5 Amazing Rules for HABIT Change: Part 1

Introduction

Let’s define habit first and know more about habits? Habits are small decisions we used to make and the actions we used to take in our daily life. Researchers at Duke University found that about 40% of our behaviors are a result of our regular habits. Let’s understand the importance of good habits with a story. There was a man who was very disappointed with the bad habits of his young son. His son was very lazy and used to spend 10 to 12 hours on social media. He explained his concern to a wise man and that man agreed to help him. One day the wise man decided to go on a walk with the son of a man. When they entered a park, a wise man saw a small plant and requested the son to pluck out the plant and then fix it again. The son easily plucked out the plant. Then both of them move forward and the wise man saw a little larger plant and told man's son to pluck out that plant also. The son did the same and but this time he used an extra amount of force to do that. After this, they again move forward and a wise man saw a larger tree and requested man's son to remove this tree by his hands and the man's son tried very hard but he failed to do so. Then the wise man explained that bad habits are just like these plants and trees. It is very easy to pluck out bad habits at a very early stage but as time passes, habits become very strong. Let’s further understand the five basic aspects of habit change:

5 Amazing Rules for HABIT change

1. Harmonising: We must harmonize our actions with our goals. Just like our body parts used to work in harmony, our actions and thoughts must resonate with our goals. Let’s understand this with a great story of a famous American civil engineer John Roebling. John Roebling perceived a great bridge and convinced his son to start that project. Both son and father started to build a bridge but unfortunately, John Roebling became a victim of a site accident. His son was convinced with the dream of his father and hence he continued the project. John Roebling's son got a massive stroke and his body became paralyzed and now he can only move his fingers. Everybody thought that this project cannot be completed but the determination of the son was exceptional. He started communicating his thoughts to his wife through his finger movement. The work started again and he started communicating his ideas through his wife to the site engineers. Finally, the bridge got completed in 1883 and this bridge is still there in Kentucky, USA, and famously known as John Roebling bridge. This story is a great example of determination. Hence we must harmonize our thoughts and actions with our commitments.

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2. Accountability: We must become accountable to our actions. When we have clearly defined goals then we can take necessary actions and in the process, we become accountable for our actions. There is a very famous story about a miser. He does not know about giving anything but he has the habit to collect and take things from others. One day he and a few of his friends took a boat ride and during the boat ride, the miser started counting money of his wallet as he was very fond of counting his money. While counting the money 50 Paisa coin fell from his wallet into the river and the miser almost got a heart attack. Without wasting any time, he suddenly jumped into the river and forgot that he did not know swimming. He started asking for help and his friend told him to give his hand but the miser pulled out his hand. Another friend reminded the first friend that miser does not have a habit of giving anything and you should change your language. Then the friend asked him to take his hand and the miser grabbed his hand immediately. The story clearly shows that we are accountable for our own actions and hence we must keep a watch on our habits.

Conclusion

We become what we repeatedly do and this repetition forms our personality. Better productivity, consistency, strength, flexibility, and other good things come to us when we develop good habits. When we learn to transform our habits, we learn to transform our own life. We talked about the two amazing rules by which we can develop good habits and the next three rules will be explained in our next article.