Habits are the actions formed by repetition to a point where it is performed without awareness (on reflex). There is an old saying that bad habits are easy to form and old ones are hard to break so whilst no one really pays attention to habit-forming, it is pertinent to discuss how habit contributes largely to one’s life.
If you are asked, ‘are you always early to work?’ believe that the response to this question is deeply rooted in habit. To be at work early you need to wake up early, you need to go to bed early. To go to bed early, you need to stop anything that hampers your ability to sleep for instance, scrolling through your phone. These are intricate habits that drag on and cause tardiness at work. Also, if you snooze the alarm three times before getting up, that’s a habit too.
It is by natures design for humans to learn by doing and when it does not stick the first time, we do it again until it does. A child learns to run by repeatedly sitting, crawling and then walking. To be a great singer, one has to practice. And yes talent does help, but discipline, practice and hard work (which are forms of habits) overshadows talent every time.
A person’s life completely revolves around the habits they have formed for themselves and this cuts across physical or mundane things. Emotions and Thoughts are all governed by habits. The bible quote, ‘as a man thinks so is he’ can further be explained as what a man continually thinks of, is what he turns out to be. Since your thoughts govern your words and actions, who you are or become is a physical manifestation of what you spent time seeing in your mind over and over again.
Many successful men and women have attested to the fact that the habits you keep can make or mar your future. And if you look closely, they are easy to spot. Because habits are pathways to both success and failure, run away from these ones;
- Complaining and making excuses: Successful people don’t have the time to complain, they see a problem and immediately proffer ways to solve it and move on.
- Keeping mediocre friends: Mediocrity loves company. If you mix up with highly efficient people, it rubs off on you. The people you keep should contribute positively to your life goals.
- Unwillingness to learn: You must be open to new ways of doing things. We live in a global age where new information sprouts constantly, being abreast of these changes is pertinent.
- Unbalanced diet and lack of rest: The food you consume significantly affects your state of being and for the brain to function at optimal capacity, it requires sleep. Remember, a sick person only has one goal, to get better.
- Procrastination: This epidemic affects a large number of people and is one of the major factors of unsuccessfulness. Procrastination kills time, ideas and dreams.
- Blaming others: People who are quick to cast blame for their own shortcomings are more likely to not be successful. Often times, people have a bigger hand in their errors but are too thick headed to admit it. This stifles growth.
Cultivating new and better habits could be daunting but the after effects are invaluable. Cease to live life cycling through habits that no longer serve you or your purpose. Dream big, plan and forcefully execute.
