Habits, routines, rituals, and daily practices accumulate over time.
Productivity, knowledge, and good health compound. So do distractions, stress, and all our unproductive habits.
Habits are powerful and life-changing — they have the power to shape your life for better or worse.
Every day, we’re inundated with a tsunami of stimuli that influence our decisions, shape our thoughts and feelings, and alter our lives.
A commitment to a daily action may be a small step, but it counts in a month or year. The effects of repeating the same good routines and habits are even greater over the long term.
Most people underestimate tiny daily steps, but those actions lead to massive results. “Your little choices become habits that affect the bigger decisions you make in life,” says Elizabeth George.
Don’t underestimate the power of compounding — your daily rituals are compounding for or against you.
The successful life you want is hidden in the daily actions you don’t respect or are avoiding.
John C. Maxwell was right, “You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.”
The magic of compounding is that it doesn’t require you to take massive steps or giant leaps; you simply need to invest in the right habits.
The law of compounding applies to just about everything in life, from saving money to working out to relationships.
Changing one habit can lead to other positive habits, so deliberate on how you spend your time and energy.
Habits that compound can be small things like brushing your teeth or getting dressed in the morning — or they can be big things like what you eat, who you spend time with, or how often you work out.
Once something becomes a habit, it’s easy to repeat it without much effort. It’s also easy to forget how the tiny things we do daily compound in our favour or sabotage our efforts.
If you want any change, start with tiny habits or steps: read a single page of your favourite book every day, exercise for just 5 minutes every morning, commit to just 10 minutes daily walk, drink a glass of water before you get your coffee in the morning, invest just five or ten percent of your income, etc.
These are all small changes that don’t require a complete change of life — but can make a huge difference in your life over the long term.
Other habits like waking up 30 minutes early before work, writing three sentences about your thoughts and feelings, making your bed, watching one TED talk every night before bed, or reading to wind down at night can deliver life-changing results over time.
One mental model may not change your life, but a commitment to lifelong learning can make you wise over time. As Warren Buffett says, “That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest.”
You can’t change your life overnight. Making even one small change will create an effect that compounds over time. The more often you make these changes, the more they’ll pay off in the long run.
You can’t learn to sprint in 10 days. “Slow and steady wins the race.” “Every little bit counts.”
Changing one small habit will make a big difference in your lifestyle. And those successes will motivate you to change another habit.
It’s so easy to be overwhelmed by all the things you want to do or feel like you should be doing right now. But if you’re feeling that way, it means you already know what you need to do next!
Habits create success.
The key is to make a habit of doing things that most people would consider unnecessary or not worth the effort.
It all starts with a tiny change in your daily routine. Make your habits work for you. A commitment to a few productive habits can be transformative.
—
This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.
***
From The Good Men Project on Medium
What Does Being in Love and Loving Someone Really Mean? | My 9-Year-Old Accidentally Explained Why His Mom Divorced Me | The One Thing Men Want More Than Sex | The Internal Struggle Men Battle in Silence |
Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today.
All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS.
A $50 annual membership gives you an all access pass. You can be a part of every call, group, class and community.
A $25 annual membership gives you access to one class, one Social Interest group and our online communities.
A $12 annual membership gives you access to our Friday calls with the publisher, our online community.
Register New Account
Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
—
Photo credit: Nubelson Fernandes on unsplash.com