You are your greatest project! Take a moment to objectively reflect
on yourself, your masterpiece. In doing this you should find that you are a
constant work in progress, the sum of your habits. As humans, we are naturally
wired to continually build ourselves and strive towards growth. This society
that we have developed over time teaches that to succeed we must set goals. This
misconception often leads to an endless cycle of desire as many goal-oriented
people fail to acknowledge that these goals are not the actual determining
factor of success. It's so much deeper than that, it comes down to the road
taken. What are you doing to achieve your goals? Will your actions today
result in an ideal tomorrow? Keep reading if you need help answering these questions
or building onto the masterpiece of you. Here are some tips to help you
establish positive habits, build self-discipline and be the best version of
yourself.
1. Audit your habits. Record your daily
habits, both the good and the bad. Use this simple activity as your looking
glass - subjectively review each habit to determine if it contributes to your
aspirations and determine what changes need to be made to assume the identity
of your new goal. Which habits
contribute to your ideal future self? Which ones do not? Do you notice any
triggers associated with the undesirable habits? Can you reassign those
triggers to new, positive habits that contribute to your goal? For example,
let's say part of your recipe for success is to be fitness focused and an early
riser. Currently, when your alarm goes off you are triggered to hit the snooze
button and remain in bed as long as possible. To reassign this trigger to a
more desirable habit associated with your goal, you commit to the behavior of
going to the gym immediately after your alarm sounds. Over time, with enough
repetition, you will have trained your subconscious self to associate the alarm
with going to the gym.
2.
Start small. Focus on repetition. You know the saying; Rome wasn't built in a
day. Start with one practical habit and build on it. Slow progress is still progress, celebrate the
small wins. Practice your habit daily,
improve on it at an achievable pace for you. Using the same example, you may
find yourself more reluctant to commit to an hour of working out after your
alarm goes off. However, it is likely to be more psychologically achievable to
commit to just 5-10 minutes of working out the first handful of times. 5-10
minutes can fluidly turn into 15-20 minutes, before you know it you've tricked
yourself into enjoying an hour in the gym every morning. The fitness habit is
progressively attained while the habit of sleeping in is eliminated. Remember, keep your focus on repetition and
consistency. Give yourself time to progress.
3.
Make it easy. Take measures to make your
desired habits easy to accomplish. You should take the opposite approach to make
undesirable habits difficult to mindlessly act upon. For instance, you can move
your alarm to another room or away from your bed to make it difficult to sleep
in once your alarm goes off. To reinforce the positive habit being introduced,
you can sleep in your workout attire. When the alarm sounds, you're basically
already up and ready for your workout as you must get out of bed to turn the
alarm off. Easy-breezy!
4.
Keep yourself accountable. Commit to your
desired habit every day. It's remarkably helpful to have a system in place to
regularly review your habits and check-in with yourself. These accountability
systems might consist of keeping a calendar, setting alarms, making plans with
friends or, as we highly recommend, downloading a habit tracking app. Apps like
"Productive," offer advanced reminders that can be set based on time or
location as well as statistics that allow you to stay on track with motivating
streaks of effectiveness.
5.
Stack your habits. As you master each
desired habit, add on to the associated trigger to stack habits and create a
powerful routine that aligns with your intent. Sky is the limit!
Takeaway: With a little patience and a lot of self-discipline,
you will always possess the blueprint for an exceptionally successful you.
Disclaimer:
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this blog belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to Squeezed.