7 Life-Changing Behaviors We Should All Make A Habit Of Embracing

Your life as it is today is the sum of your habits. Every thought and every single action that you repeatedly engage in ultimately shapes your present life. Your happiness, motivation and success are the direct result of the culmination of all your habits. That which you do repeatedly will make or break your entire life.

The problem is that we tend to pick up most habits unconsciously. This allows negative routines of behavior to sneak in, without us even realizing it. Once such a negative habit is established, it’s quite difficult to break it. But what if you want to make a change for the better? Here are the 10 most powerful habits that can change your life greatly.

Have you ever wondered what you could do to effectively make a change in your life?

The Power Of Habit

It takes only 21 days for most habits to form. This means that if you are able to repeat a beneficial behavior over and over for three weeks, it will form as a habit. In the beginning, this will be really difficult. But once you master the challenge, all the pain and difficulties will be forgotten. What will be left is the astonishment how easily you are able to successfully perform your new habit, mostly without even thinking about it.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle

Some habits might be more difficult to establish than others, but once the habit has manifested you’ll be able to utilize this positive behavior at ease. Scientists of the University of London have shown that you can effectively promote habit formation by giving yourself external rewards combined with self-monitoring and positive feedback.

The researchers also highlighted that the most effective way to break unwanted habits is by restructuring your personal environment or programming new responses to unwanted behaviors.

All it takes the right willpower to persist in the creation of a new habit. But what are extremely powerful habits that can change our life significantly?

The first step for long-lasting change is to identify nonproductive or harmful habits. Doing so allows you to rebuild these habits and change them into more supportive ones. The habits and mindsets presented in the following can help you in this transition and will definitely have a great impact upon your life.

1. Don’t be afraid of failure

Failure is an inevitable but healthy part of life. If we wouldn’t fail, we wouldn’t advance. Our fear of failure, however, is not so healthy. Even though we’ve failed again and again in the past, we still have trouble coming to terms with the whole concept. We only see the negative aspects of a failure, which is why we’re so afraid of it. And while it is certainly true that failing can be an extremely painful experience that severely pushes you to the ground, ultimately it serves you. In the long run, every failure helps you to become a little bit better. It allows you to grow as a person and will present unexpected opportunities.

Interestingly enough, many successful people owe their success to the fact that they never allowed failure to defeat them. These people would always get back up on their feet, shake off the dust from their clothes and continue pursuing their dreams. In fact, some like Thomas A. Edison were even extraordinarily proud of all their failures. These people understood that there is something by far more painful than a failure: Not having tried in the first place.

Therefore, make it a habit to be courageous about failure.

2. Never stop learning

At the fundament of personal success lies the unquenchable desire to learn something new. This desire facilitates your growth as a person and keeps your mind challenged. It will not only encourage you to continuously reinvent yourself, but it will also help you to fight complacency. If we no longer wish to explore the world we’re living in, we put our development to a full stop. It makes us feel comfortable with the way things are, which is not always a good thing.

This poisonous mindset can be turned to dust by the desire to learn and explore something new. It will fuel your curiosity that leads you on the pursuit of adventurous endeavors.

Make learning a habit. Embrace the mindset of being a student of life. Use the daily habit of self-education to advance in life and to develop new skills.

3. Cultivate gratitude

Gratitude is a simple, yet powerful habit that can have a profound impact upon your life. It allows us to overpower the feeling of not having enough. As a result, gratitude helps to avoid being frustrated over not getting what you desire by shifting your focus on the gifts you have been given. This shift in perspective allows you to replace dissatisfaction with gratitude and contentment.

Cultivating the habit of gratitude helps you to (re-)discover the beauty that can be found in your life. Being grateful will allow you to develop a deep appreciation even for the little things in life. Even more importantly, gratefulness will ultimately make you spend less time in the constant pursuit of more.

Make it not only a habit to be grateful for what you have, but also try to take a quite moment of appreciation each day. Count your blessings and discover the wonders that make your life so special.

4. Make self-motivation a habit

Many people wonder what the secret to motivation is. They struggle without realizing that there is only one secret to motivation: No one will ever be able to truly motivate you but yourself.

“Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly.” Stephen Covey

Watching motivational videos, listening to motivational speakers and reading motivational quotes might get you excited for a brief period of time. In the long run, however, it will not bring you any further. Know that you alone are responsible for your motivation. If you are not motivated, no one else is to blame. If, however, you aim for long-lasting motivation, you’ll need to establish a burning desire within you that keeps you going no matter what. This fueling desire can only be ignited by yourself. Others might be able to light this fire within you for a short period of time, but it will diminish as quickly as it came.

Make it a habit to motivate yourself day after day. The following powerful habit will show you how.

5. Have a vision

Life continuously revolves around the question whether you have a purpose or not. Without having a clear vision of what you desire, you’ll never reach it. But if you do have a true mission it will fire your determination to see it realized. For this reason, profound changes in life require an underlying vision that makes you see things through, even when the going gets tough.

Think about it. All the great inventors and revolutionaries that profoundly changed the way we are living had a vision that fueled everything they did. These people were so energized by their mission to help make this world a better place that it allowed them to overcome every difficulty that presented itself.

When you have a truly ambitious vision your focus starts to shift away from the difficulties of a given task to the higher purpose of it. Instead of getting demoralized by unpleasant tasks, you will understand that your task contributes to your underlying vision. This will help you to address the most difficult and challenging obstacles, as you can clearly see how important the fulfillment of your task is to see your vision realized.

Make it a habit to continuously develop your life’s vision.

6. Live without regrets

The past cannot be changed. What happened cannot be undone. Still, the very thought about our past mistakes and failures torments us. Our mistakes do not only anger us, but they also make us regretful. We wonder about what could have been if we hadn’t done this or that. Without realizing it, we keep thinking about what happened, regretfully morning about the missed opportunities. It prevents us from seizing the moment. Regret makes us forget that the only thing we can influence is the present.

Do not regret your mistakes. Do not allow your past to make you ignore opportunities in the present. Try to understand that the combination of all your mistakes and failures allowed you to become the person who you are today. Without all these experiences, you wouldn’t be the person you are today. If you did not go through these experiences, you would have been less strong than today.

Make it a habit to live a life without regret. Quit complaining and know that it’s okay to make mistakes.

7. Meditate

Meditation is one of the most powerful habits you can possibly develop. Not only is it a simple habit that can be practiced anywhere and anytime, but it will also provide immediate benefits. It’s scientifically proven to relieve stress, improve focus and memory among many other beneficial advantages. But most important of all, it will allow you to make profound changes in your life.

If you want to discover the most powerful habit that will benefit you in many surprising ways, meditation is an excellent option to explore. Make it a habit to meditate daily.

This post originally appeared at Planet Of Success.