In life, dedication and motivation will only take you so far. Even the most successful people in their field are not super human and am sure just like the rest of us have days where they want to hit the snooze button or not even get out of bed at all. Yet the question remains how do these people still stay motivated, still achieve their goals and tasks while the rest of us struggle to stay functional??
Every day people use willpower to resist poor choices. E.g not going to the gym, having that last piece of chocolate, watching Netflix, rather than working on their blog.. . So if we can’t rely on discipline and will power, how the hell are we supposed to get results? We need to create habits. The beauty of a habit is that you don’t have to think about it or feel forced to do it.. we just do it. Sub consciously we all have habits, e.g. watching the news, checking fb, eating at the same time each day… and they all take no effort. The beauty of a habit, is it takes no willpower. Think of your current habits that you do throughout the day? I am sure without thinking, almost ritually we all scroll through fb, checking the fridge for food, check the football scores and the list goes on and on... So the question is: how can we make positive habits?
- Prepare your meal /food daily.
- Fundamental to make good choices is preparation. E.g if you prepare your food / meals for the following day than even if you finish work late, are tired, don't feel like cooking you still can eat healthy. We generally make poor food choices where we don’t prepare and this is what ‘fast-food’ retailers thrive on. Just like blogging daily or working out 3 times a week. It initially becomes something you have to do but once a habit, it just becomes something you just do.
- Wake up the same time every day
- Everything is programmable, including the human body and it craves routine. Pressing the snooze button actually harms the hormonal balance of the body as it is thinking are we getting up and activating ourselves or not?? So as difficult as it initially is, if we get up at the first alarm our bodies will thank us and after the initial struggle for the first weeks will become a habit and even if you do have the occasional late night, our bodies will still be programmed to get up and get moving the same time.
- Do something productive first thing every morning
- A walk first thing in the morning is a great way to start the day, but I am a realist and it is not for everyone. Saying that it doesn't mean you can't start the day being productive and achieving a goal in the first 5 mins of your day. Be it doing your bed, stretching for 5 mins, going for a walk.. anything before you jump on social media.. will ensure that even if you feel unproductive you have started your day completing a task and it already succeeded in achieving you first goal for the day and already sets you in a positive mind frame.
They say it takes 30 days to create a habit but takes up to 100 days to fully set this habit. So the first month will be a test but if you want to stay focused, be successful and achieve your daily tasks, work on these habits and see your productivity increase without much effort, this will help you become a better you!