3 Tips for Forming Healthy Habits

Okay so all of the comments from my calf catastrophe post finally motivated me enough to get my butt in gear with the soft tissue work.  Thanks guys!  I have successfully done at least a few minutes of work every day for the past five days.  Forming new habits is hard!  If you are trying to form a new habit, I hope you find success with these three tips!

1.  Make it convenient.

All of my implements are readily available on the living room floor, not in the closet.  I keep one ball of some sort under my desk and I naturally mess around with it with my feet while working.  This has done wonders for my feet.  I can definitely feel a difference in how it feels to roll them out now versus a week ago.  Best of all, I'm doing it without having to think about it.

2.  Attach the habit to something enjoyable.

Last year I iced my shins after every track workout in order to prevent shin splints.  I had crazy amounts of motivation last year as I was coming out of retirement.  Still, I knew the only way I would get through the boredom of ice massage was to entertain myself while doing it.  Obviously, I need to apply the same principle to my soft tissue work.  My current weapons of choice are online episodes of the Daily Show and podcasts of This American Life and Radiolab

3.  Attach the new habit to an old habit.

I workout every day.  Now I do some sort of rolling before I leave the house  as part of the workout prep process no different than getting dressed and trying to figure out where the heck I left my stopwatch.

What good habits are you trying to form this season?

Related Posts:

Calf Catastrophe

Visit from Tim Morrill: strengths, weaknesses, athletes, and ice cream

Calves are sore and I don’t know why

Motivation Malfunction