“Hard work, showing up on time, wearing a clean (preferably white) shirt, using deodorant, and some such conventional things contribute to success—they are certainly necessary but may be insufficient as they do not cause success.”-Nassim Taleb(Fooled By Randomness).
When I talk about habits, I don’t talk about outcomes. I talk about changing our actual behavior so that it improves the quality of our lives.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, here’s my four-step process for making life-changing habits stick.
Step 1: Decide what habits are worth it
Look, I can talk to you about the habits that have changed my life habits all day long, but that’s not helpful. The reason is that only YOU can decide what a good habit is.
Deciding if a habit is worth it to you is critical to forming new habits. Too often we hear about something, and we think: “I should do that!”
Really? Should I wake up an hour earlier? Should I take cold showers? Should I eat like a cave person? Should I run every day?
Maybe waking up early is actually helpful to you. I don’t know. When I wake up early, I behave like a grumpy old man who hates people—that deteriorates the quality of my life.
Hence, I don’t wake up very early (7 AM or earlier) no matter how many people tell me it will make me successful.
The reason you want to ask yourself that question is that we all need a reason to change. We need something that’s bigger than superficial reasons.
“I want to read one book a week,” you might say. Why? So you can do what? What’s your vision? What are your goals?
For example, I read two books a week because I’m a teacher/trainer. I need to learn every single day so I can do my job better. I do strength training because I want to be a useful person. I do many chores around my house and the office. I want to make and fix things. I need to be in good shape to lift heavy things or do strenuous tasks.
That’s my why. What’s yours? Answer that. And then, adopt habits that bring you closer to the things you want in life.
Step 2: Focus on one habit at a time
Out of the many reason from which a person fails , one of them i creating many habits at a time.
It’s best to hold back the enthusiasm if you’re the same. In general, when you do too many things at the same time, you end up with chaos.
And you always end up right back where you started. Sounds familiar?
One of the reasons we try to do so many things at the same time is that we overestimate ourselves. We think we can achieve a lot in a short period. That’s false.We can achieve A LOT over a long period. That’s true.So focus on one thing at a time. Stack one habit on top of the other, one by one
Step 3: Set the bar very low
We often want to do big things, without understanding it. Starting a business or building a career requires effort. In fact, everything in life that’s remotely valuable requires a lot of work to achieve.So before we do something big, let’s start small.
As Leo tolstoy would say :“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
Focus on small things. Build a strong foundation. Without it, we can never achieve anything meaningful.
Step 4: Use checklists
You want to do something. You do it. And then you forget about it. Shit happens, right?
No, that’s weak. Don’t let yourself off the hook like that.
We must use checklists to remind ourselves of what we’re trying to achieve. Remember: We form habits to transform our lives—to make things BETTER.
Check off your habits daily. One day, you’ll be surprised by how much your life changed by such, seemingly, small habits. At least, that’s what happened to me and the thousands of other people who focus on their habits. And I’m sure it will happen to you too.
Eduindex 