Create Micro Habits to Reset, Refresh, and Renew This Fall
Fall is a the season of change! Even though we’re not quite there yet, here in the Pacific Northwest, we can see small signs of it more and more each day.
Mother Nature knows how to make those tiny changes that add up to a magnificent showcase of color come mid-fall season.
And, when you are wanting to make changes in your life, like having less stress, anxiety, and overwhelm, now is a perfect time to hit that refresh button.
So put your finger on that button and get ready for some tips to manage stress!
One of the surest ways to manage stress is to create new habits that support having more calm and ease in your life.
Now, creating a new habit can feel daunting, especially if you feel stressed and overwhelmed in your life, right?
And, the premise is to have less stress, so we certainly don’t want to be adding more in.
Yet, when you put some structure in your life with a new habit that supports you in feeling less stressed, you feel less stressed! You are managing your stress levels.
Hang in there, I know that doesn’t yet give you the “how to” create that new habit to stop feeling so stressed. More will be revealed.
I’ve been reading a book by James Clear called “Atomic Habits,” and highly recommend it, by the way.
It’s led me to create a special report on Micro Habits, which you are welcome to receive by clicking on the link below.
The premise of creating “micro habits,” is to make it easy and stress free to change a behavior that isn’t working for you and to create a new one that will benefit you at this point in your life.
For example: If you are wanting to feel less stressed and overwhelmed in your life, you’ll want to create a new habit that will support that.
Trying to change everything at once is too overwhelming, so you want to start small.
You’ll want to identify what your stressors are first.
- Do you get stressed thinking about all you have to do for the day?
- Does a certain person you work with trigger a stress response from you every time you see them?
- Are you stressed out financially?
Making a list to identify all your stressors, is a good start, and we could actually call that a micro action that can lead to the micro habit of being aware of your stressors.
By continually updating what your stressors are, brings them into your awareness so you can be conscious of them and make appropriate changes-one micro step/habit at a time!
Maybe you decide you’ll do this list of stressors every day at a certain time, perhaps right when you close your work day, or perhaps at lunchtime before eating.
By planning for this action at a particular time and location, James Clear calls this implementation intention, you are developing a habit of bringing stress awareness to mind, which is as you know, awareness is the first step in changing anything you want to change.
After doing that action for a week at a specific time and location, it will become more habitual and you’ll find just in that act alone, you’ll feel more in control instead of being in knee jerk reactive states.
And, from there you can look at what options you now have for some of these stressors.
Maybe you’ve discovered that this person at work interrupts you consistently and you’ve never addressed it.
So, now the next micro step to lead to a micro habit is to take a deep breath when they interrupt you and have a script ready to say calmly and with an assertive voice.
Here’s an example: You take a deep breath, let it out slowly (breathing consciously signals to the brain to tell body to relax), and say: “I’m busy at the moment, but I can meet with you in X amount of minutes/hours (whatever the time period may be).” Then resume your work.
By taking that small step and saying to yourself or even writing it down:
“Every time, X, interrupts me, I take a deep breath and tell them (the script),” you are implementing a new behavior and stacking a new micro habit onto another new habit that will support you in managing your stress in this particular area.
This just one example of how you can create micro habits to make the changes you want to make.
There are other ways to create micro habits that will make a big difference…one step and one micro habit at a time.
Read the “Report” on Micro Habits by clicking on the link below to learn more.
Give yourself 10 minutes to read it. It has a lot of valuable information in it that you can apply immediately and “stack” on top of the tips I presented in this article. ?
Stay tuned for more articles on Micro Habits because they all relate to having less stress, less overwhelm, and creating a life you feel good about and love!
Meanwhile, as always, you know I love hearing from you-so leave a comment below!
If you find you are struggling with making any headway on your stress levels or any area you are wanting to change up in your life, by all means connect with me. Let’s talk.
I offer a complimentary phone discovery session.
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