Habit. Yikes. For most of us, this word is associated with nail biting or smoking. We all have bad habits. And once they are ingrained in our daily routines, it is so hard to break them. Do you struggle with a bad habit that may be keeping you from succeeding in your dream business? How about the habit of putting off calling your prospects? Do you have a habit of putting off writing blog posts or newsletters to your list on a regular basis? I know that I can struggle with those two challenges myself.
Here are some wise words to inspire you:
“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” ~Jim Rohn
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” ~Aristotle
“A bad habit never disappears miraculously; it's an undo-it-yourself project.” ~Abigail Van Buren
Good or bad, we do things habitually on a daily basis. Good habits lead to good results, bad ones hold us back.
What can you do about it? Here are some practical tips.
1. Focus on ONE new positive habit for 30 days. There are really two tips in this one. Working on something daily for 30 days will begin to create a new pathway in your brain and help it to become normal for you. AND only focusing on one new thing a day will help you stay on track. If you try to do too much, you will get overwhelmed and give up too quickly.
2. Enlist support. If you tell yourself that you want to make a change, only you will know if you don’t accomplish it. But, if you get an accountability partner, you are much more likely to be successful. You don’t want to disappoint them, now do you?
3. Write down the list of benefits of the new habit in a prominent place and read it several times a day. It will really help to constantly remind yourself that the new habit will give you a better reality than your present state.
4. Reward and celebrate every day that you can remain consistent with the new habitual behavior. Make sure that your reward it also good for you!
5. Create a system for making the habit easier to keep. For example; If you say you want to write a blog post every day, then give yourself a series of topics to make that easier. Then, each day, just look at the next one on the list and you are good to go. Keep it simple and it will be easier to stick with.
6. Repeat. Once you have a new habit in place, keep it up. Having the new behavior for 30 days helps you establish the habit, keeping up the activity will make it a deeply rooted habit.
So, once you have experienced the benefit of the new habit, remind yourself that the new habit is working and keep it up!
