DRINKING WATER IS A HEALTHY HABIT. WE ALL KNOW IT’S GOOD FOR US BUT MANY PEOPLE SAY THEY DON’T DRINK ENOUGH, THE MAIN REASON BEING THEY FORGET THROUGHOUT THE DAY. ONCE YOU MAKE IT A HABIT IT BECOMES AUTOMATIC AND NOT JUST ANOTHER CHORE YOU HAVE TO DO. HERE ARE SOME STRATEGIES THAT I MYSELF AND MY CLIENTS USE.
Step 1. Set an easy goal. You wouldn’t jump right into drinking 100 oz of water. Start slowly, set your one week goal to an amount you can easily reach at the beginning, increasing every few days until you reach your weekly goal. Keep increasing each week’s goal until you reach your ultimate goal. Setting up smaller goals makes a task easier to handle and not so overwhelming.
Step 2. Make it obvious. By setting up your environment you can set the cue to drink water. If you drink soda, move the soda to a less accessible place and replace it with water bottles. Keep your water bottle where you will see it everyday, like on the counter or your night stand.
Step 3. Reward yourself. Set up cues to reward yourself for drinking water. For example, before you have your morning coffee, plan to have 2 cups of water, only after you drink the water will you have the coffee. You can use this strategy before any meal or snack as well. Tell yourself, before I have this snack I will drink 2 cups of water. Who knows, maybe you won’t even want the snack after all.
Step 4. Make it enjoyable. If you don’t like water, enhance it with some fresh fruit or mint to make it tasty and something you look forward to. I use an apple cinnamon herbal tea bag in my large 48 oz. bottle of water, it’s tasty and I look forward to having it.
Step 5. Make it easy. Fill your water bottles the night before and place them in strategic locations. On your nightstand, so it’s the first thing you see, by your coffee maker to remind you, and place a bottle by your keys before you leave the house. If you’re likely to forget to drink water throughout the day, set an alert on your phone to remind you when you’re busy and forget. If you like to flavor your water, fill a 64 oz container the night before, add some cucumber slices or whatever you want and it will be ready to pour the next day. The easier you make it, the more successful you’ll be.
Step 6. Set up a tracking system. Set your goals and then track it through an app or write it down in your planner. Checking off a task daily reinforces the habit. Habit tracking is simple and provides satisfaction at having reached a goal and provides incentive to keep you working towards your goals. This is a system I use for all my clients to act as a reminder and hold them accountable.
Putting all these systems and strategies in place will ensure you can create any habit, not just drinking water!
