Five Ways to Jump Start Behavioral Changes to Improve Your Health

It is not easy trying to modify our routines or behaviors. Behaviors become ingrained into a cycle, whether they are good or bad, they can be hard to break. The human body craves routine, as much as you may feel you do not like routines, much of our daily life literally hangs on our "routines". When I am facilitating changes with a client I focus on fostering change by setting small goals. Sometimes I recommend starting a weekly goal chart. Start with 1 to 3 changes you want to make and try to stick with them. Nothing huge or change but stick to an attainable routine. Below I have put together some recommendations for baby steps. Remember, our brains like routine. Place a reward with each goal you set, as our brain responds to rewards. Meaning, I want to go to bed 30 minutes earlier each night. The reward is so that you feel rested when you wake up. It does not have to be complicated.

✅ 1. Identify the Specific Behavior You Want to Change

Be clear and specific. Vague goals like "be healthier" are hard to act on.

Instead of: “I want to eat better.”
Try: “I want to eat a home-cooked healthy meal 5 times a week.”

🧠 Tip: Choose one behavior to focus on at a time. Small wins build momentum, build the reward feedback to your brain and make you crave the behavior as you start to feel improved health.

✅ 2. Understand Your Why

Clarify the reason behind the change. This helps with motivation.

Ask: “Why is this change important to me?”
Example: “I want to have more energy and reduce my risk of diabetes, promote weight loss, and/or reduce my cardiovascular disease risk.”

🧠 Tip: Connect it to a value you care deeply about—like health, family, or freedom. This methodology goes the same way with financial freedom. Setting aside money automatically allows you to work on a budget and pretend you don't have that extra $20 you are putting aside every week. This will grow financial freedom with retirement if you choose to invest regularly. Do what works for your budget whether it is $10 or $1000, it is the repetitive cycle which will reap long term positive rewards.

✅ 3. Make a Realistic, Measurable Plan

Set a SMART goal: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

Example: “I will walk 20 minutes after dinner, 4 times a week, for the next month.”

🧠 Tip: Anticipate obstacles and decide in advance how you'll handle them. With doing this for just 2 weeks you will notice improvement in digestion, sleep and mood. You will start to crave this feeling and thus facilitate a new behavior... a routine, that sticks!

✅ 4. Track Progress and Stay Consistent

Use a journal, app, or calendar to monitor your behavior!!! Yes this helps you assess days you did great and days you didn't and see maybe how you can improve. I have client's write down their barriers, this helps work on further behavioral changes to achieve multiple goals!

Celebrate small wins (consistency matters more than perfection).
If you miss a day, don’t quit—just restart the next day.

🧠 Tip: Habit stacking helps—attach the new behavior to an existing routine and you will achieve your long-term goals. Realistic expectations that this takes time.

*** With all changes it is up to YOU to decide to put the effort in. With all great things there is rarely a quick fix to change our habits without us being the deciding factor to do it.

✅ 5. Reflect, Adjust, and Reinforce

Regularly review your progress, give grace, assess weaknesses, write down new goals.

What’s working? What needs adjustment? How do you feel?
Reward yourself in meaningful (non-destructive) ways.

🧠 Tip: Behavioral change isn’t linear—expect slip-ups, allow grace, accept that you can grow and change if you want to and understand the journey has ups and downs-and use them as learning moments.

🔁 Example in Practice: Here is a super simple example of just the sleep focus. Improved sleep provides an array of health benefits long term: improves hormonal dysregulation, mood, energy, metabolism, cardiovascular health.

Goal: “Get better sleep.”

Behavior: Go to bed by 10:30 PM on weekdays.
Why: So I feel alert and focused at work.
Plan: Set an alarm for 10:00 PM to start winding down.
Track: Use a sleep app or notebook.
Reflect: If I miss 2 nights in a row, I’ll reduce caffeine after 2 PM.

Taking the journey is up to you.

Thanks for reading and reach out if you want to learn more on how I can help you specifically and personalized to meet your goals to living the best life!

Cheers!

Katie