How to make a good habit a habit
It's easy to stay stuck in old routines. Here's how to break them.
It can be difficult to change bad spending habits, but it's worth the struggle.
Rafael Ben-Ari/Chameleons Eye/Newscom/File
Whenever we think about doing something different with our lives, a little resistance fighter starts preparing for battle inside of us.
He tells us why we can鈥檛 do it. He comes up with lots of plausible excuses. He talks about things that would be a lot more fun to do.
Often, he convinces us to do the wrong thing. We abandon that change we鈥檝e been thinking about and go on with our lives as normal.
In short, he鈥檚 a real jerk.
We need to defeat him.
Once upon a time, that resistance fighter would convince me to be reckless with my money. As I began to turn my finances around, he would fight me every step of the way. He鈥檇 convince me to spend my money in ways that I knew I shouldn鈥檛 be spending it. He told me again and again that I shouldn鈥檛 take the leap into writing full time.
Each time, there was a series of battles against this resistance fighter. Sometimes, I lost. Eventually, though, I won the war and found great value in that victory.
Lately, the resistance fighter inside of me has been yelling at me to not get adequate exercise. He tries to tell me that I don鈥檛 have time or that I won鈥檛 really see any results from doing it.
He鈥檚 wrong.
Every day, we have a battle. Some days, he wins. That does not mean the war is over. It means that we鈥檙e going to battle again tomorrow.
More and more, though, I find myself winning the battles. I go on a walk and the resistance fighter retreats.
That resistance fighter is inside of all of us. He encourages us to keep doing the thing we鈥檙e doing that we know we should be changing. He resists change.
It is hard to battle him, particularly at first. Take it one battle at a time. Choose, just once, to do the right thing instead of the easy thing. Overcome the pleas of that resistance fighter.
What you鈥檒l find is that the more you push yourself to overcome that resistance, the easier it becomes to win future battles. The resistance fighter gets quieter and quieter.
Before you know it, you have a new routine and a new life.
You鈥檝e won the war.
Today is your first battle in this war. Are you up to the challenge?