The more pride you have in a particular aspect of your identity, the more motivated you’ll be to maintain the habits associated with it.
Success is the product of daily habits – not once in a lifetime transformation.
(a.) Alt. of Atomical
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 are the compound interest of self-improvement. The same way that money multiplies through interest.
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.
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.
Behavior only shifts if the punishment is painful enough and reliably enforced.
The more immediate and more costly a mistake is, the faster you will learn from it.
Sluggish days and bad workouts maintain the compound gains you accrued from previous good days.
The first mistake is never the one that ruins you. It is the spiral of repeated mistakes that follows.
If you can’t learn the basic skill of showing up, then you have little hope of mastering the finer details.
But the point is not to do one thing. The point is to master the habit of showing up.
You don’t actually want the habit itself. What you really want is the outcome the habits delivers.
If you want to master a habit, the key is to start with repetition, not perfection.
If I outline twenty ideas for articles I want to write, that’s motion. If I actually sit down and write an article, that’s action.
The process of behavior change always start with awareness. You need to be aware of your habits before you can change them.
Fundamentally, habits are not about having something. They are about becoming someone.