Success in life is not the result of an isolated event, but rather the cumulative result of small daily actions. These actions, known as habits, are the key to personal growth and achieving your goals.
Habits are repetitive actions that we perform automatically, and that over time can have a significant impact on our lives. Like compound interest in finance, habits have a cumulative effect over time and can take you from where you are now to where you want to be.
But how can you create effective habits? The answer is simple: with consistency. Habits require practice and discipline to incorporate into your daily life. It is important to keep in mind that it is not about doing something perfect, but about doing it consistently.
Many people focus a lot on feeling motivated in order to form habits, even this was a mistake I had before, but you can't really depend on motivation to create habits. You must take into account the following:
Motivation is what gets you started on the path, but it is discipline that keeps you on it.
How to depend less on motivation?
I think this is almost the million-dollar question, so I want to give some tips that can help you be more disciplined when making your habits:
Identify why your habit is important
Choose habits that are relevant to your personal goals and values. Not all habits are equally effective for all people, so it's important to find those that are meaningful to you and help you move toward your goals.
To achieve this you must have a vision for the future about what you want to achieve and the type of person you want to become. If you don't know where you are going, any path is valid, that is why it is important to have a life purpose or a project that you want to achieve in the long term.
For example, if your goal is to improve your health, a relevant habit could be exercising every morning. If your goal is to improve your communication skills, a relevant habit could be reading pages of an effective communication book every night before going to sleep. By choosing relevant and consistent habits, you will be moving towards your goals effectively.
Additionally, it is important to keep in mind that habits will not only help you achieve your goals, but will also positively affect other aspects of your life. For example, if you exercise every morning, you will not only improve your physical health, but you will also improve your energy and productivity during the day.
Start with few habits and keep them small
Surely it has happened to you that one day you really want to change your life and you feel motivated to start exercising, eating healthy, sleeping and getting out of bed early and working on your projects all in the same day.
At least when that has happened to me, that is a very short motivation and trying to take on the world in a little while will not work for you. At the beginning you should start with a few habits that are easy to do, so they will be easy to do and will generate self-confidence and self-esteem, and so you can begin to level up and create the foundation of a good life.
Celebrate small achievements
There are many ways to celebrate your progress, you can do a simple celebratory dance, give yourself encouraging words, allow yourself to feel good, whatever helps you stay on track. Remember to enjoy the process!
Focus on the process, not the results
Don't give up if you don't see immediate results at first, as habits take time to be incorporated and to have a significant impact on your life. Maintain consistency and keep going, and you will see how your habits will lead you towards success and achieving your goals.
Remember the similarity between compound interest in investments and compound interest in personal improvement, as you carry out your habit, have a clear vision of where you are going, and have the discipline to work on it, you will reach your goal, only Remember that the journey is more important than reaching the end and that you have to work sustainably and not obsess about getting there as quickly as possible.
Find friends who are on the same path as you.
Having someone to support you can be very helpful because it allows you to share your achievements and challenges. Additionally, you can support each other and stay motivated during difficult times. Plus, having a supportive friend can help you stay accountable and keep doing your habits even when you feel discouraged or unmotivated.
When finding someone to share your progress with, it's important to choose someone you trust and also who has similar goals to yours. It could be a friend, a co-worker, a colleague from your school, or even a family member. Together, you can support each other and stay on track toward your habits and goals.
Final words
It's also important to note that habits are not just about incorporating positive actions, but also about stopping negative actions. For example, if your goal is to sleep better, a relevant habit could be not using electronic devices an hour before bed.
In order to stop doing negative actions, it is not so important to stop doing them, but rather to include positive actions that replace them. So little by little you stop having time to do the "negative" habits since you will be too busy doing the habits you want in your life.
In conclusion, habits are the key to personal success. By choosing habits relevant to you, being conscious of them in a sustainable way and staying motivated with a powerful vision you will be creating a path towards growth and achieving your goals. Start creating your own habits today!
