Women Talk: how to establish and maintain healthy habits?

The reason we might not be achieving our goals or just overall feeling anxious and stressed in these unpredictable times is because we don’t have the right healthy habits to support us daily. Health coach Charlie Gordon explains how to establish healthy habits, what the most important healthy habits are to keep you grounded and focused and how to maintain these habits.

Hayley: Why are healthy habits important especially during these weird times that we find ourselves in?

Charlie: I love that question, I am a huge believer in health and I encourage my clients that small things really add up to big results. If we take small steps every day that’s like 365 steps across a year and that’s important, especially in the times that we are in. There are a lot of things we can’t control so picking a few habits and sticking to them – I like to call them higher self non-negotiables – are really nourishing for your mind, body, and soul during this time.

Instead of putting that pressure on yourself to stick to your normal morning routine or having really rigid routines, it’s knowing that however you wake up in the morning – and I know with lockdowns right now some of us are waking up and are having great days and some of us are waking up and feeling not so great – it’s all completely normal.

Want to know more about the morning habits of successful and healthy women? Click here

We are going through a time that is very bizarre and unprecedented so it’s having that love and compassion for yourself. Having those things that you know make you feel really good. I like to pick 5 that I do every single day.

Hayley: What kind of habits would you recommend to get into during this time?

Charlie: From person to person, this is really going to vary depending on how you are coping with the current circumstances right now. if you’ve heard of cyclical living, as women we operate on a 28-day cycle, not a 24hr clock so how you feel throughout the month is going to be really different.

So, a few things that I would recommend are covering mind, body, and soul. The first one that absolutely everybody can implement is not going on your phone first thing in the morning or the last thing before you go to bed at night.

During this time when there is a lot of online noise,  I know if I jump on my phone first thing in the morning it does really impact how I set myself up for the day. Something you see might upset you, or trigger you in your social media feed, so allowing yourself to have that space and to sit with your own thoughts is important.

Another great habit is some type of movement. Movement is really important in the sense that it gets rid of all the stagnant energy that we hold in our bodies. This stagnant energy could be a lot of fear, or frustration. So moving your body could look like going for a walk outside, it might be dancing, or HIIT, pilates, yoga, whatever that looks like for you!

Click here to find out how to nourish your body before, during and after a workout

It’s crazy what that can do even if it’s five minutes.

Then something for your mind. I love journaling, but you could do meditation, some type of visualisation or listen to a podcast (check out some podcast recommendations here)- there are some really incredible guided meditations just on Youtube. Some of the apps that I love are Insight Timer or Headspace.

The last thing that a lot of us forget is actually nourishing our bodies with really good foods. Notice how you feel when you are eating ‘well’ – that’s a very broad term but eating things that make you feel really good and again this differs from person to person. 

Hayley: Why do you think that is hard for all of us – most of us – to stick to healthy habits? What impacts us actually sticking to them? We might start and have a great week and then fall off the bandwagon so what do you think makes it hard?

Charlie: I know with clients there is that 100% kind of mentality, the “if I’m not doing everything 100% perfectly then it’s not working” so we give up. That’s why I love to say “1% better every day” or take one step, because even if you have done 5 minutes, or even one minute sitting in meditation or you’ve started journaling that is so much better than not doing anything at all,  really celebrating yourself for what you are doing.

A lot of us really lack trust in ourselves too and we don’t connect to our greater vision and the why of why we are doing something. It’s that mentality of I have to do this, instead of I get to do this and this is why I am doing this. For me, I don’t necessarily want to not go on my phone first thing in the morning, I definitely don’t always feel motivated to get outside and do my movement or sit down and do my journaling practice. But I know that for me, Charlie, a month from now I’m really going to be grateful that I took that time to do it

A lot of us lack trust in ourselves, to actually make incredible decisions for ourselves. We flex our trust muscle by sticking to our word so continuing to do those practices builds trust within yourself. It’s sitting down and asking yourself – how can I connect to why it is I actually want to do it and shifting that I have to to I get too and celebrating yourself for what you do, do.

Hayley: Other than what you’ve already said, do you have any other tips for helping new habits stick?

Charlie: I love the 5-minute rule. If you say to yourself, I’ve got to go for an hour run sometimes that doesn’t feel good and in our minds, we make that so much harder than it needs to be. So saying to yourself “I’m going for a run today” and giving yourself 5 minutes – no doubt you’re probably going to go for longer than that – but if you don’t you’ve still committed to that and will be building that trust with yourself.

I also love habit stacking! (Read more about finding ways to make habits stick here) if you are wanting to introduce gratitude or meditation into your life for example you might do that while getting ready for the day, putting your makeup on, doing your skincare or doing your hair. Something I actually really like to do is meditating while I do my skincare to make it a really mindful pratice, particularly in the morning. For people that have really full lives – I like to use full instead of busy – I know that a block that comes up for a lot of people is I don’t have time to make things work for you. Whatever it is for you find those things to habit stack and ask yourself the question “how can I make this easy for myself” “how can I reduce the resistance?”

Something that I share is a few months ago I was feeling quite challenged in terms of getting back into an exercise routine, like actually getting out the door to go for a walk! I was coming up with all the excuses under the sun – everything! – probably anything you’re thinking of right now I came up with it as the reason I didn’t need to go, the weather! Everything.

There are two things here. The first thing you need is finding someone to keep you accountable whether it’s somebody that you live with, someone that you message during the day and say “hey I’ve done my thing!”. But I said I’d really love some accountability with this because I know that it’s something that makes me feel really good but there’s so much resistance in terms of getting out the door.

So, in my case, I would go to work with my partner – obviously not right now coz we’re in lockdown – in the morning and walk home because I had no choice but to walk home. It was really nice to get up and have our coffees in the morning together and then I would go to work with him and get dropped off then have to walk home. Firstly it made it fun, getting to spend that extra time together with my partner in the morning and it completely reduced the resistance. How can you reduce the resistance and how can you make it easier on yourself? Especially during this time, we need to drop the expectations.

That’s why I love the 5 min rule because whether you do a little or a lot it’s still all of these little things adding up to big results. And make sure to celebrate yourself everyday.

I love celebration lists! Instead of focusing on all the things you haven’t done, focus on the things that you have because over time you will end up crowding out all the those things you haven’t done. So celebrate that you got out of bed and you made your bed first thing! Celebrate that you prepped food, that you did a minute of meditation today! Celebrate every little part of your journey, because it’s not about the end destination. It really is about the journey.

Hayley: That five-minute rule is such a great way to really keep you on track. So, why do you encourage people to stick to healthy habits?

Charlie: All of these little habits add up to big things. With that 1% better every day, if you were writing a book that was 365 pages long and you wrote a page a day, by the end of the year you’d have your book. Instead of looking at something and thinking “I can’t do that!” it’s focusing on the little things that really add up to the big things.

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