I KNOW there are mantras and prophetic statements given out in different settings, but as long as your habits are out of line, you will never reach the top. Life is controlled by principles.
Those principles are fulfilled through habits. As we start 2023, the best thing to do is to correct your habits. Bad habits inhibit progress. Good habits are like small granules of sugar. The more they add up, the more your life is sweetened.
Mindset
What makes life unique and special is the ability to think critically and creatively. The mind is the greatest gift that sets human beings apart from other creatures. So we have to feed our minds with things that improve and develop us.
It starts off with mental programming. This is when you align your thinking with your dreams. Your programming will affect and influence your belief systems, attitude, behaviour, feelings, actions and ultimately determine your results.
The simplest way to change your mindset is to change what you feed your mind with. Secondly, the people that you associate with most of the time will determine what sticks on you. Set your mind to fulfilling your purpose.
Purpose
Purpose is fulfilled through habits. A habit can ultimately run and ruin our lives, behaviours, attitudes, feelings, actions and even our results.
On the other hand, when we know our true purpose we find things and activities that fulfil us and pump up our adrenaline. Proper or positive habits become our positive drug so to speak, which leads to our success. Daily small habits add up or accumulate to become our success. Simply, our ritual becomes our reality.
The most important questions to all is: What is your purpose? Why are you here on earth? Do you answer to any special call in your life? Are you an answer to someone’s problems or prayer? How do you serve the world? What is your contribution to humanity? Why are you here? What’s your clear value proposition to this world? Think about that as we start off 2023; set a new-normal.
The new normal
Recreate your life. If you want to change your life, change your direction. The change of direction will mean you arrive at your anticipated destiny. Some people are floating through life, dreaming that some day, they will arrive at their destination, while carrying a wrong map.
There is nothing as important as direction. Some think it’s speed, not at all. You might be speeding towards the wrong place — rather focus on your direction.
If we are learning new habits, it’s painful, demanding because we are not used to it, but when we do it occasionally, it ultimately becomes our new normal. Just like trying to use your left hand in writing, when you are right-handed and have always used your right hand. So, we need to reset things in our lives.
Resetting
It’s never too late to start all over again in 2023. Pick a new habit like reading a chapter of a book everyday, run in the morning, drink lots of water everyday and even saying “I love you” to your lover everyday. 2023 is a great starting point. This could be with your career, finances, relations or purpose.
The word reset was popularised by the tech industry. When you are resetting, you are merely restoring to factory settings. It means deleting stuff and making fresh installations. Generally, what we can do is to restart. We might not be able to delete things, but we can consciously reinstall mental software that can make us function effectively. At times as we reset we need to forgive ourselves.
Self-forgiveness
Everyone has a negative past. Should we engross our minds in a negative past? The answer is no. Forgive yourself, and free yourself from the shackles of the past.
You might be 40, and have accepted that life will always be bad. You might be old and thinking I have not accomplished anything worthwhile. It’s time to forgive yourself and give yourself a new start.
You might have failed basic things such as Ordinary Level, but at 30, you can rewrite the script of your life. Let’s start all over again by changing your habits.
Habits
Charles Duhigg in his book The Power of Habits says: “The key to winning is changing a player’s habits”. For you to live an effective life, you must change “you” first. Not other people or your surroundings, but you first.
In the book As a Man Thinketh, James Allen bolsters Duhigg’s statement by saying: “The vision that you glorify in your mind, the idea that you enthrone in your heart — this you will build your life by; this you will become.”
The other way to start winning is by seeking help.
Seek help
You can’t win alone. You need people that will help you excel. Great athletes have good coaches, counsellors, advisers or mentors. Surround yourself with the help you need. My offer as we start off 2023 is to coach 10 people for free. Quickly contact me and I will be the help you need to build or rebuild your life.
- Jonah Nyoni is an author, speaker, and leadership trainer. He can be contacted on Twitter @jonahnyoni. Whatsapp: +263 772 581 918