*** Note: This blog was written by our former Director of Marketing Preston Simmons.

Habits are an integral part to human existence because they play a part in us accomplishing or not accomplishing tasks and improving long-term as individuals. Peace360 encourages the formation of healthy habits to enable individuals to grow, become self-disciplined and help other people by developing new skills. During this past week’s Friday Focus, our Director of Public Relations Jane Smith and our Director of Mental Health Danielle Dionne, QMED, had Dr. Jason Walker, PsyD, PhD as their guest to educate about habits. Psychology Today defines a habits as “Automatic behaviors that you do without thinking. You do them the same way every day”. Today we will talk about 4 ways to implement positive habits into your life. These are: how to reward yourself for accomplishing a task, how to recognize and act upon our daily accomplishments, how to make our social environment more positive and how to be more productive.

How to Reward Yourself

Learning to appropriately reward yourself for accomplishing a task to make a long-term change in your life is vital to progressing as a person in a self-motivating, controlled and healthy way. During the live video with Danielle and Dr. Walker, Jane shared a tip for forming new habits, which is to “Give yourself a reward to help you create that new habit”. Examples could be to watch your favorite TV show after your homework or another task is complete, moderately eat your favorite snack after working out or participating in your favorite hobby after completing extra work assignments from home outside of your normal work schedule. Regarding rewarding ourselves, PsychCentral says that: “When we give ourselves [rewards], we feel energized, cared for, and contented, which boosts our self-command — and self-command helps us maintain our healthy habits”.

How to Recognize and Act Upon Accomplishment

We accomplish tasks every day, and certain accomplishments are easier for some people and harder for others. Examples could include getting out of bed on time, submitting a report or project by the deadline or not thinking critically of ourselves or others. Dr. Walker reminds us that “We have a tendency to not recognize our daily accomplishments”. This could be in part because we are so used to doing these types of things that they become habitual and we no longer see them as accomplishments. However, if during a certain day you are feeling sad or like you have not done much, should recognize and celebrate what you have done that day, whatever positive accomplishment it might have been. This will help you recognize that if you are able to complete simple and daily tasks, that you are also capable of achieving a personal goal or project that is larger in scale.

How to Make our Social Environment More Positive

The best way to be in a positive mood is to create a positive environment.

It should be noted, however, that if you are feeling sad, you should take time to process those emotions and find the root of the cause instead of ignoring them or automatically replacing them with a positive thought, since that will not resolve the issue. Talking to a trusted family member, friend or therapist can further help you resolve sad emotions. PowerofPositivity.com reminds us that “Lack of social interaction can make you feel lonely, negative, and depressed… If you’re always by yourself, you [could] get out and meet [positive] people”. Potential ways that an individual could make more friends could be joining a hobby group online or in your community (while following local health guidelines to mitigate the spread of COVID-19), volunteering or spending time with the friends of one of your friends. Friends and family members in your life should be positive influences, as they can encourage and inspire you to do good things and become your best self. If anyone in your life is encouraging you to do otherwise, it may be best to respectfully distance yourself from them and only talk to them occasionally.

How to Be More Productive

ActiveCampaign.com quotes Laura Earnest of Whole Life Productivity who counsels that

“Efficient is doing things right and effective is doing the right things. So the most productive people work on the high value tasks, making sure that how they are doing those tasks is the best way”.

If you complete the difficult parts of a project or assignment first when you are more focused and energized, you will accomplish those tasks more effectively. In addition to this, the other segments of a project will seem easier in comparison to the difficult ones that you have already completed and you will feel more motivated to complete these smaller or simpler tasks. Another tip to be more productive is to eliminate distractions while working. You may place your smartphone in a room that is not the one you are working in, ask those you live with to minimize volume from music or the TV or work in a quiet space where you can be alone to encourage yourself to focus better.

Habits are a part of our daily lives and will determine the types of people we become. As we continue to put forth effort to create and maintain positive habits, please remember that they do take time and you may not see immediate results. However, you will see change over time as you diligently follow your own plan to form or break habits. This self-improvement will allow you to gain abilities that would be beneficial to you and ultimately reach your full potential.

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This Friday, February 26th at 9:00 am (Pacific Time), our Friday Focus on Facebook Live will be about ways to heal from grief. We hope to see you there! Click on the links below to follow us on social media!

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