One of the best things I use to form habits is the reminders app on my phone.
It’s simple and easy to set up and use, plus it’s an interface that we are familiar with. We don’t need to download specialty apps, we can make do with what we have.
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The focus is on using time to determine what’s important, outlining the habits we want, and then keying them in. Much better than using time to get the latest and greatest app with all of the new features. Tthat doesn’t lead to progress.
There are a few things I like about using reminders.
You can set recurring reminders. That way, when you mark it as completed today, it moves to a task for you to complete tomorrow. I’m building a habit of brushing my teeth with my alternative hand whilst shifting weight between my feet. It’s good for coordination and balance. I was struggling to remember. Now, my phone puts up with a reminders before I would typically brush my teeth in the morning
It stays there until it’s marked as complete. This is useful for things that need to happen at some point and you don’t want to block out time or be strict with when it needs to happen. My wife and I review our week ahead on Sunday afternoon. The reminder pops up for us, but we don’t need to complete it immediately, nor worry about forgetting if it was blocked to a certain time. If we are out, we wait until we get home – review our week – mark complete – it reappears next Sunday
We do need to be considerate about what time we remind ourselves. We do need to choose times that are just before when we would ideally want to complete the task, such as taking medications before dinner.
The drawback is that your phone does need to be with you for this to be effective.
As you build your habits though and anchor them on to tasks, you can then delete the reminders out of your phone. Once brushing your teeth with your alternative hand is second nature, you don’t need your phone to remind you. Delete the reminder as it’s now going to happen. You no longer need that nudge.
The phone can give us a nudge towards healthy habits Utah we want to achieve – such as reminders to complete something we want to build. My recent reminders to nudge my towards a healthier lifestyle are:
- After a morning workout – protein shake, eggs for breakfast
- Brushing teeth left handed and standing on different feet
- Completing my nightly journal to go over my day
- Taking the bins each each week
- Checking the mail once a week
- Watering plants every few days
I highly recommend giving it a go.