“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle
If you could just pick one or two (or seven) habits to create in the
next few months — habits that will have the most impact on your life —
what would they be?
We often get asked this question, because people are overwhelmed when it comes to starting positive life changes.
They ask us: what one or two habits should they start with?
It’s not an easy question.
But here's how to Develop the Habits
- Do a 30-day challenge, focusing on just ONE habit.
- Write it out on paper, along with your motivations, obstacles, and strategies for overcoming them.
- Commit fully, in a public way.
- Log your progress.
- Remain publicly accountable — report on your progress each day.
- Have support for when you falter — either in real life or online.
- Reward every little success.
- If you fail, figure out what went wrong, plan for it, and try again.
Here's the Seven Little Habits That Can Change Your Life
OK, so now you know how to form a habit — and remember, only do them one
at a time — but you want to know the seven little habits. Here they
are, in my order of preference (but yours may be different):
1. Develop positive thinking. Its
first because its keystone habit. Positive thinking by itself won’t lead to success, but it certainly goes a long way to motivate you to do the other things required.
Focus on this habit first, and you’ll have a much easier time with
any of the others. Start by becoming more aware of your negative
self-talk — do a little tally sheet throughout the day, marking a tally
each time you notice a negative thought. Soon you’ll recognize them, and
you can squash them.
Read more:
2. Exercise. How exactly is it life changing? Well:
- It makes you feel better about yourself, and more confident. That leads to better success with other positive changes.
- It reinforces the positive thinking habit — you need to think positive in order to sustain exercise.
- It relieves stress and gives you time to think — this leads to better mental well-being in your life overall.
- It helps with creativity. Don’t ask me to prove it, except to say
that my best ideas and brainstorming sessions come from when I exercise.
Here’s how:
3. Single-tasking. The opposite of multi-tasking. Why is it life-changing?
A couple powerful reasons:
- You’ll be more effective with your tasks and get more done. It’s
hard to achieve important things if you’re constantly switching tasks
and distracted by other “urgent” things.
- You’ll be less stressed overall and (in my experience) happier throughout your day.
Read more:
4. Focus on one goal. Just as focusing on one task
at a time is more effective, and focusing on one habit at a time is more
effect, so is focusing on one goal at a time. While it might seem very
difficult, focusing on one goal at a time is the most powerful way of
achieving your goals. When you try to take on many goals at once, you’re
spreading thin your focus and energy — the two critical components for
achieving a goal.
What if you have 5 goals you want to achieve? Pick one to focus on
first. Break it into a mini-goal you can accomplish this month, if it’s a
longer-term goal. Pick an action you can do today. Keep doing this
until the goal is accomplished — do an action every day, finish the
mini-goal, pick the next mini-goal to work on. Then, when your One Goal
is completed, focus on the next goal.
Some goals are ongoing ones — like blogging every day, or exercising every day. In those cases, turn them into habits — focus exclusively on turning the goal into a habit, until the habit is ingrained. Then focus on the next goal.
Read more:
5. Eliminate the non-essential. First, identify the essential
— the things in your life that are most important to you, that you love
the most. Then eliminate everything else. This simplifies things and
leaves you with the space to focus on the essential. This process works
with anything — with your life in general, with work projects and tasks,
with emails and other communication.
This will change your life because it will help you to simplify, to focus on what’s important, and to build the life you want.
Read more:
6. Kindness. Yes, kindness is a habit. And it can be
cultivated. Focus on it every day for a month and you’ll see profound
changes in your life. You’ll feel better about yourself as a person.
You’ll see people react to you differently and treat you better, over
the long run. It’s karma.
How do you develop the kindness habit? First, make it a goal to do
something kind for someone each day. At the beginning of the day, figure
out what that kind act will be and then do it during the day. Second,
each time you interact with someone, try to be kind, be friendly, be
compassionate. Third, try to go beyond small kindnesses to larger acts
of compassion, volunteering to help those in need and taking the
initiative to relieve suffering.
Read more:
7. Daily routine. It’s so simple, but creating a
daily routine for yourself can make a big difference in your life. The
best routines, I’ve found, come at the start and end of the day — both
your workday and your day in general. That means, develop a routine for
when you awake, for when you first start working, for when you finish
your workday, and for the end of your evening.
How will that change your life? It will help you get a great start to
your day, and finish your day by preparing for the next day. It’ll help
you firmly root the productive habits you want to firm in your everyday
life. It’ll help you focus on what’s important, not just what comes up.
It’ll help you make sure you get done all the things you really want to
make sure gets done everyday. And that can mean a lot.
Read more:
This post was originally written by Leo Babauta. I 'borrowed' it to test how responsive people are to simple yet such potentially transformative instructions.
