Re-energizing: How to form new habits

Building new habits can help you optimize your energy output. Check out these four steps to get started on creating new, sustainable habits with positive results.

Your energy is fueled and sustained by your habits. To perform at your best more often, look to form habits that recharge your batteries and veer away from those that drain them.

To get started today on new, helpful habits, here’s a four-part list:

What: Goals

Describe what you wish to happen: a behavior, mindset, etc. Use all your senses: what you wish to see, hear, do, feel…

E.g., I want to:

Switch off after I leave work
Play tennis once a month
Walk for ten minutes a day

How: Habit

A habit that sticks is made up of many smaller practices. List three or four “mini-habits” to start. A mini-habit should be meaningful to you as well as doable on a regular basis, even when you’re tired or busy.

E.g., I will…

Stop answering emails when I arrive home
Park my car further away from the office

Why: Motivation

List the benefits. For example, what would be the emotional payoff? How does it relate to who you are and to your potential best self?

E.g., I could use this time to…

Enjoy time with friends and family
trust my team more;
return to work more replenished.

When: The first mini-habit is your spark

Start as soon as you can with the mini-habit that you find most appealing or most likely to succeed. Being too ambitious might increase your risk of derailing.

E.g., Stop answering emails after 8pm for two evenings each week.

In the next part of our two-part series, you’ll find a checklist to help sustain the small habits you are working on forming.

Francesca-Giulia Mereu

Executive coach

Francesca–Giulia Mereu is an executive coach with over 25 years’ experience, specializing in personal energy management and leadership transition. She is the author of Recharge Your Batteries, a certified yoga teacher, and creator of the popular “Energy Check” online tool. She coaches senior leaders at IMD and through CCHN, the Center of Competence on Humanitarian Negotiation. She shares more energy-focused posts via her LinkedIn private group.