“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
Hey Hey Beautiful! It’s the first day of December and I’ve started my end-of-year ritual of reflection and introspection. With exactly 30 days left in 2016 and 2017 around the corner, it’s easy to go into freak out mode because we may have missed the mark and didn’t achieve all that we had planned for the year. I admit, I felt a mini panic coming on yesterday so I forced myself to reflect on how much I did achieve. It’s all about what you focus on! 2016 was a BIG year for my husband and I, but how easily do we focus on what we didn’t get done. Today, I awoke with a better perspective and look forward to the new opportunities 2017 will offer. Over the next month, I challenge you to reflect on how the past year turned out, before jumping into something new. Think about this… your life this past year has been a result of all of your habits, both good and bad. (OUCH!!) And the habits you decide to eliminate, change, and improve upon will ultimately determine your level of success in 2017. Now ask yourself this… What habits are keeping you from achieving your goals and becoming the person you want to be? I really want you to be honest with yourself and think about this. For example: I admit, due to building my brand myself without a team (getting a team together is one of my 2017 goals) I spend too much time on social media. It’s been a challenge to schedule my social media time. I always plan to post content and get off, BUT how often do we see a post that leads us to whatever is tagged then you go over to that account and on and on. Yikes, you’ve lost 30 minutes and you could have used that time to get in that cardio you’ve been meaning to do. Who feels me? Another example of a habit I need to change– getting in enough cardio! I swear, I talk to myself sometimes and say, “Tiff get off your lazy a$$”. Seriously. I’ve been diving into great books and listening to my favorite motivators and thought leaders. This morning I opened this email from Jack Canfield and was absolutely meant to read his latest blog– see below. Thought you would enjoy the kick in the bootie too!
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The reality is that you – and the life you lead today – are the result of your habits. Changing habits can seem difficult to accomplish at first, but success is a result of your habits.
If you think about it, you’re living out your habits every day. From how early you get out of bed, to your morning routine, how you dress, walk, exercise, interact with others and even what you habitually think about and how you respond to the world.
These habits got you to where you are today…
The fact is that habits are necessary. They free up your mind so you can concentrate on how to survive day to day. For instance, you don’t have to think about how to drive your car – which allows you instead to be on the lookout for danger while you’re driving.
Unfortunately, habits can also keep you locked in self-destructive patterns, which limit your success. Becoming successful is a result of changing habits. You’ll need to eliminate bad habits and develop new ones that are in alignment with the life you want to live.
The life you want to live won’t just materialize one day… your habits determine your outcomes!
What is Keeping You From Achieving Your Goals?
What are the habits that you live with every day that are keeping you from achieving your goals?
What habits are keeping you from achieving your goals?
I encourage you to be really honest with yourself here…
- Are you always running late?
- Do you forget to return phone calls within 24 hours?
- Do you stay up late and never get enough sleep?
- Do you often break promises to your friends and family?
- Do you resist planning out your day?
- Do you spend money you don’t have?
- Do you avoid putting important tasks and events in your calendar?
- Do you drink alcohol more than once a week – and do you have more than two drinks per day?
Imagine the Result of You Changing Habits
- What would your life be like if you ate healthy meals, exercised and got enough sleep?
- What if you saved your money, stopped using credit cards, and paid cash for everything?
- What if you stopped procrastinating, overcame your fears, and began networking with people in your field?
- What if you created a detailed annual plan for success – then chunked it down into monthly, weekly, and daily plans to ensure you stayed on track to achieving your goals?
Would your life be different if you changed your habits? I bet it would!
The 2 Steps to Changing Habits
My suggested action step for you is to write down some productive habits you couldvisualize, then adopt in your life. Step two is to ‘act as if’ you were living these new habits right now!
To help you get moving toward creating more successful habits right away, I’d like to recommend that you develop four new success habits each year, one for each quarter.
Once you determine the new habit you’re ready to adopt, next you’ll want to create a method that will support your new habit.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
- You could write it down on a card that you keep with you and read several times a day.
- You could make it a part of your daily visualization.
- You could also enlist the help of an accountability partner who has habits they also want to change, or work with a personal coach who can keep you on track.
Make a 100% Commitment to You New Habit
It’s important to make a 100% commitment to your new habit, so be specific about the steps that you’re willing to take in order to drop an old habit and adopt a new one. Don’t be vague about how you will change your habits. Spell it out for yourself so you can put yourself in situations that will motivate you to act upon your new habit.
Just developing four good habits a year will dramatically shift your life to be more in line with achieving your vision. And the more focused you are, the easier your other, not-so-good habits will be to replace. Your perspective will shift and you’ll see more clearly how your old habits just aren’t serving you anymore.
Make the decision. Make the commitment. Then watch your new, positive life unfold!
I want to leave you with a bit of homework to complete after you’re done reading. Write down the four habits that you want to develop over the next year. Make a 100% commitment to each of your new habits and watch great things happen.
Leave a comment below and tell me which new habit you have in mind to develop first.
Changing habits in 2017 starts with a fresh set of goals using my 12-Month Success Planner. I designed this planner to help you plan exactly how to tackle daily challenges and achieve your goals. Use it to get a jump on the new year.
To your new habits in 2017,
Jack Canfield
Jack Canfield, America’s #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul® and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com