Many people consider habits as a tedious, mundane, and dull process that limits freedom, creativity, and curiosity.
However, considering that many successful people credit their habits as a factor in their success, this contradicts the belief that habits are restrictive.
Because what you do every day has a strong influence on how you feel, behave, act, and live your life. Furthermore, your daily habits are your most important ally in overall well-being, personal development, and success.
Habits, therefore, promote your freedom and creativity in life rather than restricting and limiting you.
What exactly are good habits?
Habits are thoughts, actions, and behaviors that we repeat so frequently that they become ingrained in the memory region of our brain. When this happens, every time the path is activated, we perform it automatically from memory. Bypassing the active brain and forming a habit as a result.
However, the process of habit formation does not differentiate between good and bad habits. To conserve brain power, the mind creates pathways in the brain for repetitive actions.
It is the impact of habits on a person that determines whether they are good or bad. So when your habits have a positive effect on you, they are then considered good habits.
Good habits assist you in carrying out critical activities such as healthy eating, exercising, getting enough sleep, or waking up early, as well as planning, organizing, time management, saving, and continuous learning.
Thus, good habits are those that bring you closer to living your best life and are essential to achieving success and happiness.
How habits promote freedom and creativity
Developing good habits help promote freedom by allowing you to do the things you need to do in your most optimal state. And once you complete your most important tasks, you can devote your time to other activities.
For example, developing a productivity habit such as waking up early allows you to spend a quiet early morning on yourself. To work out, meditate, or plan and organize your day.
When you wake up early, you start the day with the right mindset and energy. You also get a head start on doing and finishing your tasks for the day.
With productivity and focus, you can get a lot more important things done in less time. That means you will have more free time to pursue other interests.
As another example, developing good health habits such as regular exercise and healthy eating will provide you with energy and vitality for your work while also leaving you with some energy to spend on other interesting pursuits.
In terms of creativity, there are several daily routines and habits you can practice that will support and nurture your creativity while also allowing your mind to flow.
Meditation, journaling, walking, sketching, reading, and trying new things are examples of these habits. They can assist your mind and senses in opening up, wandering, wondering, and developing new and innovative ideas. For growth or improvement.
Why good habits are important
Your habits influence many aspects of your life, including your mental and physical health, productivity, relationships, and self-esteem. This is due to the automation of thoughts, actions, and behaviors that have become habits.
This automation becomes an important factor especially when low on motivation. This is because the discipline formed through your good habits will come through and enable you to get things done when you are not feeling inspired.
Consider the possibilities when your good habits are automated and you don’t have to exert extra effort to get them started.
Imagine how much more productive, creative, and successful you will be in your professional and personal life if you consistently develop and maintain good habits.
Developing and implementing good habits can also boost your self-esteem.
With good habits, you realize you have the ability to improve your life. And that you can aim for and achieve your goals by developing habits that will serve and support you along the way.
How to develop new habits
In order to develop new habits, it is important to take note of what makes the habit loop. The habit loop is composed of the cue, response, and reward.
The cue is the signal that causes a habit to be carried out. The response is the act or habit that must be performed. And the reward is the satisfaction or relief you will feel when you complete the habit.
You can then develop a new habit with these 3 factors in mind. For example, if you want to develop the habit of waking up early, your cue can be your alarm clock set at the desired wake-up time. The response is that of getting up as soon as the alarm sets off. And your reward is enjoying a cup of coffee without interruption.
Furthermore, you can start developing your good habits with these simple steps:
- Set a goal. Having a goal gives you a purpose to take control of your actions so you can reach your goal.
- Create a plan. A plan is a detailed road map to your goal. It specifies when, where, and how you will achieve your goal. You can also set your habit cues here for better implementation.
- Start small. Break down your goal into manageable chunks. Make the chunks as easy to achieve as possible so that you can gain momentum and self-esteem to continue pursuing your dream.
- Take action. To paraphrase the Chinese proverb, a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. Likewise, a building will never be built if you do not take it off the drafting table. So start with just that one step.
- Reward yourself. It will act as an incentive, as dopamine will make you feel good and thus encourage you to continue practicing the habit.
Can you replace bad habits?
Bad habits develop as a result of following the path of least resistance in life, such as always choosing the simplest and most convenient option or seeking instant gratification.
According to Brian Tracy in his book, Million Dollar Habits, “The fact is that good habits are hard to form but easy to live with. Bad habits, on the other hand, are easy to form but hard to live with. In either case, you develop either good or bad habits as the result of your repeated choices, decisions, and behaviors.”
Following Mr. Tracy’s quote, because habits are the result of choices and decisions we make in life, we can then choose to replace bad habits.
It will undoubtedly take time and considerable effort. Given that bad habits never truly disappear. They simply lay dormant, waiting for you to make a mistake so they can resurface.
