What scares me about all of us being quarantined because of the COVID-19 virus is what this situation is really creating.
When you think about it, what makes successful people successful? At the root it’s the habits and routines they consistently live by day-to-day. Depending on which study you read it takes 21 to 60 days to create a new habit. Well, we’re well past 21 days in the quarantine and almost two-thirds towards reaching sixty days. That means many have created habits of not being engaged in their typical day-to-day.
This could be a great thing when you consider, more time with family, like family dinners and other meals with family. I have realized, and maybe for the first time, how important it is to spend time with family.
On the other side, many are forming the habit of not doing the daily things that make us successful.
It’d be great if we were able to walk down to the local store and pick up a bottle of success. Unfortunately, that’s not realistic. We need to get back to basics and realize we’ve been given a great gift. We can start the year over. This is our opportunity to begin again!
With that opportunity in mind, ask yourself: “What habits do I need to develop to be even more successful? What daily routines do I need to develop to be even more successful?”
John Maxwell says: “You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.”
Most times the main difference between being successful and being average is having successful habits. Some examples of successful habits could be getting up earlier, doing things when they need to be done, being prepared, and effective management of managing our daily transitions.
Here’s a little four step reminder to build these success habits in your life:
- Identify – Find the areas in your life that you want to change or that you feel need changing. Write down possible new habits that need to be formed. Don’t become overwhelmed at trying to figure out how you are going to form all of these habits.
- Pick 2 – Most people sabotage themselves by trying to change everything at once. Instead, pick one major and one minor habit that you want to form. For the next 30-90 days these will be the success habits that you will create.
- Start small – Now that you have your two success habits, think of the daily or weekly routines that support these habits. Make sure that they are easy to follow. For instance, let’s say that you want to wake up an hour earlier so that you can start your day with real intention. Instead of setting your alarm an hour earlier right off the bat, try setting it 2-5 minutes earlier every morning until you reach your goal. When you do this, it would take you 30 days or 12 days respectively to create your success habit. Remember, the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.
- Repeat – Once you have created your new habits move on to the next 2 success habits that you want to create. Before you know it, you will have created a whole new life full of success filled habits.
Take a moment now and vividly imagine where you will be in one year when you follow these four keys to creating successful habits. Assuming it takes you 60 days to create two habits, you will have created 12 success habits in just one year!
