You’ve heard it a million times. “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”. “Eat your vegetables”. “Make sure to get 30 minutes of exercise per day”. It’s easy to think of those sayings as just nagging thoughts planted in your head by doctors, loved ones, or your crazy friend who does Crossfit. But the fact is that as cliché as it sounds, little changes do actually lead to bigger changes in your life. There’s even scientific evidence of it. But if you’re skeptical that doing something as small as working out for 20 minutes twice a week can lead to big sweeping changes, don’t take my word for it. Listen to the science.

How a Change in Your Routine Changes Your Brain

When you shake up your routine, even a little, your brain has to process the changes. This can be anything, from choosing organic food at the grocery store because they’re out of the regular version or eating yogurt instead of cereal because your kids drank all the milk. Changes can be minor but have much more wide-reaching implications. 

Let’s use the organic food you bought at the grocery store as an example. You planned to eat salad for lunch this week (you always do) but somehow, whenever lunchtime rolls around, you find a reason to not eat the leafy greens you purchased, and instead, you choose leftover pizza, chips with a soda, or fast food. But this week, because you had to pay a little extra for the organic spinach and greens you bought, you say to yourself “I’m actually going to eat a salad for lunch today”. As a result, you feel less bloated and sleepy after lunch and you’re more productive at work, getting more of your tasks done. You’re feeling good at the end of the day, and you decide to finish off the day by going for a quick run. When you come back, you’ve done so well all day that you decide to cook yourself a healthy meal for dinner rather than ordering in.

See? That one deviation from your routine had a major impact on the rest of your day in a positive way. Now, of course, the process can stop there once you go back to the grocery store the next week and buy regular spinach. But what if it doesn’t? What if you keep eating salads? What if you change your habits?

Forming New Habits

When you form a habit, good or bad, your brain creates new pathways that dictate how you react to certain stimuli. Do you always eat popcorn with your movie? Do you always choose from the healthier side of the menu at Cheesecake Factory? Do you go to the gym weekly or at random intervals? All of these decisions become habits, and habits are where the real changes take place. 

There’s ample scientific evidence to back this up. When your brain runs through your daily routine there are certain things it doesn’t think about. But even one small deviation from that routine, and suddenly your brain kicks into high gear, forms new pathways, and over time, if you reinforce them, you’ll see real results. Going back to the salad example, imagine if for about a month, every weekday, you ate a salad for lunch, cooked a healthy meal, and went for a run. Would you notice changes in how you feel? Would you be more productive without that middle of the day slump?

This isn’t to say that you can never deviate from your habits without them breaking down. Of course, you can have the occasional burger for lunch without going off the rails! But if you’re looking for ways to make real changes, it’s actually much easier than you might think. Just repeat the same behavior until you don’t think about it. Then enjoy the results!