Tiny Habits, Big Moves: How to Adopt Habits that Stay All Semester
Picture this: It’s two months from now— midterm season at its peak. Assignments due every day, on top of that you have 3 more midterms to study for, and the sky— it just keeps getting darker earlier. Everything is draining your energy, and your New Year Resolutions? Time to cross out the 2026 and replace it with 2027 instead.
Building new habits is easy, sticking to them is what’s challenging. In this blog, I’ll address the big question we all have: “How do you keep moving when the ‘fresh start’ feeling fades and life gets messy?”
Why Staying Active All Semester Is Hard (But Normal)
The “fresh start effect,” as discussed in our last blog, is the phenomenon where people are more likely to pursue new goals at a new time period like the New Year. However, this motivation spike during new beginnings, tends to drop over time.
Being a student comes with many barriers: commuting, long lecture days, mental health, part-time work, and not to mention— the required work before and after lectures for decent grades. We’ve all been there— sacrificing all our energy and time for school and work.
If you find this relatable, you’re not alone. It’s hard to stay active and stick to your resolutions for the entire semester when you have so much on your hand. There’s no need to feel guilty about getting behind on your goals, it’s better to slow down and reset than burning yourself out for pushing yourself too hard.
Shift the Goal: From “Perfect Routine” to “Minimum Baseline”
Typically what happens with the idea of “becoming a new me” in the New Year is that we want to flip our lifestyle 180° — from waking up at 12pm to waking up before sunrise, or from never stepping foot into the gym before to working out 4 times a week. It’s no wonder these resolutions don’t stick; your mindset might’ve shifted but your brain still needs time to adjust.
You don’t need a “perfect routine” like the online influencers have; while they’re aesthetic to watch, they’re not always practical to adopt. What you need is a minimum baseline— the smallest version of a movement that “counts”, something you can do even on a busy or low-energy day.
The minimum baseline is not the same as your tiny goals or resolutions, it is your bare minimum for hectic weeks rather than your ideal routine. Similarly, you can create a bonus move for when you have more time and energy.
Here’s what this would look like in practice:
Let’s say your tiny goal is to take the stairs at least once per day, then your baseline move would be to take just one flight of stairs and then use the elevator for the rest on rough days or days when you’re carrying heavy items.
Bonus move: Turn it into 3-5 flights at a comfortable pace, or do a “stair lap” during a study break.
Maintaining a small baseline keeps you moving forward while supporting wellbeing and academic performance even on harder days. It breaks up long period of seating and reduces stress.
Design Your Week: Time Block Your Movement
Unlike a 9 to 5 job, students have a more flexible schedule— each week might look different for us depending on our workload and part-time jobs. Time-blocking can be a game-changing strategy for embedding movement into your routine.
Lectures function as “pre-blocked” time on your calendar—the non-negotiable slots you know you have to show up for. Similarly, we can adopt the same strategy for movement and wellness by blocking out time slots for them. Overtime, this builds consistency and discipline, even when motivation dips.
Let’s say your 2 hour lecture ends at 11am, block 10 minutes (11:00-11:10am) for a short walk— take a few laps on the indoor running track at the RAWC. If you’re rushing, shrink it to 3 minutes circling a building (baseline move). I personally enjoy time-blocking in advance - every Sunday, I sit with my planner and calendar, pre-planning my weekly schedule ahead, blocking time for lectures, workout, studies, personal downtime, and any other responsibilities I have. This weekly ritual gets me prepared and helps avoid procrastination or anxiety.
Stay Accountable (Without Being Harsh on Yourself)
To hold yourself accountable is to take responsibility for your own actions and to fulfil your own obligations— something we must learn to become “a better you”. It is not the easiest thing to do but one of the most crucial traits everybody should develop.
While it is essential, we also need to be mindful how hard we’re pushing ourselves— you can do every set till failure at the gym but you don’t want to injure yourself while doing it. Use soft accountability tools like the UTM Moves Month Passport as a visual tracker, share a goal with a friend, or set one weekly “movement check-in” to keep accountability.
Guilt is the root of suffering— when a habit slips, instead of feeling guilty for not fulfilling the promises you made to yourself, reflect on it and ask yourself: “What got in the way? What’s one step I can take to get back on track?” Fix the problem instead of focusing on what went wrong.
As we aim to improve ourselves, don’t forget to look back and appreciate the accomplishments we’ve made along the journey. It is our nature to always want “more”, but be sure to be grateful for how far you’ve come. Take a deep breath and show gratitude to the version of you years ago, would they be proud of who you’ve become? That’s for you to answer but no matter how big or small our accomplishments, we’re all taking it one step at a time.
Don’t worry if you’re still figuring things out, you’re not “behind”— the semester is long, and building consistency is a slow process. Choose your minimum baseline for the week, sign up for our upcoming Learn Martial Arts event, or participate in UTM Moves Month for CCR and win exclusive Under Armour prizes!
Quote of the Week:
“Sometimes the beginning doesn’t look like it, but in the end, consistency and determination paints a better picture.” — Unknown
