Whether it’s quitting smoking, drinking alcohol or drugs; eating better; sleeping more; or taking your relationship to the next level, healthy habits can make the difference between a struggle and success.

It takes time to create a new habit, but it is possible! Here are 3 ways to help you succeed: 1. Start Small.

1. Make a Plan

Creating good habits can help you become a more resilient, positive person. It can also enable you to nurture your physical well-being, connect with others in meaningful ways, and pursue a life filled with passion and purpose.

To develop a new habit, you need a plan and consistency. Depending on the difficulty of the behavior, and your support system, it can take anywhere from four to 10 weeks to make a lasting change.

The key to developing healthy habits is to focus on one at a time and make it part of your daily routine. For example, if you want to start exercising, try scheduling a walk or workout into your day. Similarly, if you want to improve your diet, start by making it easier to eat healthier. For example, instead of a cookie, have a piece of fruit.

Another strategy to help with habit formation is to set reminders. According to the author of Atomic Habits, setting reminders is a great way to make your desired habit more obvious. For example, if you want to exercise regularly, make sure your running gear is out and ready to go the night before. You can also use other methods to make your goal clear, such as putting sticky notes on your bathroom mirror or a visual reminder in your wallet.

2. Create Accountability

Personal accountability is a skill that’s often taught in the context of professional development, but it can be just as helpful in our lives. It’s about taking ownership of the results of our actions and avoiding the blame game that can often get in the way of making sustainable, healthy habits.

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Having an accountability system is a crucial component for creating healthy habits. It’s like an extra stamp of commitment that can keep us on track and moving forward toward our goals. It can take many forms. For example, we might track our progress on paper (we have a free tracker in our Healthy Habits Starter Guide), make it public, find an accountability buddy, join a group, or hire a coach.

Having the right mindset and the right plan are crucial, but we can’t overlook the importance of creating accountability. It’s one of the three non-negotiables for success in creating healthy habits. Once you have your system in place, commit to making your new habit a priority. Tie it to something you already do regularly, such as brushing your teeth or going for a walk at work, to make it more realistic and easy to stick with.

3. Reduce Cravings

Food cravings can lead you to eat sugary and salty foods that have adverse health effects. (1)

Cravings are typically triggered by seeing, smelling, or hearing the name of the food you want, and they can also be the result of a hormone imbalance. (2)

Avoid letting your cravings take over. It can help to distract yourself when a craving hits by going on a walk, taking a shower, or watching your favorite TV show. Cravings will often go away in 20-30 minutes if you can resist them. The more you can avoid junk food, the less you will crave it.

Try eating every 3-4 hours throughout the day to avoid long periods without eating. This will help to keep your blood sugar steady and prevent irrational eating behaviors.

Starting new healthy habits can be difficult, but the more consistent you are, the easier they will become. It’s important to focus on small, easy-to-remember actions like doing 60 jumping jacks before you start your day or scheduling a daily 15-minute walk during lunch. These small changes can make a huge impact on your overall health and well-being.

4. Make It Easy

Whether you’re looking to kick bad habits like smoking or drinking; develop healthy lifestyles like eating right and getting enough sleep; grow your career; or create fulfilling relationships, there are certain things you need to do to make these changes happen. First, identify the outcome you want. It may be as simple as wanting to feel good and have more energy, or it could be redefining your relationship with yourself and finding greater meaning in life.

Using a Quality Quantifier can help you find your desired outcome and determine how much work it will take to achieve it. From there, you’ll be able to identify which healthy habits are the best fit for your goals and needs.

Try to start with the most logical and achievable habit. For example, if you want to stop smoking but don’t know how to go cold turkey, it’s probably easier to swap your cigarettes for gum than it would be to quit altogether. Additionally, focus on changing one behavior at a time to avoid overwhelming yourself with too many challenges at once. If you’re prone to snacking while watching TV, for instance, replace it with chewing sugarless gum.

5. Make It a Habit

Habits are repetitive actions that trigger a response in our brain. Some habits are negative and some are positive. The key to creating healthy habits is to find a way to replace bad habits with good ones. To do this, we must first identify the triggers and rewards of our unhealthy habits. For example, if you have a bad habit of watching tv before bed, which interferes with your quality of sleep, you must figure out a way to avoid this trigger and replace the behavior with something better like exercising.

One strategy to do this is called habit stacking. In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear explains how to do this by adding new behaviors on top of existing ones. For example, if you want to start exercising regularly but aren’t sure how to fit it into your schedule, try adding it to other activities like waiting for your coffee in the morning or brushing your teeth.

Once you’ve identified your healthy habits, it’s time to make them a habit! To do this, start by making a plan and setting small attainable goals. This will help you build your healthy habits without feeling overwhelmed.

6. Track Your Progress

Keeping up with healthy habits is not always easy, especially when it feels like you’re trying to change your entire lifestyle at once. But some simple strategies can help you make healthy behaviors a habit.

One way is to track your progress. This can be as simple as checking a box or using a mobile app that tracks your habits for you. A good app can also remind you to do your new habits and can give you motivation through a streaks system and other features.

Another strategy is to create a schedule around your new behavior. Choosing the same time and place for the same action each day will increase the likelihood of it becoming a habit. It can also be helpful to use the “habit stacking” method, which involves linking a new habit to an existing one that is already established. For example, if you’re trying to cut out sugary drinks, try replacing them with water instead of soda.

It’s also important to remember that it takes time to establish a new habit, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t see immediate results. And don’t forget to celebrate your successes! This could mean taking a few minutes for yourself, treating yourself to something on your wish list, or even just giving yourself a pat on the back for sticking with your new behavior.

7. Make It a Priority

Making healthy habits a priority requires an ongoing commitment. Whether your goal is to sleep better, eat more vegetables, reduce stress, or exercise more, you can make healthy choices feel natural by following some simple strategies. A reasonable timeline, reminders, and accountability help you build a foundation of healthy behaviors. And by curating an environment that promotes well-being and celebrating every success, you can sustain new patterns over time.

Start by listing the unhealthy habits you want to break and the long-term rewards of practicing a new habit daily. Then, create a list of the triggers that encourage you to practice those unhealthy habits and how to avoid them.

For example, if you are trying to break a pattern of grabbing fast food with friends after work, find a different location for meetings or plan to meet up at a healthier restaurant. Another strategy is to use a technique called habit stacking, which involves adding a new behavior on top of an existing one. For instance, if you are trying to add more physical activity to your day, you could put on music in the morning while you’re getting ready and use the time to do some sit-ups or push-ups instead of watching television.