A Surprisingly Easy Way to Establish New Habits

I failed to establish a daily workout routine for over a year. Then I found an unexpected way to establish one and followed through with it. In this article, I’ll explain how I did it and how you can do it, too.

Drought

When gyms closed in 2020, I lost access to the one place that I was exercising regularly in. To compensate, I tried other forms of exercise: Yoga, home-workouts, Pilates, and Running but none stuck. At the end of 2020, I was losing hope.

Then, I had an idea: “Why not try what worked for me when I first got in shape in 2017?” Back then, I used an app called “Seven” that guided me through a seven-minute workout every morning. A few months later I was in such good shape that these home workouts didn’t increase my strength anymore. That was when the gym became the place I exercised at every day. So, I thought: “Why not start with Seven again?”

Resurgence

I downloaded the app, created a custom workout, and began working out the next day. It worked. I worked out daily for more than two weeks now. What surprised me the most was that I immediately felt at home with this workout routine. The exercises felt familiar, I remembered the sounds of the app and felt like I had returned to workout with a good friend.

This experience prompted me to think about other areas of my life where I could use old habits to establish new ones. Right now I’m experimenting with Morning Pages, daily Social Media Posts, and will begin to meditate again soon. All of these habits that I used to do but dropped two years ago.

Conclusion

While reading this article you might have had an idea. Maybe you remembered an old workout routine that you stuck with for years. Maybe you thought about a morning routine that increased your productivity. Or, maybe, you recalled a meditation technique that you enjoyed a while back. If not, it may be useful to take a few minutes and think about which habits worked for you in the past. Then, there’s only one step left: think about how these habits can help you to establish new ones.