“Breakthrough moments are often the result of many previous actions, which build up the potential required to unleash a major change.” — James Clear

When we perform the same actions over and over again, we begin to lose awareness about them as our brain goes on autopilot. If you take the same route every time you go to the grocery store, your brain instinctively knows where to go, and you don’t have to think about each turn. You may even find yourself arriving at the store without recollection of the journey that got you there.

The same principle applies to our habits. If you have the same morning routine, you may go through the motions without thinking about what you’re doing. However, this lack of awareness could cause you to perpetuate bad habits without even realizing it. And you can’t change bad habits that you don’t know about.

We want to share a simple exercise to help you become more aware of your behaviors so you can take steps toward building lasting healthy habits.

Rating Habits

One great way to be aware of habits is to write them down. You could focus on your morning routine, lunch behaviors, or any other combination of activities throughout your day. By writing down each action, you can clearly identify what your habits are.

Once you have a list completed, you can rate each action based on how effective it is at helping you achieve your long-term goals. You can mark ineffective behaviors with a “-”, positive behaviors with a “+”, and neutral behaviors with “=”.

It’s important to avoid categorizing these habits as good or bad, although the signs we use may have that connotation. By thinking about your habits as good or bad, you may be judging them or yourself — which is not the intention of this exercise. Instead remain analytical and focus on how each behavior impacts your ability to achieve your goals in the long run.

The simple habit scorecard can help you gain awareness about your current habits. With that clarity, you can identify activities you would like to change.

Example Scorecard

Let’s take a look at an example. After you finish work, your evening routine might look something like this:

  • Change into casual clothes
  • Go to the bathroom
  • Help with dinner
  • Eat dinner
  • Watch TV
  • Change into pajamas
  • Drink a cup of hot tea
  • Brush teeth
  • Floss teeth
  • Lay in bed
  • Check social media
  • Set alarm
  • Go to sleep

After analyzing the behaviors, you might come up with a list like this:

  • Change into casual clothes =
  • Go to the bathroom =
  • Help with dinner +
  • Eat dinner =
  • Watch TV -
  • Change into pajamas =
  • Drink a cup of hot tea +
  • Brush teeth +
  • Floss teeth +
  • Get into bed =
  • Check social media -
  • Set alarm +
  • Go to sleep +

The ratings that you give each habit may change based on your goal. If you had a specific goal to have 50% vegetables on your dinner plate, you may need to adjust your rating for “Eat dinner” based on whether or not you accomplished that goal instead of rating it as neutral.

This exercise is a great way to recognize behaviors you might not think about. If you find yourself criticizing your behaviors, take a step back and reset your mind. During this exercise, focus on only observing what you do.

Once you become aware of behaviors, you identify areas of improvement. You can stay on the lookout for ineffective behaviors and try to replace them with more effective ones. This awareness is the foundation for creating healthy nutrition behaviors.

ASK YOURSELF THIS:

What are your main goals regarding your health and nutrition? What are some of the ineffective behaviors that may prevent you from achieving those goals?

TRY THIS:

Choose a specific part of your daily routine to analyze using the habit scorecard. Writing down all of your habits for the day can quickly become overwhelming, so start small. Then rate each activity as effective, ineffective, or neutral.

EatLove’s food log feature allows you to track your food choices quickly and easily so that you can become more aware of your eating habits. You can review your food log and rate the foods you’ve chosen throughout the day to identify effective and ineffective choices, enabling you to gain clarity of your food choices. That’s just one small way that our nutrition operating system can help you develop healthy nutrition behaviors.

Start building healthy behaviors today by planning your meals for next week.