The Magic of Habits

Have you ever had time to analyze what you are doing in your day-to-day life? Do you know the impact it has in your life on the activities you are doing in your day-to-day life?

Ok, let's move into our article.

What is magic?

the power of apparently influencing events by using mysterious or supernatural forces.

Now, what is a habit?

a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up.

You see combining the two words gives a different meaning Is it not?

I would like to share my favorite quote by Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam

“You cannot change your future, but, you can change your habits, and surely your habits will change your future.”

This quote does not need any explanation. Now coming back to the article Let's discuss habits.

Just think for a moment about what you do in day-to-day activity list down all the things you are doing and analyze.

If you are not doing enough that is a problem.If you are doing too many activities that are also a problem.

Here the ideal step will be to go with the flow. Your brain is built in such a way that if you follow the same routine daily it will automatically give the orders to your hands or legs to perform the action without even thinking too much.

For example, actions like brushing your teeth.

Have you ever wondered why you will not think too much when brushing your teeth in the morning? Like taking the brush and applying the paste these actions are coming to you automatically. You are not thinking too much. Isn't it? This is magic.

Because you are performing this action for so many years in your life your brain automatically gives a signal to your muscles to perform these actions.

Likewise, your habits are formed. You have to make sure to add some productive actions in your day-to-day activities which will eventually become a habit.

Is there a time frame to form a habit?

Yes, researchers found that if you follow the same action continuously for 21 days it will form into a habit.

This is famously called

21 days magic rule

The 21-day rule is a method of doing/saying/being something for 21 days, to make your 'something' become a habit. What habit do you do on a daily basis? Each day you more than likely eat meals, brush your teeth, use your mobile phone, watch TV, or work on a computer.

Now comes the important concept of how to break the existing habits

1. Be honest with yourself.

One very important step in breaking a bad habit is recognizing that you have one. This generally requires a certain level of self-awareness and honesty that we must develop with ourselves.

2. Know your triggers.

Often times the development of a bad or self-sabotaging habit is triggered by emotional or environmental cues. By being mindful of which triggers are causing you to indulge in bad habits, you can help yourself by avoiding those situations

3. Set goals.

Setting goals for yourself can make developing better habits and purging detrimental ones easier to do

4. Reward yourself for developing good habits.

Have you decided to replace eating sweets when you're stressed with journaling instead? Or maybe you’ve stopped scrolling through social media when you’re bored at the office and replaced it with creating a to-do list for the next few days. This doesn’t mean you can’t reward yourself with the occasional bowl of ice cream or Instagram binge when you need it. You’ve earned it! Just do it in moderation.

5. Don’t beat yourself for slipping up from time to time.

Bad habits can be hard to break on the first or even fifth try but, effort goes a long way when developing good ones! Making mistakes and veering off course is normal. You’re only human, after all — but with discipline, determination, and continued effort, you can kick any bad habit as long as you don’t stop trying.

One of my favorite quote

“Your beliefs become your thoughts,

Your thoughts become your words,

Your words become your actions,

Your actions become your habits,

Your habits become your values,

Your values become your destiny.”

― Mahatma Gandhi

That's it for this article folks!!

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