Success is the product of daily habits – not once in a lifetime transformation.
We make a few changes, but the results never seem to come quickly and so we slide back into our previous routines.
It is only when looking back two, five, or perhaps ten years that the value of good habits and the cost of bad ones become strikingly apparent.
Habits seem to make little difference on any given day and yet the impact they deliver over the months and years can be enormous.
I had never considered myself a mastery of a topic, but rather someone who was experimenting alongside my readers.
With the same habits, you’ll end with up with the same results. But with better habits, anything is possible.
A lack of self-awareness is poison. Reflection and review is the antidote.
Everything is impermanent. Life is constantly changing, so you need to periodically check in to see if you old habits and beliefs are still serving you.
The downside of habits is that you get used to doing things a certain way and stop paying attention to little errors.
Professionals take action even when the mood isn’t right. They might not enjoy it, but they find a way to put the reps in.
You just need enough ‘winning’ to experience satisfaction and just enough ‘wanting’ to experience desire.
Even if you’re not the most naturally gifted, you can often win by being the best in a very narrow category.
At some point, you need to make sure you’re playing the right game for your skillset.
Behavior only shifts if the punishment is painful enough and reliably enforced.
I try to remind myself of a simple rule: never miss twice.
Focus on the process rather than the results.
The more a habit becomes part of your life, the less you need outside encouragement to follow through.
The costs of your good habits are in the present. The costs of your bad habits are in the future.
You have to standardize before you can optimize. You can’t improve a habit that doesn’t exist.
You don’t actually want the habit itself. What you really want is the outcome the habits delivers.