“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle
Your life’s path is determined by your daily habits. If you have a goal and you want to succeed, you must create daily habits that will directly lead you there!
“Successful people are simply those with successful habits” Brian Tracy
You will have your own definition of success based upon your values and needs. Take five minutes and look at your current daily routine and which habits are already established. Be honest! Are your habits leading you towards the life that you want to live?
Look at the following and choose one which grabs you and will offer you the road you’d like to take or let them inspire you towards new ideas!
1. Consciously practice gratitude.
Tony Robbins said “When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears.” Take ten minutes every day and focus on what you are grateful for. Write at least three things down daily, dwell in their magnificence, ponder over their miracle and celebrate their gift. Dr Ali Binazir, happiness engineer, author and speaker investigated the chances of you being born and discovered that before even investigating ancestry “…the probability of that one sperm with half your name on it hitting that one egg with the other half of your name on it is one in 400 quadrillion” Our existence is a miracle in itself!
2. Being mindful to make every human interaction positive.
When your time on earth comes to an end, how would you like to be remembered? Is that how you’ll be remembered? Are you in the habit of leaving people in a more joyous state than when you found them? Do you lift people’s spirits or lower them? Are you conscious of every interaction, from the guy at the checkout to managers at your next meeting?
3. Exercise daily.
Boosted energy levels, improved mood, better sleep, fat control and enhanced overall health are just a few of the benefits that you are likely to see, if regular exercise is one of your primary habits. If you are not currently in the habit of exercising, attach an achievable exercise to a current habit and gradually build! What would happen if every day, before you shower, you did 10 jumping jacks? If you started exercising daily, where would you be one year from now? Where would you be one year from now if you did not exercise daily?
4. Improve nutrition.
New Year is the time that most people think about diet but resolutions often fail, partly because changes that are being made are too big and are made too suddenly and partly because their ‘why’ isn’t secure enough to result in enough drive to make it lasting change! Make a small improvement in your nutrition and build on it. Begin with improving one meal a day. What could you eat for breakfast that will fuel your day and offer you nutritional goodness to set up for success? Focus on breakfast and when a highly nutritious breakfast is normal and enjoyable, then start to investigate lunch!
5. Visualisation.
In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Jim Carrey explained the power of visualisation for him. He said that before his big break with Dumb and Dumber he would drive to the expensive area of town and look at the huge houses, making himself believe that one day he would own one. He wrote himself a cheque for ten million dollars and a year later, that is what he earned from his first big film! Visualisation can start with three minutes a day. Set a timer and take your mind to where you want to be. Imagine that what you want, you actually have! Think it, see it, believe it, create your own story and be inspired to take action towards it.
6. Develop a skill.
If you want to write a book, start writing every single day. If you want to become fluent in Spanish, play the piano or swim a mile, practice daily. Make sure the skill that you want to develop is one which will serve you or add value to your life! If you want a skill but you don’t know what, it’s time to experiment, reach out of your comfort zone and try new things until you find the one that fits and then cultivate it into a passion.
7. Read.
“It isn’t what the book costs. It is what it will cost you if you don’t read it” Jim Rohn. Reading is a habit that can offer you a captivating world of knowledge. A book can take you to far away lands of myths and dreams, it can teach you how to get the very best from yourself and it can offer you infinite knowledge and understanding. Reading can often be set aside for social media or tv. Try setting a reminder on your phone twenty minutes before you plan to sleep and create this habit. Switch off your screens, take a real book, hold it in your hands and become absorbed into its wonder.
8. Meditate.
The practice of meditation has grown enormously over the last decade with successful athletes, millionaire entrepreneurs and celebrities alike speaking of the benefits. Steve Jobs Apple Co-Founder said “If you just sit and observe, you will see how restless your mind is. If you try to calm it, it only makes things worse, but over time it does calm, and when it does, there’s room to hear more subtle things — that’s when your intuition starts to blossom and you start to see things more clearly and be in the present.” Guided meditation online is a great place to start! Check out the free apps like Headspace and block your time daily.
9. Minimalism.
Minimalism is the act of removing things from your life that do not offer you value. Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus, authors, speakers and founders of theminimalists.com describe how minimalism can change your life. “Minimalism is a tool that can assist you in finding freedom. Freedom from fear. Freedom from worry. Freedom from overwhelm. Freedom from guilt. Freedom from depression. Freedom from the trappings of the consumer culture we’ve built our lives around. Real freedom.” How many things are in your life, absorbing your attention, time, money or focus that don’t actually bring you any value? Minimalism is an individual practice. What gives value to one individual may not bring value to another. Personalise your life to you and clear out the waste, the ‘just in case’ items and the consumerism that we are so commonly drawn to.
10. Showing adoration to the people you love.
Whatever you are working on or focusing on in life, it is essential to organise priorities. The people you love should be near the top of that list and yet they are often the ones who suffer when stress arrives or life becomes hectic. Do you remember to say “I love you” and “I appreciate you”? Do your loved ones get pushed aside when more ‘important’ things come up? Time, blocked on your calendar for your loved ones must be protected. Don’t wait until you need the time with them or until a problem arises. New friendships and relationships start out with fun, excitement and the desire to show love and enjoy life. Are you still behaving in this way? Do you show your loved ones adoration easily or do they get side lined?
11. Crush automatic limiting beliefs.
This takes training, in order to be successful! Start becoming mindful of what the voice in your head is telling you. When you look in the mirror, what does that voice say? When you enter a room filled with successful, confident people, what does that voice say? When you have a dream for the future, what does that voice say? Verbally snap those words away and replace them. How would you feel one year from now, if you only spoke kindly and positively to yourself?
Forming new habits takes time and dedication. In 2010 University College London produced a study that suggests that it takes sixty six days to create a new habit, debunking the old beliefs of it only taking twenty one days! If you want to turn an action into a habit, create a sixty six day calendar and take action every single day!
You can do it!!
Originally published at www.imustnow.com on February 26, 2017.
Originally published at medium.com