How to Establish New Habits the No-Sweat Way

“The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.” - Samuel Johnson

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Mary Jaksch of Goodlife Zen.

Have you ever had problems establishing a new habit? Maybe I should ask, have you ever not had problems establishing a new habit? Whether it’s getting up early, going for a daily run, losing weight, writing a journal – let’s face it: most attempts to establish a new habit end in a dismal flop.

In her book “This year I will…”, Andy Ryan, an expert in collaborative thinking, spells out why change is difficult:

15 Tips for Becoming as Patient as Job

“Patience and fortitude conquer all things.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

In the Old Testament, the story of Job showed a very faithful man whose faith is put to test, and shows an extreme example of perseverance through suffering … but in my mind, whenever I read Job’s story, I am struck by the man’s supreme patience.

While living a very faithful and righteous life, he nevertheless endured one infliction after another without ever cursing God’s name. I think most of us would have lost our patience and become frustrated and angry much earlier in the story.

While Job’s patience is legendary, I believe that even the most impatient of us can learn to be more patient with practice.

Autopilot Achievement: How to Turn Your Goals Into Habits

“First we make our habits, then our habits make us.” - Charles C. Noble

It’s such a simple concept, yet it’s something we don’t always do. It’s not exceedingly difficult to do, and yet I think it’s something that would make a world of difference in anyone’s life.

Break your goals into habits, and focus on putting those habits into autopilot.

Living the Prolific Life: A How-to Guide

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Clay Collins of The Growing Life.

Pro·lif·ic (\prə-li-fik\) : Marked by abundant inventiveness or productivity.

–Merriam Webster Online

The prolific life has been characterized by abundant inventiveness and limitless creativity. Prolificacy has also been unnecessarily enshrouded in a veil of mystery and the sources of artistic inventiveness are too often viewed as out-of-reach for the average person. Perhaps it’s for this reason that artistic inspiration has frequently been attributed to muses, the channeling of spirits, beelzebub, etc.

In spite of perceptions surrounding prolific creativity, there are several documented commonalities that consistently appear in the lives of prolific people. Indeed, the psychological literature has some definite insights into commonalities of the prolific. My investigation into this literature has yielded these . . .

13 Things to Avoid When Changing Habits

“Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.” - Mark Twain

I’ve learned a lot about changing habits in the last 2 1/2 years, from quitting smoking to taking up running and GTD and vegetarianism and waking early and all that. I could go on, of course, but you get the picture.

I’ve not only learned a lot about what you should do when changing habits, but through my failures, I’ve learned about what not to do.

And trust me, I’ve had lots of failures.