bit by bit, your routine is building. Before you know it, your personal growth routine becomes consistent and the change you desire will be achieved. Find more exercises and routine building ideas in the Veraki app.