8 New Habits to Pick Up This Fall

Little ways to hit reset & get things going in your favor

- By Jennifer King Lindley Illustrations by Karolin Schnoor

Happy September to you!

As we say goodbye to the luscious languor of August, and as the sweet scent of pumpkin spice floats through the air, it's a great time to reevaluate our actions and thought patterns.

Why? Because stuff is about to get Busy again (big B for emphasis!). And because temporal landmarks, like the first day of fall, feel like natural pauses, says Jodi Wellman, an assistant instructor in the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program at the University of Pennsylvania’s College of Liberal and Professional Studies. “They give us mental space to reflect on who our best possible self could be this season—the kind of person who lets go of old habits and steps into autumn with a sense of renewal and intention.” (Old you: losing hours to Instagram. New you: finishing the book club pick on time.) Renewal isn’t about changing your entire being. Rather, it involves gently tweaking your behavior. The beauty of small changes is that they don't intimidate you, Wellman says. “You're not overhauling your life overnight—you're just nudging it in the right direction.” Here, eight little ways you can make things go more smoothly for sweater weather and beyond.

Learn to Embrace Every Season

The cooling temps and shortening days can bring on the “September scaries,” which is very similar to the nervous feeling we get on Sunday nights before the workweek starts. To stave off seasonal gloom, look for some things to get excited for, says Kari Leibowitz, PhD, a health psychologist and the author of