Habits = You, Part 1

I’m fascinated by the power of habits and I’m pretty sure I’ll be writing about habits a lot.

With that in mind, this article is about why I am fascinated by them - and I’m pretty sure I could write for hours on this! So with my 30 minute writing habit in mind, here I go…

When someone asks you about your habits, what comes to mind?

If you’re like most people you will start to think of:

• Consciously chosen good habits - gym routine, dieting, approach to scheduling your day and so on

• Bad habits - smoking, eating junk food, vegging out in front of the TV, procrastinating.

But when we look more closely, a high percentage of the things we do are habitual and many of them we didn’t consciously choose, they just kinda happened. The list is nearly endless; here are some that come to mind:

• When and how we go to bed and get up

• Meal times

• How long we sit at the computer without standing up

• The types of TV shows we like to watch, books we like to read and podcasts we like to listen to

• The way we respond to all manner of indicators in our environment, from the barrel of biscuits on the kitchen table to the person passing us in the street

• How we plan our holidays

Digging even deeper, external habits are driven by internal habits of thinking, such as:

• What we tell ourselves we are capable of doing, learning, achieving

• What we believe is important

• What we focus on

Deeper still are emotional habits, our ways of reacting to the world born of our upbringing, and many other factors.

Here’s the really important bit: We are a product of our habits. Who you are today, what you believe about yourself, how you relate to the world, your emotional life, your identity, your physical well being and more is, broadly speaking, a product of your habits. While single events can be significant, and we are shaped by our environment, ultimately what makes the difference is what you do daily - how you react and respond to the world, how you think and how you act.

Look back on your life and see how this is true for you. And if you don’t believe habits have shaped you, and you are looking at external circumstances, perhaps you have a habit of blaming situations and others?

Habits are so personal, we all have different values and dreams, and each person needs to find what works for them. So I’ll just tell you some of my more effective habits.

And… time is up. So I shall share my habits in my next article 😊

What are you getting from this? Share an insight below ✅

Jon

This article is part of 100 Days of Creation, my challenge to myself to write 100 articles in 140 days, each taking no longer than 30 minutes to write and publish.