Habits shape who we become. They determine our success. We can achieve great feats by developing good habits.. If we want to live healthier lives, we must consider developing good habits through consistent action. Examples of this would be deciding to develop healthier eating habits or starting a new exercise regimen. Recognition in the workplace may require us to look into our working habits and make the adjustments to get us noticed by our superiors.
‘Motivation gets you going, but discipline keeps you growing. That is the law of consistency. It does not matter how talented you are. It does not matter how many opportunities you receive. If you want to grow, consistency is key.’
For any development in our personal and professional lives, it is important to look at the habits we have formed over time and change them.
Good habits can lead you to progress, while bad habits can cause you to fail.
If the goal is to become an influential entrepreneur running a profitable business, you cannot achieve it by spending all day on the couch and binge-watching your favorite shows.
You need to develop new habits that will give you a fighting chance to become who you want to be.
It could mean getting up early and developing strategies and doing market research to put your product out there. Maybe you would need to do surveys on what your ideal customer would want from you.
It all rises and falls on what you are willing to change and consistently do to succeed.
Our habits are grounded in consistency.
‘Consistency is the belt that fastens excellence in position. If you do not do it repeatedly, you will not excel in it.’
Breaking bad habits and developing positive ones is easier said than done. For many people, it is seemingly difficult to shake off old habits. It is the reason some people never achieve much in their lives, despite having goals and dreams.
Habits are not random acts. They are specific actions we do repeatedly over time until they become part of our routine. Mastering positive habits takes a lot of hard work and discipline. It takes consistency to form a habit, even the bad ones.
If you want to make a habit stick, you must determine to do the action every day, even when you do not feel up to it. A good example would be working out. The first time you decide to do early morning workouts at home or in the gym could cause muscular strain, which essentially relates to pain. Waking up early the next day may not be so pleasant.
If you decide to drop the ball on the routine that makes you more fit and make excuses or procrastinate; it is highly unlikely that you will return to the gym or get up to work out. If you want to see any significant gains, you must commit to do it consistently.
Steps to developing good habits.
If you want to build a habit and make it stick, there are certain steps you may have to take- consistently.
Start small.
‘It does not matter if you start small because there will be plenty of time to pick up the intensity later.’
Sometimes, we are guilty of being overzealous with our goals. We over-commit, biting off more than we can chew. When developing good habits, it is important to start with small actions that you can do consistently without feeling too much of a change in your routine. Instead of starting with a morning run, commit to a walk. Over-committing will only discourage you if what you want to do cannot match what you actually achieve. The rewards of successful small habits will motivate you to take on bigger changes to your routine.
Start with a timeline.
Habits form when you repeatedly do something. To ensure that a certain activity develops into a habit, start doing the actions at a specific time and over a certain period. When you do something at the same time every day, it sends cues to your brain until you cannot go through the rest of your day without doing that thing.
Set a target for the goal you want to achieve, then try to do the same activity for a week or a month. Work out for thirty days straight. Write every day for a month. Study every week. The more you do it, the more it becomes part of your normal routine. Once you are on a roll and remain consistent, you can worry about increasing the difficulty of each activity you need to undertake.
Do it daily. Do not break the chain.
Success in forming new habits means being able to stick with a habit, and never making excuses. The moment you avoid doing a certain action, it seems unimportant and you can easily make excuses not to do it again the following day. Be consistent by committing to do the chosen activities as often as you can, preferably daily. That way, you form a routine.
‘Setting a goal is not the key thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.’
Happy Reading,
CJ
more reading: The Art of self-confidence
