“The key to forming good habits is to make them part of your ‘rituals.’ I have a morning ritual, afternoon ritual, and Sunday ritual. It’s one way to bundle good habits into regular times that you set aside to prepare yourself for the life you want. Rituals help you form habits.” – Lewis Howes
Good habits don’t happen overnight. Neither does getting rid of bad habits. If you want to replace your bad habits with good ones, then you’ve got your work cut out for you.
Let me tell you right now that it’s not going to be easy. Quite the opposite, in fact. Time-wise, it will take you at least a few weeks before an action or task becomes a habit.
How do you know you’ve succeeded in building new habits?
Well, you’ll be doing it without giving it any thought. It becomes almost involuntary action. You don’t need to think about it, you just do it. This is why bad habits are dangerous.
When you’re used to doing something bad, something negative instinctively, it can literally destroy you, your life, your loved ones without much effort from you.
However, the good news is you can replace your bad habits with good ones. You just need to be conscious of what you’re doing. When you find yourself going back to your bad habits, give yourself a mental kick and revert to your new, positive habit.
Another technique successful people do is they anchor a new habit onto an existing habit.
So, for example, if you’re trying to build better dental habits, and you’ve already got that habit of brushing your teeth before you go to bed at night, then you can follow it up with flossing and swirling some mouthwash, too. Sooner or later, you’ll find yourself doing all three – brushing, flossing, mouthwashing – automatically.
The road to success won’t be easy. You need all the help you can get, and you need to do away with all those bad things that won’t help you get to wherever you want to go. Here are some of the best habits you should start incorporating into your daily routines.
Early Morning Habit
That means no sleeping till late noon. It doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun, does it? Well, no one ever said succeeding came easy. You need to make plenty of sacrifices if you want to succeed.
Many successful people have an early morning routine. When they rise extra early, they get more things done. They know they’ve only got a limited number of hours each day, and there are literally tons of things they need to do, so they maximize their hours. They don’t waste any time.
Sure, they get “off” days too, but even then they’re still conscious of being productive and getting ahead of anything that may require their attention.
They can effectively balance their time and divide it accordingly. They have time for themselves, they have time for their family, they have time for work, and they have time to work on their goals.
Time management is an important skill, and when you rise up early in the morning, you get a head start, and you have more time to manage.
Exercise
Some people may not like the idea of exercising regularly. They’ll say they don’t have time for that. But, the truth is, exercise has plenty of benefits.
It may tire you out at first, but that’s probably because you haven’t exercised in so long that your muscles are no longer used to strenuous physical activity.
However, if you make it a point of exercising regularly – you don’t need to spend hours at the gym! Your body will adjust, and you’ll reap all the benefits of exercising.
You’ll have more energy, you’ll feel better, you’ll feel lighter, you’ll be able to focus on your daily tasks, you’ll look better too. No matter how busy you get, make it a habit to exercise.
If you really find it hard to squeeze in the time to exercise, how about you attach it to your daily morning routine? That way, you’ll get it out of the way. And you’ll be able to focus on your other, less difficult tasks.
Eat Healthy
Maintaining a healthy diet is easier said than done. You’ve got fast food restaurants on practically every corner where the food served isn’t exactly ideal when it comes to nutrition.
There are plenty of restaurants though that serve healthy foods. However, these places can be quite costly. If you really want to eat healthy foods and not spend a fortune on your diet, then you can try cooking your own meals.
It is entirely possible to do this, a lot of successful people prepare their own food at home because they can control whatever goes in their mouth. They know it’s good for them and it won’t have random ingredients that will lead to their bodies getting sick.
As you very well know, when you get sick, you won’t be able to accomplish a lot. You’ll feel weak, you won’t be able to focus on your tasks. This is why it’s so important to have a healthy diet – you’re feeding yourself healthy, nutritious food that will enable you to be productive all day long!
Self-improvement
Successful people are always looking for ways to improve themselves. They want to become better leaders, better communicators, better team players, better business people.
So, they read books, they listen to inspirational speakers, they attend self-development seminars and workshops, they subscribe to and follow many motivational speakers.
They’re probably already good at what they do, but there’s always room for improvement. They always strive to take their game up a notch. And they’re not shy about it.
They take action every single day. They don’t let themselves stagnate, they strive to be the best they can possibly be. They’re always challenging themselves.
If you want to be like them and succeed, then you’ve got to look at how you can improve yourself. There are tons of books and courses out there on the Internet – both free and paid.
Read widely and read frequently. Then go out and take action. You don’t stop at reading – if you do, then you’re just entertaining yourself. Unless you take action, you’re not doing anything to actually improve your situation so you can reach your goals faster.
Create A To-Do List
To-do lists are extremely popular. You know why? Because they work. If you’re serious about succeeding in your goals, then you’re going to have to take to-do lists seriously.
You can’t just write up lists, and then do nothing about it. When you do that, you’re essentially wasting your time. You’re not getting anywhere with that kind of attitude.
With every item you cross off your to-do list, the closer you are to achieving your goals. It’s the bite-size version of accomplishing something.
When it comes to to-do lists, you can either use good, old pen and paper (like a post-it note), or you can use your smartphone.
Old-fashioned notes are good, but smartphones are even better. You bring your smartphone everywhere with you. There are plenty of apps you can use, apps that include an alarm function. Use these to your advantage.
Plan your day, your week, your month. Never let a day go by where you don’t take action.
Check our article about 5 Qualities That Will Help You Succeed.