How Habits Are The Key To Your Success

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

The sad truth is that most people don’t ever reach their goals and achieve their dreams.

They have the drive and put the work in but somehow they always manage to fall short of actually ‘making it’.

Have You Experienced Something Like This?

You know what you want and you have a plan to get the wheels turning. It all starts great, your engine is roaring, and then slowly but surely, your machine grinds to a halt.

Fuel tank empty, momentum gone.

And you’re just short of your final destination.

But this isn’t the case for everyone. Some people seem to smash their goals and achieve their dreams no matter how big they seem to be?

So Why Are Some People So Lucky?

And why do they get to see their hard work turn into accomplishments?

Because it’s not luck.

It’s tactical.

The good news is that you can use the same tactics as the people who are successful.

You can set yourself up to succeed – when you know how.

The problem is, most people are setting themselves up to fail without even realising it.

How? They try to reach their goals by making big jumps all at once.

Like when people decide they want to get in shape. They cut out sugar and junk food and plan to go to the gym 5 times a week.

It starts great but it’s too much, too fast. It doesn’t take long for them to lose momentum and it all comes to a halt before they reach their goal.

The diet slips, the gym shoes lay in the bottom of the wardrobe and your weight remains the same…

Even the best-laid plans can result in failure if you’re making it too hard for yourself. If you rely on momentum instead of good habits, you will soon run out of gas and be left stranded, miles away from where you want to be.

So Is That The Secret? Good habits?

In short, yes. It’s all about habits. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Everybody has habits, even if you’re not aware of them. Brushing your teeth every morning is a necessity that we turn into a daily habit to make sure that it always gets done.

Most of us have bad habits too.

Drinking a ton of coffee instead of getting enough sleep, biting your nails (or toenails!) or maybe you always finish the day with a glass of wine even when you know that you’re drinking more than you should!

There are ugly habits that are even worse than bad habits. Ugly habits are the ones that are self-destructive and affect your daily life. Like procrastinating.

If you’re a serious procrastinator, you’re probably underproductive in most areas of your life. This is stressful for the procrastinator and everybody else around them!

Why Habits Are The Answer To Achieving Your Dreams 

Habits are easy to form and difficult to break.

If you want to get something done so that you can get closer to your goals, you need to make it easy for yourself.

Make it a habit.

As an example, I was told to up my protein intake. The easiest way for me to do this was to drink protein water. No big effort.

Except that I kept forgetting and I’d get to the end of the day and realise that I hadn’t prepared a single drink of protein water.

To achieve my goal, I had to make it even easier.

I created a water shelf so that everything I needed was right behind me whilst I was working. It only took a few days and it became a habit that turned into part of my daily routine.

To Break Bad Habits, You Do The Opposite

Make it more difficult.

If the habit is drinking too much wine, stop buying the wine. Or keep it in a cellar/garage/shed so that it’s an effort to reach it and you probably won’t be bothered to go and get it!

Ugly habits are harder to fix but the key is just to make the alternative more attractive to you. Remind yourself of your “why”, have clarity, and create more accountability.

Successful People Are Not Born Lucky

They take control of their habits and make sure that their daily habits are taking them closer to their goals and not further away.

This is the easiest way that you can achieve the things you want in life without relying on luck or motivation.

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” – Jim Rohn. Successful American entrepreneur and author.

Want To Learn More About Habits?

Check out the book “The Slight Edge” by Jeff Olson to understand the power of compounding tiny change.

P.S. If you haven’t already I would encourage you to take my quiz to discover what type of business owner you are, knowing this can help take you from where you are now to becoming more successful personally, professionally and financially – quickly, efficiently and effectively.