Aristotle once said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle is undoubtedly right, and many of us understand what good habits may be, we may even spot them in others. However, how do we develop and develop them in our own lives? We know that developing good habits is not only great for our own personal and professional development but it can benefit all aspects of our lives.
So what’s held us back previously? Many of us like consistency in our lives and therefore making changes, although positive, can be daunting and scary. We all want to be successful in whatever we do but it’s important to note great success does not come without creating positive habits.
So where do we begin? It’s important to note that many researchers have pinpointed 21 days as being the optimal time to create a habit that we will stick to. To achieve this, you need motivation, a good plan and a determined approach on how you will achieve it.
We have put together 4 key tips to help you on your journey to create good habits:
Planning and Goal Setting
Put together a list of habits and virtues you would like to possess and why. It’s important to understand why you want to form this habit in order to envision what life would be like to have it. Set yourself a time period that is realistic and achievable and would recommend leaving a reasonable amount of time to pass before you review it. Write down how you would like to achieve these habits and what steps you will take each day to make sure you’re successful.
Positive mindset
What’s the phrase? Mind over matter? The mindset you have when starting to develop your habits is crucial. Forming good habits comes from the person wanting to make a change and personally develop, only you can be incharge of that. By setting yourself a plan and goals, this will give you the confidence to go forth and carry it out. Believe you can make great change if you put your mind to it.
Find Healthy Ways to reward yourself
We all like to be told of a job well done or to receive a gold star, so make sure you recognise your progress and success in habit building. You may receive compliments from those closest to you who have noticed a change, and that’s great! However, it’s important that you see it in yourself to give you the motivation to continue and keep going.
Review
After 21 days, or longer, go back to your original plan, see what goals you set and what you set out to do. Reflect on how far you’ve come and if there are any changes you’d like to make. Just because the 21 days are up, this doesn’t mean you don’t have to continue to push forward and make sure it’s an ingrained habit that now is a part of your day to day life. Reviewing and reflecting on your progress is a great way to recognise where you were and where you still want to go.
We should all want to adopt and develop new habits as we get older and go through different stages, therefore don’t shy away from creating change that will have a positive affect on your life. Remember habits don’t only influence your personal development they also have a huge impact on your career development and personal relationships.
