I battled bad habits most of my life. Vince Lombardi once said, “Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.” This points out, there are habits that are good that need to become part of our life. I have worked on moving many of my bad habits to the good habit side over the past 10 years.

Resolutions will be in your mind as the new year approaches. Social media will be filled with posts on how to be a healthier happier person. Now is the time to spend the coming weeks thinking about the good habits that can turn around your bad habits. Here are three to give some thought.

The habit of being active

There are many reasons to work on this habit. It is a big influencer on your personal health. This is especially true if your are a baby boomer like me. The statistics on the well-being of older people who are active vs. those who are sedentary reveal that the active person enjoys a longer healthier life.

It’s about getting off the couch, unplugging, and putting down the remote. Being active is more than the days and hours spent at the gym. It’s walking out the door and around your neighborhood. It’s about getting on your bike on a trail. It’s finding the thing that gets you on your feet and moving.

This year I had a breakthrough on this habit. I began visiting the gym three times a week. I had an aversion to gyms as places I would not fit in and be unwelcome. Working out became a crucial component of my wellness. I discovered that my aversion was unfounded. Today I am consistent on visiting the gym and can’t imagine this not being part of my life.

The habit of conscious eating

I was a skinny kid through my school years. I began battling obesity as my career developed gaining pounds as the years passed. It led to my health worsening with hypertension, high cholesterol, and a heart attack. My battle with weight is sadly familiar to many other Americans.

Poor eating habits, specifically large portions of carb-laden foods, was the culprit. I knew the dangers of eating these foods but unconsciously chose to eat more of them. I gambled that the odds of them affecting my health were low. I was wrong.

This year I gained insight into my eating habits. I became conscious of what and when I am eating. Conscious eating is understanding the nutritional value of food and my body’s needs. This knowledge led me to make wiser choices. This is not a diet but a habit of making wiser decisions in eating.

The habit of living happy

Emmet from the Lego Movie has is right. Everything is awesome when you’re living out a dream. This earworm is simple, catchy, and right on. The typical American’s resolutions are going to be losing weight and heading to the gym. They should be priorities. They happen to be the two habits I discussed above.

Being a happy person doesn’t mean that you tool around town singing Everything is Awesome. It means that you change your mindset to make happiness an integral part of your life. This habit is not an off the shelf solution for everyone. It involves a period of self-discovery.

I discovered a good bit about my life and happiness working with a life coach this year. The key to this discovery was that I was responsible for bringing happiness into my life and had to take the lead in making it happen. There is no magic formula. There are many online resources and books that speak to this subject.

Spend some time this holiday season thinking about three habits you can change to winning habits from bad habits.

Tom Bilcze