There is a quote that says “You don’t decide your future. You decide your habits and your habits decide the future for you. It stresses the huge role benefits of habits in our life. So what is a habit? Any behavior or action you engage in regularly counts as a habit — even a small thing like touching your phone every time you get up to read a book before bed. They all play a part in your quality of work and life. Habits are different from routines. Habits are any activities we do from little to no awareness while routines are activities we do that require focus and discipline.
On a daily basis, you might engage in a range of different habits, from financial and spending habits to healthy living habits. You might not even realize certain behaviors do, in fact, count as habits. There are many different kinds of habits such as preventive habits, eating habits, habits of mind, social and communication habits, productivity habits, unwanted habits.
Doing something repeatedly makes you more likely to stick with it, since behaviors eventually become automatic and effortless. When a habit benefits your life, the rewards you reap can also motivate you to stick with that behavior. “Creating a new habit can be a source of pride because you realize you have the power to improve your life, which can help bring you closer to being who you want to be,” explains Stephani Jahn. Positive habits don’t just improve your self-esteem, confidence and boost your value, but also lessen your stress and anxiety as you have a clear schedule and can predict what you will encounter in the future. People with good habits tend to have a much healthier life and a very high chance of success compared to those who don’t.
How can we construct positive habits? Change is tough. It’s difficult to stop doing the same things you’ve always done, simply because you’ve always done them. Routine is a powerful tool to reinforce habits, long-standing and new. The more regularly you do something, the more likely you’ll stick with that behavior over time. So it means it’s clearly possible to change from bad to good. Here are some ways:
1. Practice calmness: You have to train your mind to a point that nothing can disturb it and disrupt it. Start accessing your mind every day to see how do you react to small issues up to big issues. It’s easy to
2. Start with the small: Starting to change all the bad habits at the same time can be haunting and uninspired. Start with something easy and keep up a good job consistently.
3. Replace a bad with a good one: You can have an easier time breaking a habit if you replace the unwanted behavior with a new behavior, instead of simply trying to stop the unwanted behavior.
4. Visualizing your new habits: Breaking habits doesn’t have to be an entirely hands-on, physical process. You can practice new replacement habits mentally, too. Try to visualize your new habit and feel that you are doing it successfully now, thus you will have encouragement to make it true.
5. Give it time: There’s a common myth that it takes 21 days to make or break a habit. It’s true according to my practice. Try to keep the good habit at least 21 days and you will start to feel it’s within you.
6. Challenge yourself: Have you ever set a challenge to yourself to do something consistently within a period of time. If so, that’s another fun thing to do. List down your bad habits and start with the good one consistently for one month. It can be to get up early for one month straight. Bear in mind that there will be a hiccup along the way, but it should be fine.
7. Motivate with reward: Remember, breaking a habit can be incredibly difficult. Make sure to acknowledge how far you’ve come, and try to give yourself rewards along the way. Even small motivators, like telling yourself what a great job you’re doing, can boost your confidence and increase your drive to keep trying.
By: Barndith OUM