Welcome back to Day 12 of 31 Days to a Life of Purpose!
A habit is an action that you commit regularly so that it becomes almost involuntary. When talking about living on purpose, this may seem contradictory. Our goal is to be intentional with our actions, not performing them mindlessly. Habits line up with purposeful living when we intentionally choose habits that will benefit us and the direction we intend to move towards and also when intentionally choosing habits that need to be broken because they are not beneficial.
Think about how you spend your time. What actions do you take with regularity? When I think about the habits I have, I already notice things I would like to change, for example, how often I check my phone. There are other habits I want to have but I know are lacking, such as consistently getting up early (I so want to be a morning person and I am SO not there).
In light of your goals, what habits would you like to develop that will make reaching your goals easier? What habits do you need to break because they conflict with your goals?
Deciding on habits can be easy, while actually forming them can be rather difficult. You have probably heard it takes 21 days to form a habit. Sadly, this is a myth, and research suggests it actually takes over two months to really form a new habit, but don’t give up! Developing good habits can greatly impact your life.
When setting out to form new habits, it is important to start small. If you have identified 12 new habits you would like to develop, you will likely fail if you decide to start implementing them all today. Rather, start with only one or two habits. Once those become ingrained, move your focus to another habit. The key here is consistency, not speed.
If you are like me, tracking can be helpful in forming new habits. Being able to check off that you have completed a task can often be intrinsically motivating. You can go the old-school route with a chart or calendar, or there are a variety of apps available to help you monitor your progress and also provide reminders. I have used an app called Habit Streak that asks me at a set time each morning if I completed a specific list of habits on the previous day. The app has been helpful, but I think there are better apps out there. (I will update once I test out a few others.)
When we are living a life that is constantly overwhelmed, we often form unhealthy habits almost as an escape or way to cope. By intentionally choosing habits that will benefit the goals we have outlined for our lives, we can begin to turn things around and be motivated rather than discouraged.
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