1. Build a routine
The first step to building a habit is to build a routine that supports it. Building a routine isn't easy, and it requires you to wake up early, sleep on time, have breakfast and other stuff that you can do on a daily basis. One thing about a routine is that it helps ease anxiety and stress. Wake up early, and set goals for yourself, you'd be surprised how much you can get done in a day, if you wake up at 6 in the morning. You will have plenty of time to get ready for the day, eat breakfast, go to the gym or for a jog and really look after yourself. Start by making small changes, be incremental, set daily goals for yourself, and take time out to meditate and gather your thoughts. Building a routine will help you with time management and you'll find that you can be so much more productive in the earlier hours of the day.
2. Be consistent
With making healthy academic writing habits, one needs to remember that they have to be consistent. Many of our expert writers, said that they would make changes every now and then, but because they weren't very consistent in their efforts, they weren't able to make and follow up on the change as they would have liked. However, instead of giving up, they kept trying to build better habits and eventually, there came a time, where they tried, made the change and followed through - this time they made the difference in their own lives. So whether the habit you plan on taking up is writing daily, you really need to write daily - set a goal and follow through on it. Being consistent is what makes the difference, and it's not just the case with writing habits, this applies to literally all things in life.
3. Find your space
Ask yourself how can we improve writing habits? What do I need to change? With some reflection you will find that maybe the environment you are working in isn't as conducive as you'd like, or maybe you just don't push yourself hard enough. Many of our expert writers built the environment which worked for them, it did not come easy to them and they had to try a lot of things first, because what works for someone might not work for others. For example, one writer said that she preferred a quiet and calm place with as little noise as possible and good lighting. Another writer said that while good lighting kept them alert they needed some form of music in the background to help them stay focused. So figure out what works best for you, maybe you prefer writing outdoors, but build an environment that can really help you be productive.
4. Minimize distractions
The greatest problem of our generation is that they get distracted easily and this is a major hindrance in developing healthy writing habits. In order to help improve your focus, you need to put the phone far away from your reach - out of sight, out of mind. In order to build healthy academic writing habits, you need to minimize distractions so that you can focus clearly and completely on the task before you. This should be an important part of your work environment. Learning to focus better will not only be super useful in writing but it will also help you in other areas of your life as well.
5. Take shortcuts
Academic writing can be quiet boring, especially in all its technicalities, however thanks to app developers and general advancement in software design there are many shortcuts one can use. So try the automated citation feature in Word or the Grammarly add-on to help you in proofreading. Cutting these corners will help you eliminate the unlikable parts of writing, and allow you to focus your time and energy on the content and what you are writing. This will obviously help you in staying consistent and being able to beat your bad habits, while replacing them with good ones.