How to Implement Your Next Life-Changing Habit
Don’t wait until tomorrow to do this
The best time to begin a new habit is today. Not tomorrow, not next week or next month; today.
And of course this may sound cliche like a self-help axiom parroted by so many authors and speakers and YouTubers, but it is oft repeated because it is true.
There is actually much less resistance to starting a new habit if you eliminate the time beforehand that you would ordinarily use to think and ponder about the new habit.
Take that overthinking time out of the equation and all that’s left is action.
Action is what makes things happen, and this is the case over and over again. The actions taken now, and repeated each and every day, become the person you are and the person you will become.
Use today for action, rather than a long-winded, backpedalling rumination over potential action. The results will speak for themselves.
When you or I want to install a new habit into our lives (or, when we unknowingly install a new habit), it typically occurs based on a repeated action. The action is repeated in such a way that, after a short span of days or weeks, it is as if one could not continue life without that specific action.
This applies similarly to television first thing in the morning or working out first thing in the morning. The person you are and the person you become are simply the sum total of repeated actions.
In this sense, forming habits can be broken down into a simple process.
First: think of something that you would be willing to do each day that would improve your life, health, relationships, or intellect in some measurable degree.
(Start small — don’t plan to begin with a marathon after months of being sedentary; don’t plan to read a book per day after years without finishing a novel.)
Second: do it every day.
Imagine who you would be if you knew that each day you were completing X, Y, or Z healthy habits. How would that change your self-perception? Your self-image? Your confidence?
Or taken another way, how do you perceive someone else who, for example, practices admirable, healthy habits each and every day? They are usually people that, whether you like them or not, command respect and attention.
Taking action towards one new habit is the springboard to elevating yourself into that position.
The habits we practice every single day become the tools we use and the platform we stand upon to become a better, stronger, smarter individual.
However, implementing habits begin first with action (as well as the elimination of procrastination, overthinking, and postponement).
Easy? Not quite. But simple? Fundamentally so.
Phil is a travel writer and editor. If you liked this article, you can see more of his ideas on his travel blog and Instagram.
