The power of habits

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Your weekly routine—even your daily routine—can drive you to success or haunt you. We’ve all heard how it takes 21 days to change a habit. (As an aside, everyone quotes that timeframe, but no one backs it up. Virtually every source I found through Google starts with, “We all know it takes 21 days…” or “Behavioral research suggests…” but the source for this research is never cited. Typically the reason cited, in those rare instances where it IS cited, is “muscle memory.”)

The most successful people in life may very well have traits, skills or knowledge in particular areas that their peers lack. But most importantly these individuals are able to consistently do the things necessary to be successful. They don’t get bored. They don’t get distracted. They don’t ignore those things they dislike or that others won’t do. They don’t start a day without a plan. They settle into success routines, or good habits. They commit to them. For some professionals it is conscious, but for most it’s a habit.

For more on this type of thinking, check out Tom Peters’s blog, where he says:

“So I’ve been consciously working on a new (for me) approach, with at least a smidgeon of success. Either at day’s end or dawn’s early light, I have a little meditation and self-counseling session on making the day count, rather than devoting the day to eager anticipation of the moment I can cross it off the calendar.”

So, what are your success habits? And what are those that hold you back? And are you consciously re-evaluating them?