Habitual Habit Forming
I have some bad habits. Don’t you? Seriously, I have bad habits, most of which I am afraid to mention here. They aren’t too bad, but they are habits and I think about them all the time and how to break them. I have good habits too.
One of my good habits, which of course some of you will think is crazy, is the habit of getting up at 4:00 am in the morning and reading. My goal was to read one book a week this year and I got up to week 37 before I started to get behind. As I write this in week 48 having read thirty-seven books this year, I think still constitutes something good.
Of course, I suppose I should confess and describe a bad habit I have. More recently I have begun to spend more time than I should watching farm homesteading videos on YouTube. How is this bad? The videos aren’t bad. They are videos of how to raise pigs, chickens, etc done by some really good people of the earth.
I have about 6 acres out in the country and it’s my fantasy to do just that. Raise some livestock, get some egg-layers, build a little permaculture out here in our rocky northeastern soil. The “bad” about this habit is the amount of time I spend watching when I could actually be doing it. I have decided that I spend too much time learning and not doing.
Much has been said about habits. There are books everywhere about how to create and sustain habits. I have read several of them. Like anything we do as humanoids, we are programmable. Think about this. When we are born, we are a blank canvas. Our personalities, our beliefs, how we act when we are happy, sad, frustrated, or challenged are all based upon the environment in which we are surrounded and how those around us teach us how to handle various situations.
As an adult the many ways we react to stress or the other challenges in life were programmed into us along time ago. The way you were raised or the environment you experienced over the years will go long way towards how you view the world today and react to the stressors. We can all basically agree on this. However, we all have annoying little habits or beliefs that may be limiting us from reaching our full potential.
The voice in your head keeps telling you that you can’t do math, or that you can’t cook or that attaining monetary wealth, “just isn’t in the cards for you.” How did that get in your programmable brain and how does this affect you? It may be impacting your life more than you think.
A habit is simply something you do or think repeatedly without thinking about it. Every morning I am up at 4:00 am to read. I go downstairs, go to the bathroom, start the coffee and sit down and read for at least 30 to 40 minutes. This is a habit I created because it was important to me. I have always enjoyed the quiet stillness of the morning and I enjoy doing this immensely. I created this habit and it is hard to break. It’s a good habit.
Identifying the good habits or creating habits that you want to instill in your life will take some work and breaking bad habits will take even more work. The good news is that there are books to help you. Here are some I recommend
Mini-Habits — Smaller Habits, Bigger Results by Stephen Guise. The Author of this book puts forth the idea that creating or changing habits need not be monumental and that changes can be made at a very micro level. One push-up a day is enough to start on your way to 100 push-ups a day. Start with one. Start with getting on the floor in the position that prepares one for a push up. If you want to start working out or walking or running start with putting on your running shoes and run across the yard for 30 seconds. Just make sure whatever habit you want to create you are doing it every day. Repeat, repeat, repeat. I read this book a number of years ago and I still consider it one of the best books on changing and creating habits. You can find out more about the author at his website.
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear. James Clear has been on the podcast circuit and this is where I was first aware of his book. I really liked this book as it got into details about how not only create good habits, but also how to replace the bad habits with good ones. Clear takes this complex issue of creating and changing habits and provides the reader with easy to use tactics that can be used in your everyday life. I always enjoy books that use real-life examples when the goal is to teach us a new skill or help ourselves perform. James Clear does this in his book. Of course, he has a website where you can access more information about him and purchase his books and other products.
High Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That Way by Brendan Burchard Brendan Burchard is one of the most sought after and listened to human performance coaches and speakers today. He has a podcast, teaches classes online, holds seminars and speaks at conferences. His book doesn’t necessarily help you with creating personal habits or break habits that are causing you issues but outlines six habits that are those the best performers and achievers incorporate into their daily lives. Incorporate them into your life and the idea is you will have the same success. More than the other two books mentioned here he has frequent invitations to visit his website for free templates and other bits of information. His website can be found here.
Cultivating the habits that will cause your life to be fulfilled and help you achieve your personal goals are a must in today’s fast paced world. It has been said that to be successful it is good to have goals. However, if you concentrate only on the goals, which are the outcome, you will never get there. Concentrate on the steps, the habits, the little things that, combined with all the other steps and habits will get you were you need to be.
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