Every person has one or two bad habits that they would love to change. Unfortunately, just wanting to change them is not enough. Committing to making a change is only the first step. As we try to make healthy habits stick while removing the unhealthy habits, we will have moments of glory and success, as well as moments of defeat and failure. It is easy to just pat ourselves on the back during the good times, and to beat ourselves up and sulk during the not so good times. Every so often we even let the bad times encourage us to quit the fight altogether.

One of the most powerful tools that can help you make healthy habit changes is daily reflection. If you take the time to regularly review the ups and downs of your day, you have a much better chance of making the necessary changes for your desired outcome. If you had a rough day and didn't get to your workout, think back to what changes you could have made to make it work. If you failed to stick to your healthy eating plan, think back to what you could have done differently to stick to your plan. If your day was a complete success, review what made it a success and apply those tactics to your tomorrow. Performing this daily reflection, helps to prevent your troubles from piling up. Again, just simply reflecting will not solve all of your problems, but it will enable you to make the necessary steps to reach your healthy habit goals.

Skipping this step results in a grinding of your gears, never really making the changes you desire. A simple look back at your day could literally help to change your future. I use a journaling app called Day One. I use the app timer to alert me every night at 9:30pm and I try to shortly after that take a few moments to reflect on my day. Some are very short, while some I really get into and get all of my thoughts out. There is also an option of using a picture with your journal entry, which makes me a very happy camper. This also helps to start unwinding and preparing for my night, hopefully with a plan all ready for the next day.