Build Habits For Success

byMariusNel

271 followers

8 years ago

Some years ago when I tried to quit smoking I met up with a guy that had stopped smoking and wanted to know how he did it. He gave me such powerful advice that I have to share it here.

If I only used his advice, my quitting smoking journey might have been much easier, but I didn't listen then. However as time went on and I started moving in managerial position I revisited his advice and started implementing it. It is very simple, but damn it is so powerful.

Here is what is told me. "If you want to succeed, or gain something in life, you need to build habits that will take you toward that goal. It is the habit that makes or breaks your breakthroughs, it is the habit that determines your progress. It is habits that make your life what it is."

I honestly did not grasp that on the first round. But what is so true that our lives are what our habits are. If we have good habits we have good lives, if we have bad habits we have bad lives. Pretty simple, right. But how do we get to build the good habits that will change our lives?

To change habits is hard, so what we need to do is build new one this much easier. If I can use smoking as an example, after every meal I had a cigarette, so I did not change that habit, I just added a new one, after every meal, before I have a smoke I went into the sun and took a few deep breaths. This is a good habit I still do it today. So what does this help, it pushes the smoking habit after a meal out of the way.

You want to wake up earlier in the morning to do exercise, you have to build that habit. In the first week set your alarm for the time you want to get up. When it goes off, stand up do a stretch and get back into bed. Week two stay up a little longer do a bit more. It does not take 21 days to build a habits this is a myth, Habits form when it resonates with our minds. That can take two weeks to two months.

In business we need to get into a habit of doing the work. If you struggle with this, set a time when you can work. For the first week, at that time, go to your desk and arrange it to get started for work. Then get up and leave. Week two, sit down and do just ten minutes of work. Get up and leave. Week three, most of the time at this point you get into it and have to stop yourself. If not, work for 30 minutes then stop. Up the ante every week.

The hardest part of a habit is to get started. You know that doing the thing is easy and most of the time you feel good after doing a good habit. But to get yourself started is another hurdle to overcome. But that is an article for another time.