Creating Good Habits

 

“We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle

 

January.  A new month for exciting things to begin to happen.  “This year is going to be different than all the rest!”  How many times have we all said that?

Everyone seems to start out a new year with a laundry list of resolutions, only to forget them a few days later.  Rather than trying to make several large changes such as “I’m going to exercise everyday this year”, “I’m going to read the entire Bible before summer”, or “I’m never spending another unnecessary penny!”.  Try starting with small changes, small changes over time can have a huge impact.  

Do you want to be healthier this year?  Try cutting back on something like less trips to the gourmet coffee shop during the week, or if you are a pop drinker start having one diet soda per day instead of two.  If you normally have 2 sodas per day and drop down to one, that’s 365 less cans of pop over a year – that’s great progress!

Maybe you want to be more fiscally fit this year.  Take a week or two and write down everything you spend money, even the 25 cents for the gum ball machine, write down everything!  Not only do you see where your money is going, you start to become more mindful about spending in the first place.  Just like above, that habit of going to the coffee shop each morning isn’t good for your waistline or your wallet.

It takes about three weeks for a new habit to kick in, pick one area of your life that you would like to focus on and focus on that area for three weeks.  Doing a little bit each day really does make an impact.  Before you know it those big goals don’t seem so unreachable!

Some recommendations for more information on the subject of creating good habits:

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

The Compound Effect

30 Day Push – A free program that helps you to be more organized and create good habits