How To Actually Build (and Sustain) Extraordinary Habits?
Human beings are creatures of habit and routine. In this blog post, I shall be sharing my perspective on this topic, and how you can leverage it too.
“From tomorrow onward, I’m going to be a totally different person. I’m going to hit the gym every single day, I’m never going to hit the snooze button ever again, I shall breakup with procrastination, I’m going to wake up early every single day, I’m going to do this, I am going to do that, blah, blah.” Those were some of the things you found telling yourself after binge watching a series of high powered motivational videos.
And then? The next morning, you found yourself hitting the snooze button once again (for the 6th time); the procrastination mode was in full swing. In other words, you are back to normal life. And you wonder, what happened to all those motivation from last night? What about those promises you made yourself last night? All of a sudden, you start feeling low, and occasionally, negative self talk may kick in as well.
I know how that feels. I’ve felt that feeling before.
The question is, why does that happen? Who is at fault?
In this blog post, I shall be sharing my perspective on this topic, and how you can leverage it too.
Human beings are creatures of habit and routine.
What you really want to be doing is make 1 promise, and focus on keeping it. Not 2, not 5, not 10, JUST 1, that’s it.
Once done with that, make another one, and then keep it. This way you are training your mind to believe that you are a man of words, that you are a man who not only make promises but also keeps it. This simple exercise will not only weed out the loop of negative self talk but also start a new loop of positive self talk in your head. It acts as a catalyst that boosts confidence.
Being Extraordinary isn’t an onetime event. It is a set of habits that you choose to follow every single day no matter what. It takes repetition. That’s where the gold is.
Similarly, success is not a onetime act; neither is failure. They are habits. It takes repetition of a process to build great habits, and repetition requires insane amount of self discipline. That’s why most people fail at it.
Many researchers have found that almost all successful people wake up early morning. They are early birds, not night owls. So, if you decide to wake up early in the morning every single day, and take an initiative to do something interesting that most people don’t, then you have just decided to become slightly extraordinary in that aspect because you have chosen to follow an extraordinary habit. If you actually do it, and then keep doing it every single day, then you are well on your way to becoming extraordinary in that aspect.
What I am trying to get across is that it’s a choice to become extraordinary at something.
Choice of habits distinguishes the extraordinary 2% from the ordinary 98%. And the way to actually build extraordinary habits is by making a promise and then keeping it.
I’d like to end this blog post with a quote by Elon Musk,
“I think it is possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary.”
~ Elon Musk
Ponder on that.
