You Are The Enemy — How to Master Your Habits
Have you ever heard that your own worst enemy is yourself?
We are all about habits and there’s no way to scape this fate, but we can always see things throught different perspectives. I’m pretty sure that if you are interested in this topic, you also seek for self-development.
Personally, my life changed in the moment I learned that our habits craft us. With some techniques that I’ll explain along this article, I’ve been able to quit smoking, stop complaining, exercise daily, learn French, software development, and a bunch of other achievements. Becoming a better person is one of those things you earn little by little, in a habit by habit basis. But there are some ways to let this process a bit easier, or enjoyable — but only you can determine how it’s gonna be.
The Secret Lies in Consistency
I know it sounds cheesy, but The Hare & the Tortoise is one of the oldest human fairy tales, and during millennia different cultures tells variants of this story as a reminder about the power of consistency in human activities.
Tiny steps have an amazing potential when compounded day by day. Let’s do the math:
Doing nothing over a year:
(1.00)³⁶⁵ = 1
Doing a little bit everyday (1%):
(1.01)³⁶⁵ = 37.8
All you need is 21 days
Several theories, between studies and beliefs, agree that 3 weeks is the average time for every person to achieve or leave any kind of habit.
The starting is the most difficult part, but since you keep 21 days straight as an quantitative objective it gets a little easier everyday. It’s very important to keep in mind that there is an end for this process, and it brings you the ability to do this habits automatically later.
Why don’t you go ahead and give it a try? It worked for me and my friends in numerous ocasions. We both know you have some habit in mind right now, so I dare you to try it during the 21 day timeframe and coming back here to post the results in the comments section.
There is a Magical App
First of all I’m not sponsored by that, it’s a totally free and open source app called Loop Habit Tracker. I would like to share with you because it’s one of the greatest apps that I’ve ever used — and I really mean it!
It helped me achieve most of my personal habit goals over the last years, and works with a score based system which shows your progress on nice and clean charts. You can easily add any habit you wanna acquire (or get rid of) and the app will remind you in a daily or weekly basis, depending on how you setup it.
Keep Exploring New and Better Habits!
It’s definitely not an easy task, but giving up is not an option. You’ve come this far because your determination drives you. So I’d like to share this quote, which has deep meaning for me:
“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” — St. Francis of Assisi
Keep reading my articles to get more information about self development, I’m surelly not perfect but we can always learn from other’s experiences. Please give me your thoughts in the comments bellow and I meet you in a better version soon!
