One Thing At a Time

“On Monday, I’m going to starta business, lose 20 lbs., wake up earlier, and read a book, weekly”

Ever heard someone say something similiar to that?

They attempt to turn their whole lives around, all at once.

While I admire people who want to improve themselves, going about  it in this fashion isn’t optimal.

What is it that our society lacks today?

Can you guess?

They lack patience.

No one wants to work or wait for anything anymore!

If you tell someone they have to wait four months to build the habit of the four goals in the first sentence above, they’ll quickly lose motivation.

Is it impossible to start and succeed with four new habits at the same time?

No.

Is it likely that you’ll follow through and actually do all of them?

No.

In the book The Effective Executive, Peter Drucker explains that trying to change yourself too much, at the same time, is stressful.

We are all use to our daily routine.

Attempting to change your whole life at once, never works out.

You get frustrated, cranky, and burned out.

It’s hard enough changing or starting one new habit.

The best advice is to focus on one thing until it’s perfect.

Once that one thing is complete and perfect, you move on to the next.

Can you imagine doing all the work required to start a business, dieting and working out to lose weight, waking up earlier, and reading daily?

It won’t be a week before you give up and stop most of those.

If you’ve read my other articles where I talk about habits, you’ll know that once a behavior does in fact become a habit, engaging in it isn’t stressful.

It becomes part of who you are.

It’s just something you do, like brushing your teeth every morning.

Once you’re use to running a business, it’ll be easy.

Sure, you’ll have stressful moments, but you’ll also have experience.

At the beginning, you’ll be stressed out.

You’re building the habit of working on your business daily.

…and also dealing with the fact that there’s a lot of things you don’t know how to do yet.

Make sense?

Once you’re use to working out and eating better, you’ll do it automatically.

Once you’re use to getting up early, you’ll do it automatically.

…and so on.

The moral of the story is to stick to ONE new thing at a time.

You have to be patient.

Many people make countless attempts at changing their lives, and ultimately fail.

Why?

Because they try to change everything at once.

I’ve tried it myself and failed.

What did I do?

I learned patience and discipline.

Now, I start ONE new behavior or goal, accomplish it, and move on to the next.

The result?

I achieve everything I go after.

Be patient. 

Be consistent.

You only fail if you do things wrong.

-Alex