I don’t know about you, but usually when I go on holiday most of my routines go out the window. Have you ever experienced it, when you are doing really well sticking to your routine, then you go on holiday and it all falls apart. You get out of the habit and then when you get back home you struggle to get back into it again.

First of all, I think you need to decide if you want to have a break and put your habits to one side for the period of your holiday, but if you want to try and keep them, here are some tips I am going to try, on how you can keep motivated on achieving your goals whilst on holiday:

1) Plan in advance

You will need to give some consideration to what you want to achieve and how. Be realistic. Don’t be too ambitious. I have about 8 goals that I am working towards at the moment. I won’t be able to keep them all up when I am away, but I am choosing the ones I am going to stick to:

– exercise

– writing

– keeping in touch with friends

– eating with intention

I am also being honest about the ones I won’t stick to:

– no alcohol

– 1 off my ‘to do’ list each day

– learning Spanish

There is no point me saying I will keep up these habits as I don’t want to whilst I am holiday and I will almost certainly fail, which will demotivate me and may also hamper my efforts with the routines I can keep up.

2) Think creatively about how to achieve each goal

With the goals I am deciding the stick to, I won’t be able to achieve them in the same way I do when I am at home, so I need to give some thought to how I will do them.

-Exercise

I mainly exercise at the gym. Whilst I am in India for the most part I won’t have access to the gym. I’m going to try to do some form of exercise every other day I am away. Be it using the hotel gym, a beach run, yoga or swimming, I should be able to exercise most days

– Writing

I’m going to take my iPad with me and in most places I will have wifi, so I can continue writing each day. If all else fails, I am taking my notepad with me, so I can write in that and type up my notes when I get back.

– Keeping in touch with friends

This will be the easiest to keep. I can do this in the same way I do at home, so I don’t really need to think creatively about that.

– Eat with intention

I am on holiday, so I want to be able to treat myself, but there is no need to go mad. I should still consider what I am ordering and how much I am eating and make sensible decisions where I can

3) Don’t be too hard on yourself

I think you need to accept that you won’t be able to do things in the same way you usually do, but it doesn’t mean you have to give up all together. You can still make an effort to maintain your habits. If it’s not quite as good as it would be if you were at home, don’t worry, it’s better than giving up altogether. If you slip up on one, it’s no issues, just get back to it the following day.

4) Get back to your routine immediately

Look forward to getting back in the routine as soon as you get home. Just get into the mindset that as soon as you arrive back home, you pick up where you left off and get straight back into it. If you start thinking about it whilst you are still on holiday, you can start visualising how you will behave when you arrive home, which should help you achieve it.

I’d love to hear any ideas anyone has to stick to their habits on holiday. I’ll let you know how I got in with mine and any techniques that helped me keep them.