Simple Habits for Success

Over the weekend I was sharing with someone few easy to understand (but not easy to follow) traits I have learnt along the way:

Endurance - It’s about breaking through your "quitting" points. It’s a muscle that you develop over time. Every time you give in, give up or get distracted you weaken the muscle. Every time you push through even if it’s a small bit you strengthen the "endurance muscle" and next time it gets a little easier.?

Discipline - It’s the habit of planning what you need to do and following through. Follow through is the key. This involves starting something when you planned to start and staying on the task for the duration that you planned it for. Its as simple as that.

Stretch goals - When you often fail to follow through because maybe you plan to do a lot more than you have done before. Instead plan to do a little more than the last time. Like focused study for 25 min and then take a 10 min break, and repeat. Doing a lot of little bits consistently is way better than planning to do a lot and falling short often. Small wins build confidence and set you up for slightly bigger wins the next time.? Forgive yourself for the occasional failures and misses. But if it’s happening too often then you need to take a step back and ask for help.?

Accountability partner - Building a new good habit or breaking old bad habits can rarely be done alone in isolation. Like the saying goes "you cannot get yourself out of the hole you dug yourself into". Tell someone what you are going to do and give them permission to hold a mirror in front of you when you do not follow through.?

Success begets success - The biggest benefactor of daily habits is your self image and self confidences. How do you see yourself? What do you say to yourself about yourself? You can lie to others but not to yourself ! When you follow through on your commitments you are gradually building your confidence a little bit at a time. When you do not follow through, you are gradually eroding your confidence a little bit at a time. It all adds up. It’s called the compound effect.?

Start small. Stay consistent. Do it daily.?