Developing good habits is critical to happiness and success in life, and aids in your ability to overcome hardship and develop solutions instead of problems. Good habits create structure and promote better self-discipline, allowing you to reach your goals with efficiency and ease.
Making a major change in your life can be daunting, but the rewards for committing to a change are worth it! The toughest part is typically just getting started, but even then, following through and reaching the end goal is no easy task. Fear of failure or worries about forgetting to keep up with the new habit can derail your progress before you even start, and often, dwindling motivation can lead to dropping a new habit altogether. To avoid these common issues, there are a few steps you can take along the way to ensure that you maximise your chance for success and follow through with your new habit. Read on to find out how you can readjust your mind and body to gear yourself for success.
Once upon a time, a guru wanted to teach a student about habits. The two went out into the garden, and the guru pointed to a small weed. "Pluck it." The student did, and the master nodded in approval, then pointed to a slightly larger weed. "Pluck it." The student easily pulled the weed from the ground. The master pointed to a thicker weed with thistles. "Pluck it." The student gingerly gripped the weed, trying to avoid being pricked, then struggled before finally freeing the weed from the soil. The master nodded, then pointed to a small bush. "Pull it out." The student grabbed the bush and strained, then strained again. "I can't," the student said. The master pointed to a series of increasingly larger trees. "Pull them out." The student replied, "That's impossible!" The master nodded. "When good or bad habits take root, they are tough to remove."
If You’re Worried About Starting, Then It’s A Good Sign That You Should!
Humans are simply hardwired against change. If you think back to that time you moved homes or started a new job, you’ll probably remember how uncomfortable and foreign it felt for a while. Whilst you're more than likely comfortable now, for a while it may have seemed easier to just go back to how things were before. But these changes are necessary, and you become better off as a result. The hardest part of starting something new is pushing past those barriers that your brain creates to resist change; “I don’t have time” or “I’m not quite feeling like it”. Remember what sparked your interest in starting something new and envision the version of you that could exist if you just get started.
Think Big, Start Small.
To start a new habit and keep it, you need to have a goal, but setting one large goal alone isn’t enough. Once you get started and learn just how long it will take and how difficult it will be to reach that goal, you’ll find that motivation starts dwindling and you’re likely to give up. Small goals or milestones are the key to success. For instance, if your goal is to run a half-marathon, you wouldn’t just try to run 21 km on day one. The first milestone might be as simple as going for a simple 2 km walk/run, then going from doing that once a week to twice a week. Before long you’re running 6 km, three days a week and improving your times. Seeing progress through milestones is a must for staying interested in anything.
Discipline Is Key. Work Hard When You’re Motivated, And Harder When You’re Not.
Motivation comes and goes, and if you only work on yourself when you’re motivated, then you’ll find that you make no progress at all. Discipline is a great characteristic of the most successful people on the planet, and it’s developed by doing things that you should do, but don’t want to. A great way to help you do things when you don't feel like it is to set yourself up for success when you are motivated. A great example for those who want to get up early but hate waking up, is to set an alarm that you can’t reach from your bed. Charge your phone on the other side of your bedroom, so that to turn off your alarm, you have to get up. If you give yourself extra incentive to do something, you’re far more likely to do it even when you’re not feeling motivated.
That’s Not All, But It’s A Good Place To Start.
Starting a new habit isn't easy, but with patience, dedication and small successes along the way, it's possible to make lasting changes that improve your life and develop you as a person. With time and effort, you'll have achieved something incredible before you know it!
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