Still, you can replace bad habits and maintain good ones with consistent practice, a positive attitude, and a desire to change. And, to quote another brilliant man,
Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.
Barack Obama, former U.S. President
How long does it take to form a habit?
It is widely assumed that new habits take 21 days to form. Your new habits, however, will form based on the difficulty of the new behavior you are attempting to instill.
Furthermore, according to James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, “On average, it takes more than 2 months before a new behavior becomes automatic — 66 days to be exact. And how long it takes a new habit to form can vary widely depending on the behavior, the person, and the circumstances. In Lally’s study, it took anywhere from 18 days to 254 days for people to form a new habit.”
That being said, in order to properly set your expectations, keep in mind that the new habits you are developing will take you between two and eight months, not 21 days as is commonly believed.
Additionally, the researchers cited by James Clear also found that “missing one opportunity to perform the behavior did not materially affect the habit formation process.”
This then gives you a good reason to be kind to yourself whenever you fail to practice a new habit. What matters is that you pick up where you left off and keep going.
After all, developing habits is a continuous process. You keep and maintain them in order to support and achieve your goals.
Types of good habits you need for success
You may engage in a variety of habits on a daily basis, ranging from financial and spending habits to healthy living habits. You may be unaware that certain behaviors qualify as habits.
Moreover, the quality of your daily habits, which can be classified into 3 types, determines the quality of your life.
These 3 types of good habits are productivity habits, physical habits, and mental habits. Each habit you develop in one category will improve your life. But developing habits in all 3 categories will exponentially increase your success and happiness.
- Habits of Productivity. These are systems, routines, and processes that have become habits in order to get things done. Planning, organizing, time management, block scheduling, employing the 2-minute rule, having an MIT, and so on are examples.
- Mental habits. These habits are all about cultivating a positive mental attitude and fortitude that will benefit you both personally and professionally. They are formed by repeatedly practicing good thinking skills until they become instinctive. Quick decision-making, problem-solving, creativity, positive thinking, perseverance, and mindfulness are examples of mental habits.
- Physical habits. These habits are linked to your physical actions and muscular activities, which contribute to your overall well-being. Regular exercise, drinking water, eating a healthy diet, and getting enough rest and recreation are all examples.
Consider developing these types of habits in order to live the life you desire. Follow the simple process of forming new habits and commit to consistent practice. Concentrate on developing one good habit at a time and you will be on your way to success in no time.
Top 10 inspirational quotes to develop habits
Here are some inspirational quotes to get you started on your path to developing new habits:
– Lewis Howes
- I have learned that champions aren’t just born; champions can be made when they embrace and commit to life-changing positive habits.
2. The secret of change is to focus all your energy NOT on fighting the old but on BUILDING the new.
– Socrates
3. If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.
– Colin Powell
4. If you pick the right small behavior and sequence it right, then you won’t have to motivate yourself to have it grow. It will just happen naturally, like a good seed planted in a good spot.
– BJ Fogg
5. Successful people aren’t born that way. They become successful by establishing the habit of doing things unsuccessful people don’t like to do.
– William Makepeace Thackeray
6. You cannot change your future; but, you can change your habits, and surely your habits…will change your future.
– Dr. Abdul Kalam
7. Ultimately, your state of mind determines your circumstances. To realize the outcomes you want, it is critical to recognize and experience the transition from our present thoughts, habits, and actions to new thoughts, habits, and actions.
– Darren L. Johnson
8. You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.
– John C. Maxwell
9. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
– Aristotle
10. Starting something new or making a big change requires effort, persistence and motivation…Doubt, fear and worry will only slow you down. Focus on doing your best now and celebrate every step of the way.
– Doe Zantamata
Conclusion
To sum up, your daily habits play an important role in achieving overall well-being, personal development, and success. And, contrary to popular belief, good habits promote freedom and creativity rather than being restrictive.
For example, with good productivity and focus habits, you can accomplish a lot more important tasks in less time. This means you will have more time to pursue your other interests.
There are also several daily routines and habits that you can practice to foster, support, and nurture your creativity while also allowing your mind to flow, such as meditation, doing art and crafts, trying new things, or connecting with nature.
These examples demonstrate how your habits can influence various aspects of your life. And how, thanks to automation, they can help you improve and maintain your mental and physical health, productivity, relationships, and self-esteem.
Now, in developing new habits, consider the 3 factors of the habit loop for easier implementation. And follow the simple steps below to form good habits:
- Set a goal.
- Create a plan.
- Start small.
- Take action. And
- Reward yourself.
Also, keep in mind that it can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days for new habits to form. Or, on average, 66 days rather than 21, as is commonly assumed.
Finally, the good habits you develop determine the quality of your life. And these habits can be grouped into 3 types: productivity habits, physical habits, and mental habits.
Each habit you develop in one type will improve your life, but developing habits in all 3 types will significantly increase your chances of success and happiness.