It’s 2019 and for the most part, people have already made their head up about the new-years resolutions and goals they are going to get after this year.

And that’s exactly why I feel like I need to put up my finger and say something… Something I feel like needs to be known by people before they decide to hit the gym six times a week in January and end up picking their nose on their couch in early February.

Most goals we set rely on our ability to have some serious self-discipline. Do more of X to get you Y. Thats the sort of principle to chase after when setting goals.

But because you and I both know that self-discipline ain’t that easy to maintain, eventually, you run out of energy and return to the same old person you were when you started on your goal.

That’s because we only have very limited energy and discipline to dedicate to a certain activity. Instead of investing your energy into chasing a single hit, it is much more efficient to build the right habits that help you achieve your goal whilst making them a part of your own identity.

Habits are often swept under the carpet. Why? Because goals sound a lot more sexy! Goals are idealized in the media, in books, and by random business gurus making us believe they are the way forward. Goals however sound motivating and give us a clear image of our end-result.

But the reality is this – say you set yourself the goal of starting a Podcast this year. Well if you’re honest, you’re just going to put it off until you finally feel like doing it, right?

Habits however sound pretty boring. They engrain exactly what they say – doing the same stuff over and over again. You see, the only goal of a habit, is to keep the behavior going. Sure, you may hit some milestones/goals you have set yourself in the process of practicing a habit, but ultimately, its the habits that transform you as an entire person into a version you want to become.

Going back to the Podcast, you could say that a more efficient way of getting it started is by saying – I want to make my Podcast a daily part of my life.

With goals, it will very quickly become harder to hit the gym every day. With habits it will become harder not to hit the gym once they are fully engrained.

Research has shown that establishing new habits takes up to 33 days. 33 days until a certain action has become engrained into your daily behavioral repetoire. In this respect, you only have to dedicate your finite self-disicipline for 33 days to building a habit, until the response becomes automatic.

So how do you set the right habits? And more importantly, how do you make them stick?

I wrote another article all on habits a while back, so click here to find out more! 🙂

Hope I could help,

Max (The Ultimate Psyche)