Life lessons
Chapter 6: Creating good habits – the key to success
“The biggest difference between successful people
and unsuccessful people lies in the difference in their habits.” – Og Mandino
The power of habit
For a long time,
I have often heard people say that
we depend on our own habits
but never seen anyone object.
Maybe it’s just too true.
Habits often begin with unintentional and repeated actions.
Initially we repeat the action that is one more time we add,
making the rope stronger.
As a result,
we become slaves to our habits.
As the English poet John Dryden said more than three hundred years ago:
“First, we make a habit,
and then it is the habit that dominates and controls us.”
Our personality is actually the sum total of our attitudes,
habits,
and thoughts.
In each of us,
habits occupy an important place.
At birth,
we do not have any habits,
but habits are formed and developed
through repetition of thoughts and actions over time.
Because habits are an integral part of human personality,
so I do not recommend that people avoid habits in general,
but we should pay attention to avoid bad habits.
Like it or not, we are influenced by habits:
good habits serve us,
pushing us forward,
and bad habits work against us,
pulling us back.
How to change a bad habit
I always believe that a bad attitude,
a bad habit can always be changed.
The only problem is whether we have the determination or not.
I don’t mean that all bad habits
by willpower along with a more positive attitude have been proven possible,
as was the case with Benjamin Franklin.
In his famous autobiography,
Franklin recounts a method that helped him reduce his bad habits
and replace them with better ones.
He first made a list of thirteen qualities he wanted to have,
ordered them by importance,
and wrote each quality on a separate page in his little notebook.
He concentrated on practicing each virtue for a week.
If the result is not good,
he puts small black marks next to it.
He continued to do this regularly
until he no longer needed the black mark.
In this way, new,
good habits replaced Franklin’s bad ones in turn.
“Good habits make a difference in everything we do.”- Phil Woolpert