Poor Habits Keep You Poor – 10 Good Habits For Success

When I got downstairs this morning I opened the cereal drawer and remembered it was my first day off healthy eating and tracking every morsel I eat on the myfitnesspal app to congratulate myself for losing 5 kg in a month. I did the funky chicken, I high-fived my husband but then after those first few happy moments I couldn’t do it. Yes, I was going to eat more liberally than usual but I couldn’t not track my food and I decided I still wasn’t going to eat cake or any dessert because I want to lose more weight before I do that.

I have formed the habit of eating smaller portions and even when I have a scheduled day allowing crazy eating, I don’t want to do it.

This reminded me how so many good things are accountable to good habits. Habits, both good and bad, are very easy to form.

According to The One Thing - The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results By Gary Keller And Jay Papasan, habits have been empirically shown to take an average of 66 days to form but can take as little as 18 days and as many as 200 days depending on the complexity of the habit one is trying to form.

This sentiment is reinforced in the book I am currently reading The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. He reminds us that  “habits are not born, but created. Every bad, good or insignificant habit starts with a psychological pattern called a “habit loop.”

Okay, so, what sort of habits build wealth?

I’ll give you a few that you can easily implement. Some good habits I’ve had since before I was a teenager like the habit of enjoying work; however, I continually work on adopting more and more new good habits.

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Eating healthily is a habit I struggle with and I always seem to slip back after a life change like getting pregnant or moving house; I revert to eating huge portions and too much unhealthy food then I decide enough is enough so I start working on reforming good eating habits again. I call these lifestyle changes. Since 2005 I have had 3 or 4 lifestyle changes.

On the plus side, each time I slip back I don’t lose every good habit, just a few of my old habits creep into my life again. Anyhow, what can you start working on today?

1. Wake up early and go to bed early. Sleeping well is key to productivity and eating healthily.10 p.m. to 6 a.m. is a good target; 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. works for some.
   
2. Read a business or life-enrichingbook for 30 minutes daily on your commute to work. I have reviews on manyfantastic business books. If you struggle to find time for reading pay for a subscription with audible.com. I pay for their annual 12-book deal so I can listen as I walk the baby or jog.
   
3. Instead of watching 3 hours of TV in the evening watch just one pre-selected hour then work on a personal project the rest of the time. The habit of watching excessive TV is much easier to kick than you might think.
   
4. Work out at least 3 times a week for 30 minutes each time.  You don’t need to go to the gym for this. Do strength training – squats, lunges, push-ups, sit up, planks etc. Even if you can’t do them now within a short space of time you will get better and better.
   
5. Every week spend time with one of your intelligent friends; you know, those girls or guys that always leave you a little inspired to be better. Don’t have any of those? Well then maybe it’s time to find new friends.
   
6. Set a weekly budget then get that amount of cash in your wallet and leave ALL your cards at home. You will get into the habit of spending better so fast. It’s so much harder to spend cash than to swipe a card.
   
7. Only check your emails and social media at specific pre-set times each day.
   
8. Turn off all notifications – yes, even email notifications. EVERYTHING. My phone only alerts me when I have a text or when someone is calling. All my other apps: Facebook, whatsapp, instagram, mail etc. are off.
   
9. Give yourself a treat only when you have succeeded with your goals. It gives you something to look forward to and focuses the mind.
   
10. Review your life periodically. Say, on the last day of every month. Is everything working as you planned? If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

Finally, note that everyone has a limited amount of will power. If you stop yourself from doing something that you want to do, you use up a bit of that limited will power such that by then of each day your stock of will power is almost depleted. Consequently, don’t try to implement too many things at once. Work on one or two habits at a time. Once you form the required habit introduce a new one.If you take this approach it will feel less taxing because once a habit is formed it’s automatic, you don’t have to think about it

Forming good habits is one of the elements we focus on in the Success portion of The Money Spot Program on how to build a 6-figure product business.

If you would like to build a product business and if you want to maximize the chance of building it into a 6-figure annual income then you should do The Money Spot Program. Live the life you want. This year the workshop is at New Hall Spa Hotel in Birmingham, UK on 17 & 18 October. A night’s accommodation is included. Join us. If you’re based in London the train out there is less than 1.5 hours and if you’re in Europe you can fly into Birmingham International Airport.

If you can’t make the workshop then the online-only course is waiting for you.

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