I was thinking what should be my first post of this new year. Then I realised that since I am in the process of inculcating some good habits, it would be a great idea to share the same. Today the world over we are in the process of recovering from the pandemic and getting back to business. But if you close your eyes, take a deep breath and think, you would realise the list of things you would like to do but have not managed to prioritize it. You would also realise that in case you inculcated a few habits then that would help you manage time more efficiently and you may end up having time for doing those things which you have always desired. So let me start by sharing with you the 3 step process for creating a habit.
Self Motivation & Determination: You need to be self motivated to achieve your goal. You need to have the drive to push yourself. Determination refers to being focussed on the goal to be achieved.Just like how Eklavya was focussed on learning to shoot and had single minded focus and attention, we must be focussed on the goal we want to achieve and do it with complete focus and dedication. One way to do this is to set a time for your task with an alarm on your cell as a reminder. This way every day when the alarm rings you will be able to do your task.
Consistency & Persistence: With dedication comes in consistency. You need to do your task religiously every day without fail. You need to have the never give up attitude and focus on what you will achieve after cultivating this habit. One way to doing this is by reward and punishment. Give yourself a small reward every day on completing the task and a punishment for not doing the task. This way you get your mind to think of the reward and are able to push yourself to complete your task.
Time Management & Patience: Once you are consistent in doing your task/ activity it is also important to be patient. Results cannot be achieved without hard work. Similarly habit cannot be developed without being able to manage time efficiently. One key lesson to remember is to do the task at the same time every day. This will help tune your body clock to performing the task as a routing making it a habit. Just like how we brush our teeth first thing in the morning or wash our feet when we come home.
Another technique which may be useful to develop a good habit is called as “Role Model” . In this technique, one tries to imitate the role model he/she aspires to become. In this process you follow your role model closely and do things that would help you reach your role model. This technique is predominantly used in media / cinema / sports etc. The reason this technique helps develop a habit is because it helps you set / plan a daily routine which you follow leading to creation of a habit.
Journaling, writing what you accomplished at the end of every day before going to sleep is also another very effective way to develop a habit. At the end of 15 days you would realise what are the tasks you are able to do consistently and what tasks are “time wasters”. This would help you prioritize things better and bring focus to your habit.
Thus, we can see that there is no right age, time, month to start cultivating a good habit. One can start whenever and be committed to cultivating a good habit. According to a research it takes 66 days to build a habit. So what is stopping you. Think of a habit you want to cultivate and be happy about and start doing it right now. As the Hindi saying goes “kal karey so aaj kar, aaj kaare so abb”.
RiteAlign HR 