Increasing your productivity to the point that you are more efficient and effective in achieving your goals with the least amount of resources is what we all strive for. For many years it’s been demonstrated by the science of achievement that goal achievement is only possible when focusing on the correct habits.
In this blog, we will go through 4 effective steps that will allow you to turn the “force of habit” in your favor and not against you.
Have you stopped to ask yourself “What is going on, why don’t I have better results?” I believe part of the answer to this very simple question has to do with your habits. Even though changing your habits can prove to be a very difficult task, let’s keep in mind that success is the result of habits. In other words, your habits will determine whether you achieve success or not.
As we all know, a habit is a behavior that is repeated constantly, or if you will, habitually. Habits begin when the decisions we take are repeated over and over again until they happen almost mechanically, without needing us to think too much about it.
Is there any habit that you need to incorporate into your life in order to achieve success? Or is there any habit that you need to remove because it diminishes your possibility of success? Doing either of these two things is easy, due to habits’ important characteristic of being moved by the “force of habit”.
So, how can we turn this “force of habit” in our favor and not against us? Well, there are 4 effective steps that will aid you in the process of adding, changing or removing habits into your life:
STEP 1: KEEP THE LOGIC
It is not possible to change everything in one sitting or in a single day. If you still try to do so, you may find yourself unable to accomplish anything at all. Be reasonable and remember that you must keep your feet on the ground; start making changes according to your available time, your resources, and the amount of compromise you can invest in this activity. Consistency and discipline are your most important allies, but also:
- Start a list of the habits you want to acquire and others you want to remove.
- Add a – “Why?”- to each of these habits, to further increase your compromise
- Prioritize! Focus on what is most important and in whatever hinders your progress.
- Choose a specific activity that allows change, and start today. For example, instead of having a slice of pizza, have a bowl of fruit. Instead of looking at your phone, pick up a book. Instead of laying on the couch, go for a walk.
STEP 2: CREATE AN APPROPRIATE ENVIRONMENT
If you are trying to abandon a bad habit, for example, smoking, do not surround yourself with smokers or visit places where smoking is allowed. This may sound like a very easy and logical thing to do but having the appropriate environment for change can make the difference between making the change you wish for or not. Some suggestions are:
- Turn difficult things into easy ones. For example, if you want to decrease your sugar consumption, avoid buying ice-cream or dessert at the supermarket, but instead, fill your cart up with fruits and vegetables.
- Surround yourself with people that have achieved similar goals; try joining support groups where they share their success stories, that way you can become motivated towards reaching your goal.
STEP 3: THINK LONG-TERM
A habit takes time to develop, but after it does it will stick with you for a long time; some experts say that developing a habit takes up to 21 to 24 days!
- A personal suggestion would be to try and repeat whatever you are trying to accomplish up to 30 times in a row until you no longer have to think too much about it, and the action becomes second nature to you.
- Acquiring a new habit must not only be part of your life plan and based around a clear point of view of what you are trying to accomplish but also something you wish for to be in your life, that benefits you, as well as others, to strive for change along the way.
STEP 4: HAVE A PLAN
One of the great challenges of this century is to maintain the right focus, in the midst of a significant amount of information and distractions, some disguised as opportunities. Thus, one of the best tools to be productive, effective and efficient is having a plan.
I know that it can be very overwhelming when you have a desire to achieve a goal, but do not have a plan to execute daily.
This is why I created the program: ACCELERATE THE ACHIEVEMENT OF YOUR GOALS, with THE 8 ELEMENTS THAT EVERY SUCCESSFUL PLAN MUST HAVE.
People who have achieved success have used a plan. In my life, this method has brought me countless benefits.
Question: How can you improve your habits?