5 Powerful Habits That Will Change Your Life

This is a guest post from Oscar Del Ben from FreestyleMind.com.

All of us have dreams, all of us have a list of things we want to do. Some of them are easy, some of them require something else to be done before. For example if you want to travel the world for one full year, you first need to have enough money for it or you need to have a location independent job.

Eventually, your ability to accomplish the list of your dreams is directly related to your ability to change and adapt to new situations. Being flexible and open to new opportunities is the basis of self development, and the starting point to achieve your dreams.

How to Form Powerful New Habits

Everything we do is the result of our habits, and habits are exactly what determine our flexibility and openness, so it makes sense to spend some time developing good habits.

The time you wake up in the morning, the specific hand you’ll use to brush your teeth in the morning, and how you approach a conversation with a new person, are all results of habits. You can change all of them if you want, although it’s not always necessary. But how can you change an habit if you really want to?

One of the most effective ways to change a habit, is through a 30 days habit challenge. In this challenge, you are committing yourself to reinforce and work in your habit each day. For example if you want to experience how it would feel to be a vegetarian, you can do a 30 day habit change where you’ll eat no meat for 30 days. After the 30 days have passed, you are free to return to your previous habit if you desire.

The reason I’m suggesting 30 days is because this way you are not committing yourself for the rest of your life. Indeed you can revert to your original habit on the 31st day if you want. Still, 30 days is usually enough time to go through the initial difficult phase to create the new habit.

The 5 Habits That Will Change Your Life

Below are five simple but effective habits you can implement. Each of those habits has the potential to dramatically change your life.

1.  Wake up early.

Waking up early is a tremendous time management tip. When you wake up early in the morning, you have more time to do the stuff that you are always putting off in the evening. In the morning you are fresh and you can work without distractions, usually accomplishing 2-3 times more work than in the evening. Of course if you want to wake up early, you have to go to bed earlier in the evening. 7 to 8 hours per night is usually enough. How early you wake up is up to you. My advice is to start slowly and turn back your alarm clock 15 minutes every week until you reach your goal.

2.  Eat healthy, and exercise.

Like it or not, for your brain to function properly, you have to regularly exercise and eat healthy. By eating healthy you’ll gain a lot of clearness and energy, and by exercising every day you’ll improve your ability to perform and concentrate on difficult tasks. 30 minutes of exercise every day is the standard amount of time recommended for most people.

3.  Read a book a week.

Your education is essential if you want to move further in your career. Reading a book a week in your field will make you an expert within one year (assuming you practice what you learn). In order to read one book a week, I recommend starting with 45 minutes a day. With time, you’ll learn to read faster and in less time.

4.  Work one hour every day.

I’m not referring to your day job, I’m talking about working on your goals. For example if you want to build a website, spend one hour each day working exclusively on it, preferably in the morning. You should spend this time doing only high value activities. One hour per day means that within one year you’ll have worked the equivalent of more than two months of 40 hour weeks.

5.  Embrace simplicity.

There’s no need to live in a rush. If you identify those few things and tasks that provide the highest results and enjoyment in your life, you can work more on them and discard all the remaining stuff. The Pareto rule states that 20% of your efforts produce 80% of your results. This is true in all areas of life, so always apply the Pareto rule when possible.

The Key Is to Begin a New Habit Today

You don’t have to implement all of these habits at once. One per month is enough, otherwise you would feel too overwhelmed. If one day you are unable to work on your habit, don’t give up. Start again the following day with more energy and motivation. After all, every successful person fails multiple times before succeeding. The secret is to keep going.

Oscar Del Ben writes about personal development and productivity. You can follow his blog at FreestyleMind.com and subscribe to the RSS Feed.

Photo by Tambako the Jaguar

_{»crosslinked«}

You Might Also Like: