How long does it take to change one’s habit? A lot of you here might ask. A habit does not change overnight, it’s a constant struggle and it’s not easy. However, our success depends on our habits. Achievements in life are not just about hard work, perseverance, and willingness. It also involves admirable habits that contribute to our success. It reflects on who we are in and out.
It takes a lot of discipline to build good habits unless you’re not serious enough to achieve a long-term success. But I bet, all of us want to change for the betterment of our career. Who wouldn’t, right? That means you have to fully understand what your goals are to effectively do a new habit. Yes, it may take some time since we are not used to doing all sorts of things. But at the end of the day, building and changing your crappy habits into new ones is all to your advantage.
However, a lot of us here don’t know where and how to start. Well basically, you have to know what you want for a change. What particular thing you need to avoid or strategies you need to do to achieve a better outcome. Knowing these things may be simple, but it is essential to building new and effective habit.
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Start with an incredibly small habit.
Again, doing a new habit is definitely not easy. People who are struggling tend to find more motivation and willpower just to stick with a new habit – which is a wrong approach. That means it is difficult for you to maintain the pace when you start with hard habits. When you do, it makes it easier for you to say no that leads you to avoid doing a particular habit.
According to a research, willpower is also like a muscle. It gets tired when you force to do difficult habits. It rises and falls, which BJ Fogg, a professor of Standford call it the “motivation wave”. However, starting with a new and simple habit is so easy that there is no reason for you to say no. The easier your habit is, the more consistent you are in doing such.
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Increase your habit in very small ways
Every day is a learning experience. Cliché as it may seem, but it applies to every person who aims to succeed in life. Of course, through disciplining and practicing yourself to improve even one percent each day is a great impact on your success. You won’t grow in your career if you tend to stay stagnant and doing the same habit without any developments at all.
Doing some amazing things from the beginning is a great thing. But the dangerous part is that you may not be consistent in doing such, since you already feel exhausted and consumed, especially if you are not used to. Rather making it hard on your end, do something small at the beginning. You will eventually realize that you are gradually improving day by day. And your motivation and willpower will also increase along the way. It’s not that hard to stick and start with a simple and small habit. In fact, you will appreciate how you gradually changed for the better.
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As you build up, break habits into chunks
Yes, we’ve been adding up one percent of improvement each day. Then you realize your habits are increasing quickly within two or three months. If you are not careful and attentive enough, you might have a lot of habits on your checklist, which makes it even harder for you to accumulate and perform each habit effectively. Moreover, you’re bombarded with all the habits; that you tend to be confused on which habit you’re going to do first.
Having and doing a lot of habits are not that bad at all. However, you have to be keen when it comes to dividing each habit to fit on your own pace. You don’t have to force yourself to change your habit quickly that you tend to accumulate all the good habits at once. It will only break the momentum of change. And as a result, you won’t change for the better. For instance, if you are planning to do a particular thing within 20 minutes, split it into two parts of 10 minutes at first. In that way, it will be easier for you to accomplish a particular habit each day.
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When you slip, get back on track quickly
It is definitely normal for us to feel anxious and discouraged, especially whenever we commit mistakes on life decisions. And sometimes, it affects our daily routine or habits. However, although you may feel all of those unfavorable emotions, you have to encourage yourself and get back to your track as soon as possible. According to a research, even if you miss to do your habit once, it doesn’t have a great impact on your long-term progress. You have to abandon your all-or-nothing mentality since we are not perfect.
Yes, we may sometimes fail in some other aspects of life, but you should not expect to fail. Taking some time to consider what went wrong that prevents you from doing your habit is a must for you to understand the things around you. Moreover, you have to know what are the plans and strategies to prevent a particular mistake from happening again. With that, you will be ready to face each challenge head on while keeping your habits.
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Be patient. Stick to a pace you can sustain
Patience! Being patient is the most crucial and difficult thing for us to do. Why? Because people normally want to make things done in an instant. We tend to stop practicing how to be patient, considering the fact that all of our technologies are in our convenience. However, building a new good habit is different. It’s not a race. Again, you don’t have to force yourself to be a better person in no time. There will be a gradual transformation if you want to have a long-term success. All of your effort and time will pay off if you just learn how to be patient in everything you do.
Moreover, if you are not impulsive in everything you do, especially when doing a new habit, you will feel easy that your habits became a part of your life.
Final thoughts:
It is impossible to achieve success when you don’t know how to build your habits. Learn first how to take control of your habits and unexpected situations that may prevent you from improving, and you will understand what lies ahead of you.