Achieve Your Important Goals in 2 Months with This Simple Habit Strategy.

A lot of times when we think about habits, we think specifically of negative habits — bitting your nails, picking your nose, procrastinating, smoking, drinking too much soda (That one’s me), but habits, when positive — when healthy — can be one of the biggest driving forces in helping us accomplish our most important goals.

During my school years (middle school, high school and college) I had so many negative academic habits and almost no positive ones. As a result, my grades and my education suffered severely.

Back then, my biggest habit was procrastination — putting everything off until tomorrow — but often tomorrow never really came and I would end up with numerous late and failed assignments because of it. I can look back at my entire education career and see that it was the presence of bad habits in my life and the absence of healthy habits that directly lead to my struggles in school. Can you relate to that at all? If so, it doesn’t have to stay that way.

In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear says this “Success is the product of daily habits….” Let me say that again, because this is absolutely critical — success is the product of daily habits. Our habits — determine our outcomes — they determine whether or not we will be successful. We must develop healthy productivity habits. What daily habits do you have? Are those habits helping or hurting you in terms of reaching your goals? And as a quick aside, if you are interested in developing new habits (or even eliminating old ones), consider reading Atomic Habits. It was a game changer for me.

When I was young, I was ofter told that it take about 1 month to break a habit, however research tells us that it takes about 66 days to create (or break) a habit and I have found this to be true in my experience. In a little over 2 months, you could potentially possess very productive, healthy habits by simply making a decision to develop those habits.

After reading The One Thing by Gary Keller, my family and I took the author up on his 66-day habit challenge. Each of us selected a habit that we wanted to create or stop and committed to 66 days.

As a huge soda drinker I made a decision, that for 66 days I would only drink soda on Saturdays. It was hard at first, but it worked. I did it. I had to drink a whole lot of water, but after 66 days, I was successful. And my family was successful at their habits too.

So as it relates to success — as it relates to your goals — whether they be for school, for work or for something personal, what habit can you create (or stop) to propel you to that goal? Think about it. If you did this habit, whatever that might be, how would it help you achieve your goal?

If daily habits are truly tied to our success, than…

What habit or habits do you need to start? What habit or habits do you need to end?

Answering these two questions, is critical to your success. Maybe its a study habit, or a sleeping habit. Maybe its an eating habit or drinking habit. Perhaps its a habit at work that you need to start or stop, or maybe you have devloped some poor habits at home that need to end. What is it for you?

Take some time today to think about this and consider creating a 66 day habit challenge for yourself. It worked for me and my family, and I belive it will work for you too.

Arthur ( The Productive Student Academy)