23 Building Healthy Habits
“Many people think they lack motivation, when what they really lack is clarity. ”
–James Clear “Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results
Creating good habits for mental health and wellbeing is a life long pursuit. Research is increasingly showing that it is small baby steps that are well planned and suit your particular lifestyle and personality that have the best likelihood of being successful.
Purpose
This activity will help participants articulate a specific wellbeing goal that they would like to incorporate into their daily life and create a realistic plan to implement their vision.
Learning Objectives
Participants will:
- Explain James Clear’s four atomic habits steps.
- Identify a small, realistic wellbeing activity that they would like to include in their daily life.
- Write a “failure pre-mortem” for their goal. ( If, in 6 months they failed at their goal, what would have been the obstacles to their success).
- Write three “If . .. . then statements” to prepare for their plans in dealing with obstacles.
- Write a wellbeing goal with a specific time line and steps. (what, when, where)
- List a support person that they will talk to about their goal and check in with weekly.
- Reflect on what worked with the wellbeing plan and what obstacles were experienced and tweak and adjust the plan as needed.
- Reflect on ways they can acknowledge and celebrate small wins.
Activity Directions
- Discuss with group if they have ever made a personal goal or New Year’s Resolution. What was their experience in fulfilling that aspiration? If it worked for them, what were their success strategies. If it didn’t work out, what got in the way? The facilitator might want to share a story of their own successes or struggles with implementing a new action or habit.
- Watch James Clear’s video on Atomic Habits together: Atomic Habits James Clear The first time ask participants to watch the video with the goal of noticing how Clear’s approach is similar or different from their way of implementing goals. Discuss as a group.
- Watch again and this time ask the group to take notes about the aspects of his approach that they find most interesting and useful. Discuss their main points and post the four atomic habits steps on a flip chart or screen.
- Write: In their notebooks or reflection journals, have each participant write a “Failure Pre-Mortem” for their goal. If in six months they have failed to implement this change, what were the obstacles and problems that got in the way of their success? What is their life like with this habit unfulfilled?
Then” problem solving statements:
“If my phone goes off while I am practicing my guitar, the next day I will leave it in a different room or turn the ringer off.”
“If I sleep-in and don’t go for my morning walk, then I will make time to do my walk on my lunch break.”
“If I miss my Duo Lingo language lesson one evening, then I will set my alarm ten minutes earlier the next day and do it first