Habits—both good and bad ones—aren’t the easiest to start and stop. Breaking a bad habit feels impossible, and starting a new one (such as going to the gym…) isn’t an easy task either.

Ben D. Gardner, writing for UCL’s ‘Health Chatter’ blog:

The bottom line is: stay strong. 21 days is a myth; habit formation typically takes longer than that. The best estimate is 66 days, but it’s unwise to attempt to assign a number to this process. The duration of habit formation is likely to differ depending on who you are and what you are trying to do. As long as you continue doing your new healthy behaviour consistently in a given situation, a habit will form. But you will probably have to persevere beyond January 21st.

A simple little tool to help you manage a habit is to use sticky notes. If you’re desk-bound, put 66 small labels along the side of your monitor (each marked 1-66). Simply tear one off each day you managed to get closer to the 66 day mark. Tearing and throwing away the little label helps you get a sense of achievement and hence helps you stick to your goal (whether it’s starting or stopping a habit).

I’ll be working towards stopping a bad habit, so fingers crossed I keep tearing off those labels and managing to stay bad-habit free each of the 66 days! After this, the bad habit should be a thing of the past, or so the theory says…

New years resolutions come and go, but I decided that this year I’d actually set a goal and stick to it. Unlike other years, I wanted to set myself a goal that would be relative easy to achieve, and one that would benefit me by year-end. Money saving seemed a great idea, and I found a tip online over at onebusywahm.com. 

The idea of the 52 week money challenge is simple: once a week you put a set amount of money aside and by the end of the year you will have saved up £1378. The amount to set aside is the same as the week number, i.e. in week 1, set aside £1, in week 2, it’s £2, etc. 

I’ll be twisting the rules slightly since I find that setting aside £51 and £52 around Christmas time is a bit much. The way I’m approaching this challenge is set aside £52 in week 1, £51 in week 2, etc. – i.e. in reverse order.

Natalie over at onebusywahm.com posted a great printable here, so hang it somewhere you’re most likely to see it (e.g. your fridge or office desk). I’ve decided to add them as to-dos to my weekly diary.

Get saving!