Habit Building
“Forget about setting goals. Focus on this instead.” – James Clear
And what is “this”?
Systems.
"If you do something every day, it’s a system. If you're waiting to achieve it someday in the future, it's a goal." – Scott Adams, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big
Simply put, systems are the habits that we perform every day to help us build our self-identity and get to our goals.
One popular method of habit-building is called the 21/90 rule. Commit to a personal or professional goal for 21 days to form the habit and then another 90 days to make it permanent, a lifestyle change.
“The key to building lasting habits is focusing on creating a new identity first. Your current behaviors are simply a reflection of your current identity. What you do now is a mirror image of the type of person you believe that you are (either consciously or subconsciously).
To change your behavior for good, you need to start believing new things about yourself. You need to build identity-based habits.” – James Clear
Answer these questions:
1. What is a goal that will improve your quality of life in a major way? (Identify goal)Example: Lose 50 lbs
2. What sort of person could be achieving this goal? What characteristics does this person have? What actions does this person take? (Identity)
Example: Someone who is active every day.
3. What is a baby step habit that I will commit to every day? (Pick habit to build)
Example: Take a 5-minute walk after dinner every day. Increase time by 5 minutes every day.
Let’s grow and flourish together!
Check out useful tools for Identity-Based Habit Building:
1. My Belief System
2. Trackers
The question you posed above is yet one more bit of confirmation of the call on my life and the talk I just had with God about answering His call and what I would like to achieve personally while I take on this next assignment. For instance, I was recently put on a podcast at my job about my volunteer ministry work with the incarcerated and teaching classes to help those affected by the justice system to adjust to the world they will enter upon being released. We teach them coping mechanisms and skills to help navigate the process of reentry. The response from my colleagues has been surprisingly overwhelming. One of my colleagues from Rhode Island has asked me to start doing short YouTube spots with words of encouragement. She’s working with me to set things up. But I also have 3 Sisters-in-The Lord, that have told me these same things for years! I felt like I needed to do more about my physical appearance and THEN I would start but I guess that’s not the way we are working it.
But getting back to my original thought, I told God I am ready to go all in on what He has put in front of me to do AND I want to do it well. I promised Him that I would loose 50lbs and I would start by walking more regularly. Study more diligently. Significantly reduce my footprint on social media.
This post on Habit Building and the questions posed are speaking to me and sparking a plan of action for the future as I continue to hear from the Lord about how He wants me to help His people.
I have taught people for years that God speaks to you in many ways. His message is consistent. He loves us and He wants the world to know it. I’m just His mouthpiece. 😊
Thanks for sharing all of your wonderful thoughts and encouragement with us through this “paper chase”.
Angeline, The Messenger
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