Guides To Self Improvement

A new habit takes 30 days to form, which means in 30 days you can either start a new bad habit or change a bad habit into a good one. If you have ever tried to change a bad habit such as be more organized, eat better, or start exercising, you probably tried to do it all at once and failed. A war is won by winning many battles, if you want to win the war on your bad habit, let’s start by winning little battles.

You know the routine, you say to yourself; “from now on I’m going to be more organized, I’m going to eat better and start exercising. I’m going to start on Monday and I’m going to do it this time!” Monday comes around and you’re motivated to start your new good habits. You grab an apple and some toast for breakfast, you organize your desk, and you take the stairs, you started off right, but as the day winds down you find yourself falling back into some of the old habits, maybe you hit the vending machine in the afternoon, soon you take the elevator again because your just too tired, by the end of the day you’re back to square one.

Why does this happen? You say to yourself I just can’t stay disciplined enough to change what I want to change. The answer is you are trying to change too many things at once, remember little battles mean little victories.

So today , not tomorrow or next week , pick one small thing you want to change, for example keep an organized desk. That is going to be your focus for the next thirty days. Don’t worry about diets, exercise, or anything else. Everyday before you leave be sure to clean off your desk. Trust me it will pay off in the morning when you walk in and have a clean slate to start on.

Now take this and apply to every other thing you want to change, except only do one thing at a time. Remember little battles. If it’s a diet you want to change start by changing only one meal in the day, breakfast for example. Rather than trying to change your entire eating habit at once, start with one meal. Do that for 30 days, by the end of the 30 days, if you have been having something healthy like grapefruit, it is very unlikely that you will go back to something fattening such as bagels or bacon. By this time your body won’t want it anymore, when your battle with breakfast is won, now its time to attack lunch.

The plan I have laid out is not a quick fix solution, there rarely are. Bad habits form over time and so it takes time to undo them and form good habits. One day at a time, in 30 day succession and you can overcome anything.