How many times do we find ourselves reneging on our promise to our own selves? Building good habits in life can be a very tough challenge. As the popular saying goes; ‘old habits die hard.” In retrospect, building new good habits is tough as well. Takes us long before they become habits we can call ours. Breaking bad habits and building new good ones requires one to be brave. Our habit in life is what determines how successful and happy we will be. Every action and inaction on our part carries an inevitable consequence. The consequence of our habits catches up with us immediately or later in the long run.
The importance of good habits cannot be overemphasized. Our habits reflect in every aspect of our life. In our career, habit is what determines whether we will achieve success or not. In our love life or relationships, your habits speak volume on how everything will turn out. Everything that unravels in our life can be traced back straight to our habits. Our life is the comprehensive summary of our habits. Good choices reflect in our life as much as bad choices do. But whatever habits about you that have hold your life hostage, there’s always a chance to turn new leaf. Below are some steps to take to rid yourself of bad habits and build new good ones:
Avoid procrastination
Procrastination is the biggest thief of goals in life. It’s the Siamese twin of failure. When you find yourself saying am going to start tomorrow, you are there already. You keep on postponing until all the motivation you had in you is over. You have to stop saying am going to start working out tomorrow and start working out today. You progress by starting now not by saying until tomorrow. That tomorrow might never come. Lots of people tend to find serious challenge cutting out procrastination. So how do you go about it? First of all, start by identifying why you keep procrastinating? Once you succeed in identifying your obstacle, device a means to combat it.
Many a times, people procrastinate because they are always waiting for the perfect condition to start something. Today, I am telling you this with strong conviction. There is no perfect condition for anything. No matter where you are or how are, just start doing something. You are going to adapt eventually and conditions are going to change along the way. Another reason why most people procrastinate is because of fear. Take out fear and take the first step in faith.
Take it one step at a time
We all use to have that moment of reflection in our life where we badly want to cut out something bad or build something new in our habit. In such moment we tend to take it hard on ourselves to quit something abruptly or build a new habit immediately. Being overly ambitious, you might end finding your new challenge overwhelming and may relapse without going any far. Good things take time to build. Rome wasn’t built in a day. You need to take it gradual. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Start small on your targets and dream big. Begin by taking a simple goal you can achieve without any hassle.
Taking the giant step might only result in failure before any substantial progress is made. Not long ago, I came across a motivational video that left a huge impression on me. It was a speech that was delivered by United States navy admiral, William H McRaven. In the video, he talked about how doing little things can make a big difference in our lives. In his speech; he said: “if you want to change the world, start off by making your bed” that sounds amusing to you right? Well I also felt same from the beginning. He went on further to say that “when you make your bed in the morning, you have succeeded in accomplishing the first task of the day and that will give you a sense of pride and a little feeling of accomplishment. That will encourage to do another task and another.” From there you can go from strength to strength. He further stated that: “if you can’t do the little things right, you will never be able to do the big things right”
There is a great lesson in there to grab. The little things we do in life matters a lot. Let’s say for instance, you are an addicted smoker and you want to quit and embrace the healthy life style. If you take a monstrous step, you might not be able to achieve your goal and within no time, you may find yourself smoking again. Start by smoking lesser sticks in a day and keep progressing. If you don’t stop, eventually you will arrive at a day where you don’t smoke one stick in a day. Many among us have been down this road and have failed miserably. If you want to start a healthy lifestyle, begin by eating at least one healthy meal a day and workout for 10 minutes. Gradually you will become more immerse in the routine and before you know it, you have made serious progress. Take everything slow and simple!
Keep moving forward with your goal
As earlier stated; start small but dream big. After developing a certain small task habit, the goal isn’t to remain at one place for far too long but to progress to some certain level. Have a plan in place, give yourself time and make a vow that after a certain point in time, I will be at a certain higher level. Do not relent; keep track of your progress. When it’s time to take a new leap, take it. If you stay true to your plan, you will someday arrive at your goal. Let’s say for instance; you have taken up the challenge for working out and you have been doing that for 10 minutes every day. After two weeks, add more minutes to your sessions. Make sure there is a progress from where you were two weeks back and keep progressing like that.
