Let’s start a new habit today.
By: Shruti Sharma
Tags: Writing, Self Improvement, Habit Building, Life, Beginner

Are you a sucker for motivational quotes just like me? And do you spend a little too much time on YouTube watching all the motivational Ted talks and the spiritual gurus talking about how they achieved whatever it is they wanted to achieve in their lives and convince you that you can also do the same? Are you also reading self help books which seems to be helping everyone apparently except you? If yes, then thank god I am not alone here.

If you see my browsing history and amazon purchases, you would find I have been buying a lot of self help “best seller” books and have subscribed to almost the motivational speakers. Their effect of their speech doesn’t seem to last long though. Whenever I watch any such movie where in, the protagonist, against all odds achieves his/her goal, I am so pumped up with energy to start improving my life that I immediately set some random goals for myself and carve out a whole beautiful future that I would have once I have achieved that random goal because if the hero in the movie could do it so can I. Isn’t that the idea everyone keeps selling you.

“10 things you should do to improve your life.”, “50 things you should do in the morning for a great day”, “100,000 ways to a content and peaceful life”. I am tired of these lists. They don’t work. You feel life’s the same. Surviving the mundane activities of your life one day at a time. No change. The fault is not of the books and blogs that you read, thinking that life is going to be awesome now, the fault is that you set too high expectations of yourself and put in very very little effort. If you procrastinate and half ass things like me, you would definitely relate to this. We wan change. Rather, we want significant change without putting in too much effort. And that is not how the world works. You’ll get what you give.

Now, how to start on changing things. By building new habits, good habits, habits that will make you a better version of yourself. How do you do that? You pick something, something small and practice it daily for at least 30 days and voila! you, my man, have developed a habit for yourself. What is something small? Anything, it could be anything you want to improve on. Something as small as brushing your teeth before bed daily without fail if that’s something you don’t do already. Or a skincare routine you wanted to follow but always procrastinate. If you are looking for a job, start by applying at one company daily. If you want to improve your coding skills, start solving one question, beginner level everyday. Don’t go to sleep before completing your task for the day. Don’t carve out the bigger picture, but start by painting a little each day.

All I am trying to convey is taking tiny AND regular steps ensures growth. Keep factors like failure success out of your mind. Just keep doing it. It’s like what Krishna said to Arjuna in Bhagvad Geeta “Keep performing your duty religiously without fail, but don’t care about the fruits it will bear you.”

Write to me what it is one thing that you want to incorporate as your habit and I shall help you with it. For me, I want to start writing. With zero experience in this, I think if I hope to become a content writer one day, I should start by at least writing some samples. So, for the next 30 days, I have decided to write one post daily, good or bad, doesn’t matter. Just write one original post and publish it here daily. :)

Let me know of your new habit that you’re staring on. :)