What is a self-supportive habit?

A self-supportive habit is one that you’ve intentionally created that helps you rather than hinders you.

using an example from an article by Dixson Life Coaching

Let's look at the habit of checking your phone first thing in the morning before you’ve even gotten out of bed (a really common habit for people with ADHD). 

When you pop into your iPhone’s inbox right when you wake up, you might feel like it’s helpful because it gives you an immediate sense of what’s going on in your work life. But it probably gives you a few other things too, like a feeling of anxiety, a sense of overwhelm, and maybe an urge to roll over and ignore the day for a bit longer. In actuality, this habit might be getting in the way of you starting the day off right... not self-supportive.

In this example, a self-supportive habit would be something that gives you a boost of energy, a sense of clarity, or a bit of structure to follow as your day gets started. For example, rather than grabbing your phone right away, what if you started your day by focusing on your own well-being? Then, after you’ve had some time to center and ground yourself in the morning, you can open your computer and read your emails. By the time you’re ready to check your inbox, your mind is ready to start work and you can hit the ground running. This would be considered a self-supportive habit.

SO ....how do we create these habits that help rather than lead us down another rabbit hole?

according to the article

Articulate the habit

By articulating the habit, you are intentionally designing the behavior. When you design the behavior, be specific. It’s one thing to say “I won’t pick up my phone until later in the morning.” It’s another thing to say “I won’t pick up my phone until I’ve had my shower and planned my day for 15 minutes.” By articulating the behavior, you’re giving yourself rules and structure to follow to help establish the habit.

Externalize the habit

New habits don’t just happen automatically. You can reinforce the new behavior to yourself by doing things like saying it aloud, writing it down, telling a friend, or putting it in your calendar. Externalizing the habit like this helps to make you more accountable – especially if you’re working with an accountability partner. It can also help make the behavior more automatic, which is key to sustaining the habit.

Connect the habit

Build your habit into an already existing routine, which can cue to your brain and serve as a reminder to practice the behavior. This also helps make the behavior more automatic, which is especially helpful for people with ADHD. You can try using this mantra to help connect two activities: When I ______, then I ______. For example: When I brush my teeth at night, then I lay out my clothes for the morning (a simple but very valuable self-supportive habit to practice).

For me...the connecting is the magic step.

Let's explore my start up routine for band -

( which I have spent a lot of energy on due to the fact that i am tired of getting the "This teacher forgot to do their attendance the most this month" shirt from our secretary at staff meetings)