Seven Little Habits That Can Transform Your Life, and How to Make Them
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.”
If you could just pick one or two (or seven) habits to create in the next few months — habits that will have the most impact on your life — what would they be?
I often get asked this question, because people are overwhelmed when it comes to starting positive life changes.
They ask me: what one or two habits should they start with?
It’s not an easy question. There are so many changes I’ve gone through, from quitting smoking to simplifying my life to reducing debt to many more. And they’ve all seemed life-changing, and they’ve all seemed important.
But if I were to start again, and had to pick one or two, it would be the one or two listed below. The list that follows is in order of what I think I’d do the first 6-7 months of changing my life … but realize that every person is different. No one should follow my choices exactly — you’ve got to figure out what works for you.
That said, if you followed the program below, and worked to develop these habits, you’d probably do pretty well.
“Men’s natures are alike; it is their habits that separate them.” – Confucius
How to Develop the Habits
I’ve written a number of times about developing habits, but here are the basics:
Do a 30-day challenge, focusing on just ONE habit.
Write it out on paper, along with your motivations, obstacles, and strategies for overcoming them.
Commit fully, in a public way.
Log your progress.
Remain publicly accountable — report on your progress each day.
Have support for when you falter — either in real life or online.
Reward every little success.
If you fail, figure out what went wrong, plan for it, and try again.
Read more:
13 Things to Avoid When Changing Habits
How to Establish New Habits the No-Sweat Way
Engineer Life: Set Up Habit Changes So It’s Hard to Fail
Autopilot Achievement: How to Turn Your Goals Into Habits
The Seven Little Habits That Can Change Your Life
OK, so now you know how to form a habit — and remember, only do them one at a time — but you want to know the seven little habits. Here they are, in my order of preference (but yours may be different):
I learned this when I quit smoking — when I allowed myself to think negative thoughts, I would end up failing. But when I learned how to squash negative thoughts and think positive ones instead, I succeeded. This discovery lead to me practicing this over and over, until I was able to form just about any habit I needed. It’s been invaluable to me, and I think it could be to most people.
Focus on this habit first, and you’ll have a much easier time with any of the others. Start by becoming more aware of your negative self-talk — do a little tally sheet throughout the day, marking a tally each time you notice a negative thought. Soon you’ll recognize them, and you can squash them.
Read more:
Top Motivation Hack: Positive Thinking
Can You Spot These 10 Thinking Sins
It makes you feel better about yourself, and more confident. That leads to better success with other positive changes.
It reinforces the positive thinking habit — you need to think positive in order to sustain exercise.
It relieves stress and gives you time to think — this leads to better mental well-being in your life overall.
It helps with creativity. Don’t ask me to prove it, except to say that my best ideas and brainstorming sessions come from when I exercise.
Here’s how:
4 Simple Steps to Start the Exercise Habit
How to Make Exercise a Daily Habit
7 Ways to Build the Exercise Habit
You’ll be more effective with your tasks and get more done. It’s hard to achieve important things if you’re constantly switching tasks and distracted by other “urgent” things.
You’ll be less stressed overall and (in my experience) happier throughout your day.
Read more:
How Not To Multi-task: Work Simpler and Saner
Now Do This and the Single-tasking Philosophy
The Magical Power of Focus
What if you have 5 goals you want to achieve? Pick one to focus on first. Break it into a mini-goal you can accomplish this month, if it’s a longer-term goal. Pick an action you can do today. Keep doing this until the goal is accomplished — do an action every day, finish the mini-goal, pick the next mini-goal to work on. Then, when your One Goal is completed, focus on the next goal.
Some goals are ongoing ones — like blogging every day, or exercising every day. In those cases, turn them into habits — focus exclusively on turning the goal into a habit, until the habit is ingrained. Then focus on the next goal.
Read more:
A Simple Guide to Setting and Achieving Your Life Goals
This will change your life because it will help you to simplify, to focus on what’s important, and to build the life you want.
Read more:
Eliminate All But the Absolute Essential Tasks
Haiku Productivity: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential
How do you develop the kindness habit? First, make it a goal to do something kind for someone each day. At the beginning of the day, figure out what that kind act will be and then do it during the day. Second, each time you interact with someone, try to be kind, be friendly, be compassionate. Third, try to go beyond small kindnesses to larger acts of compassion, volunteering to help those in need and taking the initiative to relieve suffering.
Read more:
18 Practical Tips for Living the Golden Rule
Faith in Humanity: How to Bring People Closer, and Restore Kindness
A Guide to Cultivating Compassion in Your Life
25 Ways to Help a Fellow Human Being Today
The No. 1 Lifehack You can Implement Today to Make the World a Better Place
How will that change your life? It will help you get a great start to your day, and finish your day by preparing for the next day. It’ll help you firmly root the productive habits you want to firm in your everyday life. It’ll help you focus on what’s important, not just what comes up. It’ll help you make sure you get done all the things you really want to make sure gets done everyday. And that can mean a lot.
