7 Important Things To Do To Change Successfully and Positively
On a daily basis, habit drives us to do what we do—whether it’s a pattern of thoughts or behavior that occurs automatically. But what if we could harness the power of our habits for the better? Imagine a life where you have a habit of completing projects, eating well, keeping in touch with family and friends, and working to your fullest potential. When you have a foundation of good habits, you’re setting yourself up for a full, healthy, and successful life.
Here are 7 steps to changing your habits that will, in turn, change your entire life.
1. Identify your Keystone Habit, and focus on it.
Whichever habit you’re working on, pick one at a time. More than one at a time will be overwhelming and will increase your likelihood of failing to improve any habits. But don’t believe you can only change one thing about yourself; it’s actually the opposite. Working on this one Keystone Habit can have a positive ripple effect into the rest of your life as well.
2. Identify your current routine and the reward you get from it.
Let’s say you want to build a habit of getting to the office a half hour early each day. You want to do this because you think the extra quiet time in the morning will help you to be more productive, and that productivity will be rewarded by an increased sense of job satisfaction, and an overall better work environment. Currently, you get to the office just on time. Your current routine is to leave your house in a rush, at the exact time you’ve calculated that (without traffic or incident) will get you to work on time. Your reward is spending some extra time at your house in the morning, spending an extra half hour sleeping or “charging your batteries” for the day ahead.
3. Consider the challenges.
Challenges are often cues that push you to fall back into old habits. In the example of getting to work earlier, your challenges may lie in your sleep patterns the night before, or in coordinating schedules with a partner. These challenges will not magically disappear so you need to take them into account. But don’t let the presence of challenges, or worry that new challenges will come up in the future, deter you from establishing your new habits. If your challenges include coordinating with other people, make them a part of your new routine, as I’ll explain later. Right now, simply identify what the challenges or obstacles are.
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