In my work as an Occupational Therapist I am often asked to help people learn to manage or improve their behavior. Things they want to stop or start doing, and how to get there, become the topic of our treatment sessions. But my response in these situations is often the same and my approach is to encourage people make “lifestyle” and not just “behavior” changes when it comes to improving function or health. After all, if behavior (be·hav·ior) is: “the way in which one acts or conducts oneself, especially toward others” and a lifestyle (life·style) is: “the way in which a person or group lives”, then there is a difference between acting and living. My job is to coach the latter.
Modifying behavior helps, but how do we turn this into a lifestyle? By forming healthy habits. In the words of Jim Rohn: “motivation is what gets you started… Habit is what keeps you going!”
Use our Daily Habit Tracker to help you work turn your new healthy habits into a lifestyle.
Simply print, fill in your goals or “habits” and record each day if these goals were or were not met.
Learn more about turning your healthy goals into lifestyle changes in our post: Healthy is a Lifestyle, Not Just a Behaviour.
Access more helpful tools for children and adults on our printable resources page.