Working on your habits is a big part of personal success and change. A big part of our daily behavior is shaped by habits. More than 40% of our daily actions are habits. Habits are actions that we do involuntarily. The bad news is that most of the results we see in our lives today were caused by our habits. The good news is that most of the results we will see in the future will be produced by our habits. My personal health was transformed after I leaned about habits and how they work.
When I began my research on the principles of personal change. One of the first books I read was the classic, “The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey. One of the principles that I remember vividly from the book was when Covey read self-improvement, self-help, and popular psychology books written in the past 200 years. In his study of personal change, he discovered two types of success.
Two Types Of Success: Character Vs Personality.
In the early days, Covey recognized that success came from ‘ethics’ of character. Words such as humility, fidelity, integrity, habits, and courage defined success. Recently the definition of success changed. Success moved to the “Personality Ethic”. It was starting to be a function of personality, public image, behavior, and skills. The main problem with this ‘new’ success was that it was shallow, focused on quick results, and overlooking deeper principles in life. Covey states that our character needs to be cultivated to achieve sustainable success and not only our personality. The Character Ethic is based on a series of principles. These universal principles need to become our daily habits for us to have sustainable success and change.
Changing Your Habits.
The knowledge about weight loss and healthy living has been focused on quick results. People want to change outward manifestation and behaviors. We need to start educating people to work on their daily actions. When we start working on changing our inner core, habits, character, and motives, we will make health a lifestyle. Changing our daily actions and character is a difficult and long process. It will take longer than the quick fixes offered.
Taking short cuts and quick fixes such as diet pills, hunger suppressant medication, and waist trainers will lengthen the process. You may lose weight, however, gain it back as you did not transform your daily actions. We have all heard of people who lost weight very quickly and also gained it back. Many people on the #90DaysWithoutSugar have lost weight gradually by focusing on changing their habits, starting with one habit. Once you start working on your habits, the results will come. They may take time, but it is a principle – Habits produces lasting results and success.
The Myth Of Quick Results.
“Two Roads Diverged In A Wood And I – I Took The One Less Traveled By, And That Has Made All The Difference”- Robert Frost
The weight loss and health industry is filled with products that promise people quick results. There are a couple of reasons for that. Firstly, big corporates and marketers know that people want to results without changing habits and putting in the work required. Secondly, human nature will always lean towards the personality ethic. The character ethic says, “if I work on my core, my relationship with food and exercise frequently they will produce results”. The personality ethic says “if I can get a pill, a quick fix drink or something out there my health problems will be solved”.
The main reason why people would rather work on the personality ethic side is that it is quick. It takes more time and patience to develop your character and core. Working on your core requires you to ask difficult questions and work hard. It will challenge your belief system and paradigms. You need to read, think, and train to change your core and habits. One thing I can guarantee you is that you will never regret building habits. You will need to take the road less traveled, it will make all the difference in your life!