OK, everyone with no bad habits raise your hand.  Thought so! Everyone knows that we all have bad habits so I am not going to spend any time talking about them.  I am not going to tell you how to get rid of them or overcome them.

I will however, spend a little time on good habits.  Is it really that simple? Well look at it this way … when we say yes to one thing, we are saying no to another.  It doesn’t matter what it is, there are 24 hours in a day and we say yes to all almost all the things we spend that 24 hours on.

So it makes sense to me that if we say yes to developing good habits, we must eliminate something to make room for them.  With me so far?  I have read countless articles on the forming of habits and have come to the conclusion that there are two things necessary to form a good habit – Intentionality and Accountability.

INTENTIONALITY

Let’s be honest, we all have ideas, we all step to the line of intention and then … nothing.  On to a new idea.  You know, “shoulda, coulda, woulda.”  Right!  I think that to be intentional and follow through, there needs to be a greater driving force than simply “I need to do this because …”  Because what? And more importantly Why?

Follow me on this … I believe that our WHY will determine our WHAT and when our WHY is strong enough, the WHAT will lead to the HOW.  Let me get to the point.  Your intentionality will only last as long as your why.  When you lose your why, you lose your way.  Being intentional is great but doing it for the right reasons will lead to success.

Yes, we have to start somewhere, but if you actually want to reach the goal and the destination, it will take good habits to get you there.  Think of the words that go along with habit – commitment, consistent, purpose, passion and process.  Think about how these words play into whatever habit you are trying to create.  If they don’t, you probably don’t have a strong enough why to succeed.

ACCOUNTABILITY

There has been much written about developing habits.  Most suggest it takes 30-60 days of repetitive action to create a new habit.  So let’s say for the sake of argument, you have a strong why and are ready to start that new habit that will change your life.  Good job!  Who is holding you accountable?  Uh Oh!

We are all human and as humans, we are easily distracted, very good at creating excuses and can justify almost any action, or lack thereof, with some random reason that borders on insanity (doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results) and ultimately results in failure.

If you really want to create a new habit, get a friend, coach or mentor to hold you accountable.  The percentage of people that succeed improves dramatically when the have someone hold them accountable.

“We generally change ourselves for one of two reasons:  inspiration or desperation.”  –  Jim Rohn

I don’t know if you are inspired today or if you are desperate.  What I do know is that you have the power to make the next move.  Tom Hopkins said

“Being miserable is a habit, being happy is a habit; and the choice is yours.“

Intentionality, Accountability, Both or None of the Above – What choice are you going to make today?

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Barry Smith   www.buildingwhatmatters.com      4/7/13            photo by author