How to change your life with habits
Every success we see has a behind the scene habit we most times are not aware of.
We see the success but there is so much discipline, habits and actions that are at work that we don’t see and for different people, there are different things they do.
I do no believe in copying people’s habits 100% because we are all different and what works for one person may not work for you but I am also a believer that what you are not aware of you cannot implement.
So when we look at people we respect and see things in their lives we would like to emulate we need to realize and be conscious of the fact that it might be good for us, bad for us or it might even be something we can’t emulate in this phase of our life.
This blog post is about how do we make the habit see and want to emulate a part of our life how do they become natural to us.
The background of this lesson for me was that I struggled consistently with following through on new habit I wanted in my life. I gave myself the excuse that I simply did not have as much time as I wanted to follow through since I couldn’t plot it on my timeline (I used this method I call timeline plotting).
A timeline plot is simply putting a specific time every day when you will be doing something and using that to create a routine so that it won’t be something you think too much about you would just do it.
But I still struggled until recently when I found some key steps and lessons that have really helped me be more consistent in my habit and actions daily. I will be sharing them in the lessons below;
Lesson 1: Your mind has to be ready – you need to mentally prepare your mind for the new habit.
The biggest fact is if you can’t see it in your mind you won’t do it , your minds need to agree with you on the benefits of what you are doing, on why you are doing it and what it will gain from doing the habit consistently if this is not settled first you will be fighting a losing battle.
So get the routine and habit agreed in your mind first; it all starts there – everything is in your mind.
Lesson 2: Your body will fight you – so be ready for its resistance.
Your body doesn’t hate you it just like comfort too much so she will tell you 100 reasons why you should sleep more, eat more etc.
You need to realize this as feedback from your body to you, sometimes the feedback is correct sometimes it is wrong.
Examples are the time you thought you will die when you did something totally new that pushed you out of your comfort zone say fasting and you didn’t that was feedback from your body that you didn’t need to listen to.
Another example might be when your body told you to rest and you didn’t and you ended up falling sick now that is feed back you should have listened to.
Your body will constantly give you feedback you will need to evaluate it and decide what is true or false and then use that to take necessary action.
Lesson 3: Do not undervalue the result of little time example 10 minutes – it adds up.
This was my hardest stumbling block I had this belief that it had to be an hour for it to count for something and this might be the same for you too, I just want to tell you not to undervalue the little blocked time even if it is 10 minutes it counts.
It counts both mentally and physically;
Mentally it strengthens the agreement you made with yourself when you started, it let you know within yourself that you can depend on your words and decisions and also it builds your self-confidence and esteem for yourself.
Physically it counts because your body begin to align it begins to say “Okay we are doing this no more excuse to give”.
And over all it makes you feel better about your life showing up for a few minutes may not always look like much but it accumulates value over time.
Lesson 4: Expect not to be perfect and miss days – even experts fail they just don’t tell you
This also used to bug me because I wanted things to be perfect but they won’t you will fail, we all fail to be consistent all the time, don’t expect perfection but learn from it and keep on showing up and becoming better.
Lesson 5: Prepare yourself and your environment for success.
A typical example for me was that I used to think I could stay on my bed and read – nope doesn’t work for me at all; I had to learn that staying on my bed simply meant sleep and there was no way my will power could do anything about it.
The same goes for you, you need to figure out what environment encourages your success and what doesn’t. You might have to test things out but once you find the environment that works stick to it.
Lesson 6: Know exactly what you will be doing beforehand.
If you plan on writing know what the topic is going to be about, if you plan to read know which book you will be reading, do not get to that scheduled time and then start wondering what it is you are supposed to do – know it beforehand.
You may not have all the answers or all the details planned out but at least know what the project or subject matter will be.
Lesson 7: Be flexible to changes and be opened to testing – this is where you know what really works for you.
It is your life and not anyone else so do not think you have to copy anyone’s schedule time, routines or actions.
Test and see what work for you, how it makes you feel and when best it is to start.
Test to see the order it should go through, test to see if you are more productive at certain times than the others – test, test, test.
You have the right to accept what works for you and reject what doesn’t work without guilt.
I believe this lessons, if planned and taken into action, would allow you to not just implement your desired new habits but actually see the ripple effect consistency can have in your life.
What was your biggest takeaway? – send me an email to let me know.