Habits are the source of getting what you want. You do or you don’t…

In a previous post, we talked about how like changing your thoughts, you can change your life. This is one of the greatest tools you can develop to change your life. However, thinking he’s a previous state of acting. And acting, is what get you to a place you want to be, to achieve your goals.

Let me tell you, most people… don’t act. They simply have the habit of doing the same things, over and over, and they ask themselves why aren’t they not getting what they want. Look in this example how what looks to be the same habit, can actually change the result of two people. Think about two runners, working to win the next year’s marathon. One of the runners decided to run 2 miles every day. The other runner decided to add 1 mile every week, and start running 1 mile every day. By the end of the year, the first one will be able to run without difficulty the first 2 miles in the marathon. However, maybe after 5 miles, he will start to feel tired. Now look at the second runner. He decided to run an extra mile every week. It wasn’t very hard. If you train every day 1 mile, surely you will be able to run an extra mile the next week. So at by the end of the year, if he was a constant and persistant, he was able to run 52 miles. Let’s say he got only  half of that, so he was able to run 26 miles. Even with half of the effort, surely, he will be able to win the first runner, who only ran 2 miles every day.

The point here, it is that habits tend to make a difference in the long-term. Surely, you’ll want to see great results at first. But if you think on the long-term, you will really make a difference in your life.

Habits are not difficult to start, but difficult to continue. Studies have proven that you need 21 consecutive days to change my current habit, and to make the new one stick. So for 21 days, it will be hell. But after 21 days, you will be able to keep doing your habit, and enjoy it (great for self help motivation!). One great way to get to this 21 day goal to change your life, is to get a calendar and mark the 21 days do you need to change. For example, you want to start to exercise, you need to start with little exercise, but stay consistent. So, you may run half mile for 21 consecutive days. Don’t increase the distance, not put yourself time they limit. Just hold on the first 21 days, without making excuses. For example, I loved to run, but when I moved out from the city I lived, I started to make excuses for not running because of the weather. For that reason, I stopped exercising, and I had to do the 21 day goal to get myself running again.

Also, start with little, and work a little more each day. If you put yourself a great goal to achieve in short time, most probably you are not going to do it. It is good that you put yourself time limits, according to Parkinson’s Law. However, if you tried to change the world in one day, you will fail. It is not bad to fail, but when you are trying to start a new habit, it is better to start winning. And you start going in, by setting out small achievable goals.

In the book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey, talks about seven great habits you can have that will get you where you want. Here they are *I will write more about it on a future article*:

Dependence to Independence

Habit 1: Be Proactive: Principles of Personal Choice
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind: Principles of Personal Vision
Habit 3: Put First Things First: Principles of Integrity & Execution

Independence to Interdependence

Habit 4: Think Win/Win: Principles of Mutual Benefit
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood: Principles of Mutual Understanding
Habit 6: Synergize: Principles of Creative Cooperation

Continual Improvement
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw: Principles of Balanced Self-Renewal

If you want me to write a little more about how to set up new habits, please let me know below on the comment box. Hope The Change Your Life Phenomenon is working for you. There are a lot of people that already have sent me beautiful mails about how much is helping them. If you haven’t joined the CHYL Phenomenon, just by getting a free resource, you will be joining us. Thank you, and persevere.

image credit: 1suisse

About the Author

Anton Cela is a self development author and consultant. Phillip Cela is a recognized university teacher and speaker on motivation, leadership and self help. Find more about their work on “The Change Your Life Phenomenon”, a world-wide-movement to help people change their lifes at Change Your Life Phenomenon.com You can send us an email or follow “The CHYL Phenomenon” on Twitter.