What Do Your Habits Say About You?

“Progress requires unlearning. Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs, and to upgrade and expand your identity.”

James Clear

Did you know that 40% of your day is based on your habits – 40%!!!

Say you sleep for 8 hours a day, the leaves you with 16 hours that you are awake. This means that approximately 6 hours and 25 minutes of your day is pre-determined by your habits. I don’t know about you, but that is mind-blowing for me! 

The power, beauty, and the curse of habits is that your brain doesn’t have to work as hard with your habits. It is as if your brain is on autopilot.

Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon? It is amazing and pictures do not do it justice. But its beauty was hidden for thousands of years. Over time water eroded the soil, which eventually created the canyon and all of its splendor for us to see and admire today. 

Habits have the power to act in a similar manner. You may not see the impact of them on day 1 or day 20, however, on day 327 you can look back in amazement at what a simple daily habit can create. The space your habit enabled you to think, dream, wonder about what you could accomplish: your performance, impact within your community, adding value and significance to your relationships, etc. 

Knowing the power of your habits, the reality is in the quote above by James Clear (check out his book Atomic Habits, worth the read!). In order to be at your best, there is continuous unlearning and learning that goes on in your life. Editing and upgrading that occurs and your daily habits are at the center of your development. 
 

The curse of your habits is that it is easy to settle where you are and you stop editing or upgrading your life. The unlearning that is needed to grow, mature, and development doesn’t occur, because you become set in your ways and settle for what you have become rather than dreaming about who you could be and the impact you could make in the future!

TAKE ACTION: think about your day and write down your current daily habits. 

1. What do your habits say about you?

2. What is one step you can take today to cement a good new habit?

3. What is one step you can take today to begin to change/unlearn an old habit in order to establish a new upgraded habit?

Seize your transitions today, make the most of your opportunities!

Jonathan