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When you form good habits, your brain is free to focus on more important things. By automating your daily routine you can truly take control of your life and start working towards your goals.
In order to form good habits, you need to make room for them by getting rid of the bad ones. The easiest way to do this is by running a habit audit.
Read on to find out how to run a habit audit so you can form better habits!
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Step 1: List out every single habit you have
The first step is to do a brain dump of every habit you have. Grab a pen and a paper and list everything out. Start from the moment you wake up- do you check your phone? Do you journal? Write down everything you do from dusk until dawn.
The most accurate way to do this is to take a few days and record what you’re doing throughout the day. You can use the notes app in your phone or just carry around a piece of paper. And remember, only you will see this so there’s no point in lying about how much time you’re spending on TikTok!
You can do this for both weekends and weekdays and create two sets of habits for both.
Step 2: Grab 3 different color pens or highlighters and color code your habits
Next, you will need three different colored pens or highlighters to go through and do the actual habit audit. I personally recommend the following color coding scheme:
Green– good habits that you are proud of
Red– bad habits that you want to get rid of
Purple – neutral habits that don’t really add or take away from your life.
Go through each habit that you listed and highlight it accordingly.
Here is a sneak peak of my habit audit:
Green– taking two walks per day; not checking my phone until after my first walk; calling my parents every evening
Red– spending too much time on social media; Leaving my dishes until the end of the day right before bed; answering emails late at night
Purple– calling a coworker every morning during breakfast; showering at night
Step 3: Summarize the habits in 3 columns
Now that you’ve color coded every habit, create three separate columns where you list out each green, red, and purple habit. This summary list will help you visually see which column is the largest. If you mainly have green habits then that’s amazing! If your red column is looking a little full then you have some work to do.
Step 4: Decide which habits you need to kick to the curb
Go through each “red” habit and decide which one is easiest to get rid of first. Some of the red habits might be okay in moderation so take note of which ones you just need to spend less time on.
A common “red” habit is checking your phone immediately when you wake up. You might think it’s complicated to stop but I was able to nix that habit pretty easily. Every morning I keep my phone on airplane mode until I’m done walking Dixie. This gives me 15-30 minutes to myself and my thoughts before I’m pulled away for work and other obligations.
The more bad habits you can get rid of, the easier it will be for you to make room for good habits.
Step 5: Come up with a few new habits you want to incorporate
Now that you’ve made more time in your day for better habits, come up with a few you want to start incorporating into your daily routine.
This systemized approach to auditing your habits can help you transform your life. Writing and visualizing is incredibly effective so by seeing the color coded habits you can truly start taking control.
I think the most common “bad” habit people have is spending too much time on social media. I struggle with this since I use social media for work so it’s harder to set boundaries for me. Here are some apps that can help you reduce your screen time.
If you found this habit audit helpful, be sure to share it with your friends and family!
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- How To Improve Your Work Life Balance
- 21 Goals For 2021
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