Did you make a reasonable New Year’s resolution in 2026? Adding a small habit like flossing to your routine can make a big difference, but it requires a small amount of time and effort. However, even something as simple as flossing can be difficult to remember. How can you make sure you achieve your resolution? Follow these tips!
Put Reminders on Your Mirror
It may be an old-school approach, but few things stand out as clearly to your eyes as a brightly colored sticky note on a bathroom mirror. Little reminding notes to floss can keep your goal in the front of your mind and make sure you accomplish it every day. After a while, however, your brain will get used to having the sticky notes around, so you should switch them out with new and different colors every week or so to keep it fresh.
Use Technology to Remember
Your phone doesn’t care that you have three alarms to wake up in the morning. On your phone, you can create all kinds of alarms or alerts to remind you to floss every night. After a while of consistent flossing, you can try going without your phone’s assistance to see if the habit has stuck with you. However, if you still require a reminder, you can always turn your alerts on again for additional help.
Involve Those Who Live with You
Developing new, healthy habits becomes so much easier when you have someone else with you on the journey. Not only can having a family member or roommate floss too help keep you accountable, but it can also make the effort more pleasant or even fun. In fact, you could have a floss party every night, giving you a short opportunity to bond, no matter how busy your day has been.
Give Yourself a Sugar-Free Reward After Meeting a Goal
At the beginning of the year, set a specific goal for your flossing. Do you want to do it every day, as your dentist recommends? Or work up to that by doing it more often than you did before? In either case, keep track of when you floss, and when you’ve met your specific goal, reward yourself with something small and something sugar free. After all, you don’t want to undo all that flossing!
By the time 2027 comes around, wouldn’t it be empowering to accomplish simple goals? Don’t you look forward to your dentist congratulating you on a wonderful checkup because you’ve done such a good job at home? Prove to yourself you can floss more this year by using these tips and making your goal more achievable.
About the Author
Dr. Mariya Barnett has been treating Dallas patients since 2017, and although she finished official university training, her education still goes on through continuing coursework. As a result, she knows about innovations and advancements in the field, and although she wants to bring the best treatment dentistry has to patients in need, she ultimately hopes to see patients for many, many years to build trust and relationships with them. If you would like to learn how to floss more efficiently, contact her office online or call 469-874-0469 to make an appointment with her.
