People often think setting the big hairy audacious goal is the key to success. It isn’t. The key to success is what you do year to year, month to month, and day to day that gets the results you need to achieve your goals. Habits are the foundation of success because they are literally how you carry yourself minute to minute. What’s incredible is once you form a habit it becomes unconscious and you don’t need to think about it or force yourself to do something–it happens automatically.
The power of habit is undeniable. Constructive habits, like exercising or eating vegetables, carried out over many years can have tremendous impact. It’s kind of like water dripping on a stone. Over the course of a day or even a month, you will not see any change to the rock. But leave it there for long enough and the water will literally wear away the stone. How do you think the grand canyon was formed?
What’s funny is the the habits you form not only determine your success… they also determine the kind of person you are. You literally are your habits. If you have habits of discipline, you will be known as a disciplined person. If you have habits of late night binge eating, you will be known as a fat person. This can also work in the other direction. A great question to ask yourself as you try to form habits and become the kind of person you want to be is “What would XYZ person do?” If you want to be fit, ask yourself, “What would a fit person do?” Eventually, as you repeat these actions/behaviors enough, you will become that person. You can also think of yourself as that fit person, which makes you all the more likely to carry the action forward. If you are debating whether or not to go to the gym, you can remind yourself that you are a fit person and it will propel you towards the gym.
Suggested reading:
- Power of Habit
- Atomic Habits
