“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”
Mahatma Gandhi
You’ve probably seen this quote from Gandhi before… I love it because it’s so simple and yet so profoundly true.
The fact is, you are an accumulation of your habits.
From how you get out of bed, how you shower, how you dress, how you walk, sit, and talk, how you respond to the world, how you act in front of others, and how you think – your habits determine how you move through world.
And this isn’t a bad thing.
Habits are necessary.
They free up your mind so you can concentrate on how to survive day to day. You don’t have to think about how to drive your car so you can be on the lookout for danger while you are driving. You don’t have to think about how to walk so you can concentrate on where you’re going.
However, habits can also keep you locked in self-destructive patterns that will limit your success.
Whatever habits you have established up to this point are producing your current level of results. More than likely, if you want to create higher levels of success, you are going to need to drop some of your habits.
For example, if you’re always late and frequently forget to return phone calls or emails in a timely fashion, you inconvenience others and run the risk of lowering their opinion of you and missing out on valuable opportunities.