Mastering Habits: The Key to Personal Transformation and Success

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

- Will Durant

Habits are the minor decisions and activities you take daily. Today, your life is simply the result of your habits! How healthy or unhealthy are you? Because of your habits! How satisfied or unsatisfied are you? Because of your habits! What is your level of success or failure? Because of your habits!

Man is an accumulation of habits. It is a learned pattern of action that becomes effortless and automatic with repetition. It is essential to create positive habits while avoiding undesirable ones.

How do we form habits?

• First, we develop a habit through experience, which results in the formation and structuring of connections in the brain.
• Second, our habit behavior is repeated over time, allowing it to become established.
• Third, the habit has been thoroughly ingrained and may be executed automatically, without our direct attention or focus.
• Fourth, the habit evolves into a series of activities that tend to occur in response to a certain scenario or trigger.

Why are habits so important?

Habits can be at the heart of both your success and failure. Humans are habitual animals.

Indulging once in a while will not have a significant impact. However, our brains are hardwired to desire to repeat routines, especially when there is a reward at the end, such as a dopamine or endorphin rush. These patterns, when repeated, have either a favorable or negative impact on our health or well-being.

So, it’s evident that we should create habits that benefit our lives rather than ones that harm them.

Good Vs Bad Habits

The brain does not have to work as hard when a habit is developed. You switch to autopilot mode. You learn to associate the cause, behaviour, and reward, but you don’t always connect the long-term repercussions. You may discover that smoking a cigarette relieves your tension, and you may continue to do so until it becomes an instinctive response.

When you grab that cigarette, you aren’t considering the long-term effects. Unfortunately, once a habit is formed, it is difficult to stop, even if you are aware that smoking causes mortality. Simply said, a poor habit has negative physical, emotional, or psychological effects, whereas a healthy habit has beneficial effects.

Habits & Health

Our health is dependent on our habits. They may help or hinder your chances of accomplishing and sustaining our lifestyle objectives, such as sticking to a diet, exercising frequently, controlling diabetes/other medical issues, as well as improving quality of life, and enhancing lifespan. Bad habits, such as increasing intake of sugary soft drinks and fast food, as well as a lack of physical exercise, have been related to the development of chronic illnesses such as obesity and diabetes. Maintaining healthy habits, such as eating enough fruits, vegetables, and fresh meals and exercising regularly, on the other hand, maybe extremely advantageous to health. Healthy habits can help us maintain normal weights, keep blood sugar levels in check, and reduce our risk of illnesses such as diabetes and cancer.

21/90 Rule

We all want to develop positive habits, whether in careers, hobbies, or our personal lives. The 21/90 rule is a popular strategy for developing habits. The rule is straightforward.

Commit to achieving a personal or professional goal for 21 days in a row. The pursuance of that aim should have been a habit after three weeks. You proceed to do it for a further ninety days once you’ve formed that habit. If you can stick with anything for three weeks, then ninety days, it should become a sustainable way of life.