The Power of Habit

Aristotle once said, "we are what we repeatedly do" and this shows the power of habit. If we are repeatedly doing things that lead to greater success, then we will be successful but if we are repeatedly doing things that hinder our success then we will not get what we want in life.

Create a Habits List

Before creating a to do list think about creating a 'habits list', this is a list of the habits you want to create and a tracker to help you track those habits. Let's say for example that it is your goal to lose weight. In order to lose weight you need to exercise regularly and so onto your habit tracker you would put exercise and then each day that you exercise you would tick off that item on your habit tracker and know that you have taken a step closer to your goal. If you just had to exercise once though it wouldn't be much help so you need to make a habit of exercising at least three times a week.

How Long Does It Take to Form a Habit?

Some people say 21 days, others say you should aim for three times that amount. Personally, I think it is better to aim for three times that amount because if you give yourself a break too early then you may find that the habit is easily broken and it is too easy to fall back into bad habits. By challenging yourself to practice this habit for longer you are ensuring that it becomes a part of your life and you are less likely to give it up as it becomes part of you.

Breaking Bad Habits

In addition to creating good habits, if you want to really achieve success then you also need to break bad habits that are hindering you from becoming all you can be. Let's go back to the weight loss example and say you have a habit of getting take-aways for dinner every night. If you want to lose weight then exercising in itself is not going to be enough, you need to learn to develop healthier eating habits and that means breaking the bad habit of getting take-aways all the time. Learn how to do meal preparation and plan healthy foods that will promote weight loss.

"We are what we repeatedly do" and so we need to create habits that are going to help us achieve success. It is not enough to simply do something once and hope it will bring you success, you need to do it repeatedly. Create habits that will help you become the person you want to be.

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