The power of habit

You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems - James Clear

Before we get into what habits I use daily I think it’s important that we understand what a habit is, and why we want to implement them into our daily life.

The definition of Habit from the Cambridge Dictionary is Something that you do often and regularly, sometimes without knowing you are doing it.

This can either work for you, or against you. This is why understanding the minor details is extremely important.

Think about when you first get up in the morning. What is the first thing that you do? Go to the bathroom, brush your teeth, and have a shower. Maybe you have a totally different routine which is fine, but one thing this all has in common is we do these things out of habit.

For me, I go to the bathroom, brush my teeth, drink 2 glasses of water, and then take the dogs for a walk.

Now, think about something you want to achieve in your life. This could be losing 10 kgs, running a marathon, or starting a daily meditation practice.

I know a lot of people think the more action you take the better. Starting a diet the very next day, committing to hitting the gym five days a week, running 10 kilometers every day, sit in silence for 30 minutes. BOOM.

I don’t mean BOOM as in hell yea…. I mean BOOM as in a big explosion. Usually right in front of your face. Either fatiguing and losing steam after 2 weeks, getting an injury, not being able to sit still and not think for even 1 minute…I guess I can’t meditate.

The issue here is not that you can’t lose 10 kilos, it’s not that you aren’t a marathon runner or mediator…it’s the systems you had in place. Go back to the beginning and read that first part for me again….now go back and read it again.

We live in a world where we want everything yesterday. We see other people succeeding and wonder why we aren’t making any progress.

What we don’t see is what those other people have done behind the scenes. It’s like that tip of the iceberg pic I am sure you have all seen. What you see from the surface is the tip of the iceberg.

What you don’t see beneath is this massive mutha fuckin chunk of ice that accumulated just enough to push the tip above the surface.

What if we all took a step back and started thinking smaller? I know, it’s not sexy, it’s not drop 10 kilos in a week type of thang. But one thing I can assure you is that it’s a stick-with-you-for-life type of thing, and when it comes to your health & well-being….that is something worth at least trying.