E176: The Best Time to Start a New Habit

E176: The Best Time to to Start New Habits

I like to joke that the best time to start a new habit was yesterday. The second best time is today. But the joke is actually kind of true. One of my only regrets in life is that I didn’t start things sooner. However I’m smart enough to understand: we don’t have the ability to change the past, but we can create a better future by taking action in the present.

[00:52] Welcome back to the Women’s Empowerment Podcast! I am your host and Healthy Habit Mentor, Valerie LaVigne.

I’m very excited for you for choosing this particular episode. Pressing play on this episode tells me that you - my friend - are interested in creating a new habit/routine/ritual and you’re looking for how to do it successfully.

I don’t believe in coincidences, so trust me when I say… we were meant to cross paths here and now, and this is a great sign/omen to your success.

I’ll get it out of the way at the beginning, in case you’re new to the show: I am a very practical and logical human, and I am also very into the woo and the occult, and I think in a past life I was a quantum or metaphysicasist. If not in a past life, then maybe in my next life!

Anyway, without spoiling your hopes and dreams of learning the exact formula for when you start a new habit, I will let you know that I haven’t discovered that specific formula just yet.

What I will share with you today are the key tips and practices for building new habits, routines, and rituals. And your mission, dear friend, is to take action on experimenting on what you learn today.

Firstly, it’s important to know that it is a lot easier to start a new habit, than it is to break an existing habit.

It’s also a lot easier to replace a current habit than it is to start a new habit entirely.

So take a moment here to think about what new action or behaviour it is that you want to cultivate? What routines would you love to build? What rituals do you want to begin?

Then, consider what existing routines, habits, or rituals can you replace with the new one? If this question is difficult to answer, I recommend doing a habit audit or creating a habit scorecard.

The Habit Scorecard

[03:00] To do this, you will need a piece of paper or notebook and a pen. Here’s how it works: from the moment you wake up, you are going to write down a list of EVERYTHING you do; every activity throughout your day until you go to bed at night.

When writing your list, keep three things in mind:

Be detailed
Be honest
Be non-judgmental

If you can, do this for a WHOLE WEEK. Yes, a whole week. We have different habits every day and usually they repeat weekly.

Once you have your list of daily (and weekly) routines, it’s time to rate them.

Use a yellow highlighter or put a “+” beside good habits. A good habit is beneficial and improves your life. For example: mediation, exercising, staying hydrated, flossing.

Use a blue highlighter or put a “-” beside bad habits. A bad habit is detrimental and doesn’t solve problems in your life (possibly creating a problem in the long term). For example: checking instagram or emails first thing in the morning, grabbing a sugary latte before work every day.

Don’t highlight, or put an “=” beside neutral habits. A neutral habit is something that must be done. For example: getting dressed, going to the bathroom, driving to work, etc.

Then analyze the data: what did you learn about your habits? Which habits/routines can you break by replacing them with your new habits/routines?

If the first way to increase your success with habits was listening to this episode, the second action is figuring out what you will create/replace. Well done!

Now let’s talk about the timing…

Is Timing Everything?

[05:06] Short answer, and in my opinion, no. But I did toil with this for a while. Not “timing” as in the arbitrary dates like the first of January and “new year's resolutions” or the first of the month, or mondays, or what have you. But timing in the sense of: the time of day, or the frequency of the habit, or the stage of life a person is in.

Is timing important? Definitely. But it isn’t everything.

Some researchers will tell you that doing your habit first thing in the morning leads to success, others will say starting a challenge on a Wednesday is the best day of the week to start something new.

I tell my clients, the best time to do your habit is whenever you actually do it. And this requires some experimentation.

Experimenting can be fun! And let it be fun and easy and flow! We’ll talk about how “fun” is important for creating new habits a bit later.

When you’re in the experimentation phase, try scheduling your habit at the same time every day for a week, and if that time doesn’t work, try a different time. You’ll begin to notice where and when your habit works best for you to be the most consistent with it.

At the very beginning of this episode I joked that the best day to start a habit was yesterday, and the second best day is today. If you’re thinking of doing a new habit – you’re already in that decision-making/motivated headspace to take a new action and I say, DO IT!

Do it right now! Who knows what your headspace will be like tomorrow!? (or on Monday or January 1).

In my opinion ACTION is the most important part of creating your habit. Taking physical action and doing the thing you set out to do.

