How to build habits in the new year

I was just watching a great YouTube video on habits by Julian  Himself of RSD a dating company that I follow and it really reminded me of concepts I picked up from the book the compound effect.  I guess good information is circular, but it is always good to see knowledge reiterated to make it become more truthful in the mind.  Anyways, it gave great emphasis on how big daily habits are and how important establishing rules are.  I was really into building and establishing good habits a couple of months ago but it really got old after awhile.  I mean, habits are great as far as giving motivation and getting somewhere in life but overall when you are not setting goals that enable habits that are narrowed out to your specificity in your exact goal then you are going to come up short.

Transparency is a habit he talked about, I enjoy the concept of transparency for three reasons.  Transparency enables us to to be more comfortable in our own skin.  This is important when you want to be doing something as routinely as a habit, if it is not natural you can ensure that it is not likely to happen daily.  It ensures accountability from yourself first off when you do not do it because more than likely you will feel uncomfortable and out of touch with your long term goals.  Lastly it really shows you who is with you.  When you do something daily and it is in competition with your inner circles motives, you really get a clear picture of who is with you.

Appreciation is the second of the habits in which he discussed.  Appreciation is good for obviously a number of things including goodwill with others, feeling great overall and sheer reminder to yourself of what you have and where you want to go.  Appreciation is one I need to be more cognitive of.  In a first world country that we live in it is really easy to get turned off because of every day situations and being unappreciative.

Going forward into this new year, I will try to build them around these two habits among a couple others that can really help me build upon myself continually.  Habits have played a big role in our life up to this point and for the most part we can name more good they do than bad.  Why not reverse this?  Why not make them go in our favor?  This new year set your expectations low, your goals high and make your habits achievable and winnable everyday, that is my goal for myself and I hope you do the same.

-Akster20

Habits in CE / You are what you repeatedly do

Compound effect is really making me realize how much bull we put on ourselves about success.  It really is teeth gritting.  So much of this feels like common sense, but paradoxically no one does.  Compounding habits is a big part of how to get to where you want to get.  I mean getting where you want to by chance is just as good as hitting the lottery.

A story came about in the book about a man on a horse appearing to going some where quickly.  A man from the side of the road shouts where are you going?  The horseman replies “I don’t know, ask the horse.”   He then continues on that this is the story of most peoples lives.  I think at one point or another that this is how everyone’s life is.  But instead of living life continually like this we need to draw the line somewhere and begin with direction.

“We are what we repeatedly do.”  So if this quote is even half way accurate, what do you repeatedly do?  Do repeatedly put things off? Do you repeatedly avoid awkwardness? Do you repeatedly back out last minute of in situations that you promised yourself you would push through?  With this quote said, I personally have started assuming the opposite effect when trying to gain skill I have to apply something challenging into my daily routine everyday.

Whether it be stretching, a new language, meditation or just being more present you should try to use the time (compound) effect to your advantage.