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First forget inspiration.
Habit is more dependable.
Habit will sustain you whether you’re inspired or not.
Habit is persistence in practice.” — Octavia Butler
Habits are for life. The human life is structured around habits, most of them are not really noticeable. According to a research by Duhigg, 40% of our waking hours are made up of our habits.
Despite what you've learnt, changing habits is not just a matter of willpower. We all have habits we’ve tried to break in one way or the other but we just keep failing, also good habits we’ve tried to acquire at some point but we dropped. One obstacle to change for most people is not a lack of determination, but a lack of understanding on how habit works.
I talked about changing habit to obtain a quality lifestyle and we looked at two (2)steps. Now we will be taking the remaining steps. For a better understanding check my previous post HERE. So let's get started;
Step 3: Set the bar very low
Like i mention last we overestimate ourselves, which is why we often want to do massive things, without understanding it. I was going to start working out, then I decided that on my first day I'll do 50 sit ups, 50 squats and so on, my instructor laughed and said to me "the bar is fine but too high for your first day", to my surprise he gave me some very easy exercises for start ups before we progressed subsequently. This is where we get it all wrong, you want to develop a habit, you are not on a suicide mission. When you raise the bar so high you get discouraged to continue.
Start with little things to build a strong foundation. This is a secret to achieving a meaningful result.
Want to read two books a week? Read one page a day.
Want to run daily? Start by walking.
Big things follow by themselves.
So before we do something big, let’s start small. Likewise, before you change the world, you have to change yourself first. The author of War and Peace Leo Tolstoy put it best:
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
4th Step : The use checklists is Important
Sometimes I just forget everything. A few years ago, I tried developing a daily reading habit. It failed severally in the beginning, because I would read for 4-5 days straight, and then all of a sudden, I would forget about it somehow. It’s like the desire for reading more just leaves my head.
No, that’s weak. Don’t let yourself off the hook like that.
Its advisable to use checklists to remind ourselves of the goal we’re trying to achieve. Note: We form habits to transform our lives and to make things BETTER.
Endeavour to check off your habits everyday. Sooner or later, you’ll be amazed by how much your life changed by such. At least, that’s what happened to me and a good number of individuals who focus on their habits. And I’m sure it will happen to you too.