When you are in action, you are moving the needle forward. You are creating new ingrained neural pathways in your brain to make this conscious action unconscious and habitual over time.

Time… Taking action over time is what I call practice. When we practice we are doing something on purpose. A habit is formed through practice; through repetition.

[07:44] While we’re in the practice and repetition phase, there are two things that are very important:

Consistency
Rewards

Aim for consistency over perfection. I always remind my clients that “consistency doesn’t mean every day, it means never giving up.”

So many people give up because they missed a day of their new habit - I see it all the time. Don’t fall into the perfectionism trap! Each day is a new opportunity to start again. Skip a day, or two, but get back on track as soon as you can. Forget perfectionism, focus on consistency.

Reward yourself immediately for doing the new habit or routine. Rewards and celebration are important when leveraging the existing neural pathways to help us create new neural pathways that allow our new habits and routines to become ingrained in our brains. To become habitual and automatic. Rewards release “happy” chemicals and speed up the practice phase.

The immediate reward is especially important when new actions don’t immediately reward us or have benefits on their own, like when we’re changing bad habits, learning new skills, challenging ourselves in new ways. There are certain behaviours that are much more difficult to start and maintain because they push us out of comfort zones, and have us growing in ways that are physically/mentally/emotionally challenging. There is no immediate dopamine release.

The reward or celebration is going to be different for every person and for every habit. For some, checking off a box or putting a sticker on a chart is the perfect amount of dopamine to do it again the next day.

For others, it’s accolades from a coach, buddy, or social media post/share to keep them feeling motivated to continue.

When considering your reward or celebration, think of something that excites you, that is small and realistic for you to do. An example of the wrong type of reward would be buying and eating a box of donuts after working out at the gym… this kind of defeats the point of your new routine.

Something that I’ve found to be really successful happens in our 21 day challenges. A few times a year I host a free challenge called Elevate Your Life. Essentially it's a healthy habit challenge and a bunch of us do this together for a set 21 days. I send everyone a tracker, and I encourage the group to share their success throughout the challenge and tag me in their posts and stories on Instagram.

There are many reasons why tracking is helpful, but checking off the box, the reply and excitement I give them when I see and then reshare the post - this is a type of reward. It’s also a type of accountability. So WHAM-BAM there’s like three habit super boosters in one hahaha

If you’re interested in joining the next challenge, click here!

Depending on when you’re listening to this you’ll either be able to join the challenge, or join the waitlist for the next challenge - either way you won’t miss out!

[11:19] The saying goes, “There’s no time like the present.” And I think I've made it clear that I agree with this statement. However… I feel like there’s always a “BUT”

There is power in specific times, which is why you may notice that doing something new is easier in different seasons, days, or in different places.

So here are a few “times” to consider when planning out new habits/routines/rituals…

New Moon/Crescent Moon

Remember when I said I liked the WOO!? Well I’m an astrology enthusiast and a great time to start a new habit as it relates to the planets in the sky, is just after the new moon and as the crescent moon appears.

Energetically this time signifies the beginning of a new 28 day cycle, as well as a 6 month and 12 month cycle. Consider this timing for creating goals or themes that you want to continue on for 6-12 months.

The Follicular Phase

For females who track their menstruation cycle, the Follicular Phase is a great time to start new projects, goals, or habits. This is the part of your cycle following your menstrual or bleeding phase. In the follicular phase, your hormones are starting to rise, along with your energy and your excitement to start new projects, strategize and set up your calendar, and create new routines.

The energy of the follicular phase is very similar to the season of spring.

Spring is another great time to begin new routines and habits. It’s a lively time of “freshness” and “newness''. A lot of people start to get outside more and have energy to meet up with friends, clear out closets, clean the house, and so on.

Another excellent time to create new habits is when you’re in a Different Environment.

Such as while on vacation/in a new place than your usual home or work setting. Because you are somewhere different, your body and brain cannot fall into the regular patterns that you are in auto-pilot in while at home in a familiar place. You have to get out of bed differently, the bathroom is set up differently, the agenda for the day is completely different than it is when you’re at home or at work. Take advantage of it by starting a new habit!

There you have it! The best time to start new habits, as well as some other options for getting into action.

Podcast Host

Valerie LaVigne

Valerie is the creator and founder of Valerie LaVigne Life and the Women's Empowerment Show. She helps busy and empowered women create healthy habits so that they can become the best version of themselves and transform their lives. Learn more about Valerie here!