Your Step by Step Guide to Creating Healthy Habits at Work

Previously we published the Ultimate Guide to a Healthy Workday, parts 1 and 2. While these are all great tips, they are based on habits.  

So how do we go about creating new healthy habits at work? The answer is in a theory by James Clear. You can read in depth about it here, but we’ll save you some time and summarize the key lessons in a context that applies to you!

Basically, habits are formed based on a four-step process. So, if you want to form a new habit, what you have to do is follow this four-step process as it applies to the habit you’re trying to build! Let’s use the example of someone trying to make practicing mindfulness at work a habit:

1.    Cue: make it obvious – to form a habit, you want a reminder that is attached to it; a “cue” to set the habit in motion. Examples for cues to perform mindfulness could be when you’re feeling stressed, a specific time of day, a reminder on your phone every couple of hours, or even time at the end of your lunch hour. 

2.    Craving: make it attractive – obviously, if you dislike something, you’re much less likely to do it! Because of this, you have to make the habit attractive. This is where finding a form of mindfulness you enjoy comes into play. Whatever the habit, find a way to make it enjoyable.

3.    Response: make it easy – the goal is to remove as many barriers as possible between you and the habit you’re trying to form. For mindfulness at work, an example of a barrier could be interruptions from your coworkers. If you want to make this a habit, the key is to find a space where you can take five minutes to yourself and be uninterrupted. That way, you won’t have the excuse to not do it! 

4.    Reward: make it satisfying – the principles of punishments and rewards in order to reinforce habits is a well-known one. Our suggestion is to keep a log of the times you’ve performed the habit. Once you start to stack small wins (maybe you performed mindfulness every day at work this week?) you won’t want to stop!

Now, if you want a little help forming a healthy habit at work – like mindfulness – let us kickstart the process with one of our corporate wellness services, like our mindfulness classes!  

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