How to Create Good Habits
Setting yourself up to create good habits is a great way to live a better life. To go even further, consider trying to break any bad habits that may be holding you back. This guide will help with both creating good habits and breaking bad ones.
Picture Your Future:
A great way to start when establishing good habits is to imagine how your life will be when you create those habits. If you are trying to increase wealth and the habit to help you do this is to save, imagine how different your life will be when this is accomplished. You can use this visualization for bad habits as well. If you are a smoker, think about how much better you will feel if you quit after some predefined duration.
Take It Slow:
Whatever the habit-forming activity, trying to make it happen too quickly is going to lead you to get discouraged. For instance, when trying to lose weight, if your goal is to lose 50 pounds in one week, this may not be a realistic goal. It’s not healthy as well.
Work With Others:
When you get a group of people who are all looking to create a certain habit, the chances of succeeding will increase. It’s also more fun when others are involved. The group will offer input that would not otherwise be available doing everything on your own. The group can also help you keep on track. You can help them do the same.
Set Backs Are Normal:
There are going to be periods when you break whatever habit you are trying to form. Most people make the mistake of believing that it wasn’t meant to be and quit prematurely. In most cases, simply pick up from where you left off if it is possible.
Make a Plan:
If you plan out the steps required to create your habit, you will find it much easier to follow it. It becomes a matter of simply following the directions that you set out for yourself. If you find other ways that work better, you can make a note of these for future reference.
Be Committed:
When you commit to your new habits (or removing old ones), you set a mental note that it is something you want. Sometimes, you will need to reaffirm those commitments. There is research to suggest that if you continue your habits for 21 days, it becomes easier to keep them going after that period. If nothing else, commit to that period.
Removing Bad Habits Frees Up Time for Good Ones:
We have only a small amount of time available to us every day. If you focus your time on your bad habits, you will have less available to concentrate on creating good habits. You may even use this as part of your motivation for success.
Read Successes of Others:
There is a great chance that others have created the same habits you are trying to do. Read many books of these success stories and do it often. This will reinforce your mindset.
3 Tips on How to Create Good Habits
- Start a list of five habits that you want to create. These can be new habits or ones that you have tried but failed in the past.
- Commit to reading one book per week that profiles people who have succeeded with the habits you are trying to accomplish. Incorporate any tips you learn from your reading into your list. Revising your list in its entirety is fine if it makes sense to do so.
- Find two people that want to create the same habits as you do. You may need to select different people for different habits as not everyone will share the desire for all the habits on your list.
