There’s something optimistic about January. Everyone decides to reclaim their lives with that one resolution – focus on health or read more or be regular with the workouts.
You’ll write it down or mark it on the calendar. The more ambitious ones tell their friends or family in the hopes of getting someone to keep them on track.
And even before you move to February, the momentum loses steam. The consistency gets diluted.
Reality intervenes somewhere between writing those goals and living it.
Funny how it repeats every year. The real problem is goals live in our thoughts. To implement them, you need to build habits.
Goals are the things you think about; habits are the things you do without thinking.
If you get the difference, you’re on the right path. For those who haven’t, well, keep reading.
Goals Demand Motivation. Habits Create Momentum.
Setting goals is the easiest part. How difficult is it to decide you’ll exercise every day or will read 30 books this year or will wake up at 5 a.m.?
The intention is admirable. Now move to the next step – that is if you’ve decided on it.
If you’re waiting for inspiration or motivation to get started, then it’s going to be a long wait. They’re temperamental and unreliable companions.
The execution of your goals can’t be held captive by motivation. Because then you must negotiate with yourself every time.
Should I do it today? I’ve a busy day today, maybe tomorrow. Or just five more minutes.
You end up negotiating with yourself, convincing yourself for not sticking to your goal.
Building a habit removes this option. It makes it a routine, something you’ll end up doing because it’s part of the day, and not something you’re doing out of the way.
And once it becomes a routine, it stops feeling like a decision and instead begins feeling like a normal part of the day.
Our neighbour, a retired veteran, is out of the door daily at 5 a.m. for his morning walk, come rain or storm. He says it’s his time.
Others who got inspired by him, well, I get to see them once in a while. Their motivation got cancelled once the novelty of the new shoes wore off.
Their goal to “exercise more” is a struggle which got easily ignored when they hit the snooze button.
Goals are achieved when you stop talking and start doing.
Goals Change Outcomes. Habits Change Identity.
Best way to make a decision is to understand the difference between goals and habits.
Goals focus on a destination while habits focus on the behaviour.
If losing weight is your goal, then walking daily becomes the habit that gets you to that destination.
If the goal is to learn a language, then practice speaking daily for just 10 minutes must be the habit.
And when the behaviour gets repeated often enough, it slowly reshapes your identity.
When I began writing, my goal was to write “for myself”. Translation – I would write occasionally, as per convenience. It gave me some solace and assuaged my vanity but nothing else happened.
Things began changing when I developed the habit of writing daily. Painfully slow in the beginning but then slowly gaining the kind of momentum I had aspired for earlier.
A habit by itself may look small on any given day, but over months they quietly become the architect of your life.
The differences appear subtle but powerful.
Goals measure progress. While habits create transformation.
Build Fewer Goals, Better Habits
Like I said earlier, setting goals is the easiest part. Take the next step. Follow it up with action.
Goals will provide you with the direction. But knowing which direction you need to move is of no use unless you don’t decide to move.
Habits will help you build the framework which allows you to do the quiet, unglamorous work.
Reading five pages every night.
Saving a small amount every month.
Practising a skill for fifteen minutes a day.
Doesn’t sound very exciting or worthwhile when you see them in isolation. But when you keep doing it regularly, you’ll see the way the benefits compound.
There’s no point setting goals if you don’t intend to achieve them, right? Well, build that habit that will ensure you attain the success you hope for.
Time to review your goals from a different perspective. Instead of asking what are your goals for this year, ask yourself:“What habits must I develop to achieve my goals?”
That shift in thinking is what will become the deciding factor for your success.
Remember, goals live in our thoughts; habits live in our actions.