The Tom Richardson.com

Create Success One Tiny Habit At A Time

Are you living the life you want or are living by default? Have you ever considered that you might be where you are because of your habits?

I realize now the way I transformed my life from pathetic to prosperous was by eliminating bad habits and replacing the bad habits with good habits that serve me better.

Here is what we will cover in this post:

Defining what habit are
Starting small and making it easy
Change your enviroment

What Is A Habit?

A habit is a behavior or action that you perform regularly, often without conscious thought, due to repeated practice and reinforcement.

To implement a new habit start small because you want to make it easy to do. Starting small and doing the new thing consistantly you will create a pattern in your brain that begins to change nuero-pathways.

The experts have different opinions as to how long it takes to create a change nuero-pathways. Some say 21 days, some say 30 days, and others say 60 days.

For me I have found it depends on the habit you want to create. Some habits are easier to form than others. When I lost 113 pounds it was easier to start exercising than it was to change my eating habits.

Make It Easy

You want to make the habit so simple that you'll do it everyday in the beginning.

For example, in his book Mini Habits Stephan Guise uses the example of when he wanted to start an exercise program. He started ridiculously small by having a goal to do one push up every day.

Think about the simplicity of that. He figured he could do one push up everyday. Then on day one he got down to do his one push up but he actually did more. He eventually started doing other exercises. He eventually joined a gym so he could work out more intenesly.

His exercise program started with a committment to do just one push up every day and evolved into a complete gym routine.

Change Your Enviroment

Another way to help starting a new habit is to change your enviroment. When I wanted to lose weight, I had to make some changes to my enviroment.

To lose weight I had to begin exercising regularly and start eating foods that would nourish my body instead of making me feel terrible.

To begin exercising I made the following changes. I knew I had to do it first thing after waking up. If I waited to do it later in the day, I would end up getting distracted and not get it done.

What I did was lay out my walking clothes and walking shoes the night before. That way when I got up the next morning I could get dressed and get out the door or get on the treadmill.

Sure, to be able to do this I had to set the alarm to get up 30 minutes earlier. No problem, go to bed 30 minutes earlier.

To change my eating habits, you guessed it, I had to change my enviroment. I had to throw out the highly processed foods in my fridge and pantry. I threw out the chips, cookies, ice cream, and processed sugary cereal.

I then stocked the pantry and fridge with nutricious whole foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grain cereals like oatmeal. I bought lean boneless skinless chicken breasts in lieu of fatty steaks or pork chops.

When it was meal time my enviroment only allowed me to cook healthier meals. When it was snack time I only had things like fruit, nuts, air-popped popcorn, celery and hummus. to choose from.

Was there an adjustment period? Absolutely, because once the sugar detox was over it was totally worth it. I began having more energy and my mental clarity improved.