The human experience is all about habits. Whether you are actively aware of it or not you have habits, good or bad. This implies that it would be in your best interest to closely and proactively check your habits. The great news is that you can actually deliberately and consciously choose your habits. Scientifically it is said that it takes roughly 3 weeks to develop a new habit. It is important to know this because getting rid of unwanted habits involves replacing them with new ones. As 2021 slowly progresses you must cultivate healthy habits for the sake of your business. This is what I shall be enunciating in this article.
Enough Sleep And Rest
It boggles my mind how people tend to mistreat their bodies in the name of being busy. I made a funny observation as I was musing on something the other day. The typical car owner actually rests less than his or her car does. It is a bitter irony because cars can be replaced whereas human bodies cannot be. As a business person, you must schedule your general rest and sleep. Take mealtimes seriously as times to take a rest. Even at other convenient times during the day, please rest a bit – taking power naps, where possible would be great too. Your night’s sleep must be religiously adhered to. The average adult can do with an average of 6 to 8 hours of sleep every night. You can cultivate all these habits because you can schedule it all.
Eating Healthy
There is a book I am writing in which I go in-depth on this issue, it is too important. Eating healthy comprises so many components some of which are content, quantity, and time, amongst others. For instance, your meal quantities must resemble a pyramid i.e. more breakfast (wide base) and small supper (small tip). In Zimbabwe, the pyramid is common upside down and that creates lots of problems. You will also notice that people’s meals are characterized by too much starch. At one point a study revealed that many cases of Type 2 diabetes in Zimbabwe are caused by ingesting too much starch (sadza mainly).
Supper ought to be eaten at least 2 hours before one retires to bed. Not doing so leads to unwanted weight gain or the build-up of fats and sugars in your body. Fruits and vegetables must be a huge feature of your diet. Water intake daily must be highly prioritized – the body is roughly 3 quarters water. How then can it optimally function without adequate water intake? Do not forget to limit or eliminate fast foods or overly processed foods from your diet. These are some of the high priority issues you must deliberately build healthy habits towards or out of.
Staying Active
Your body is mechanical and if confined to dormancy will suffer unwanted harm. The beautiful thing about staying active is that there are so many ways to explore. For example, most of you are vehicle owners and work relatively in fixed positions daily. If you are not conscious of it you might never realize how inactive you are. Fix in scheduled walks (or jogs) every day where possible – basically some form of bodily exercises daily. If you can create time for the gym that is great but that is not the only way.
There are plenty of cardio exercises you can do at home. Suppose you drive to the spot where you grab your lunch; you can choose to rather walk there, makes a huge difference. The other day I was talking about micro habits. You can deliberately do some stretch exercises after every 3 hours or 6 hours as an example. You can do this wherever you are – think of fun ways to do it. The thrust is to stay active in any way possible.
Regular Review Of Your Social Circle
Most of the human problems, if not all, tend to be traced back to a fellow human being. People can be very toxic and if you do not cut ties with some of them you will weigh yourself down. You must cultivate the habit of regularly reviewing your social circle. You will most certainly notice that certain people are anchors that are holding you back from progressing. This is not an easy thing to regularly do but it is essential if you are to be successful. More often than not the journey to success is a lonely one. You can do it weekly, fortnightly, monthly, or after any interval that suits you but make sure you do these reviews.
Research And Study
Look at any successful person throughout history or alive today; you will notice one common thing – knowledge acquisition. You must make it a habit to research and study. Reading must be something that you do daily. Thanks to tech you can listen to audiobooks, talks, presentations, and so on. You can watch videos and access or participate in online learning platforms. Make sure you imbibe wholesome material, not just any because there is lots of misinformation and disinformation nowadays. When it comes to news media to be very wary. Bottom line is you must have a well laid out schedule of research and study activities. Set goals e.g. to read 50 books this year, sounds like a colossal goal right? Well, if you break it done to consistently reading just a few pages every day you will be amazed at how easy it is.
These simple yet vital habits will revolutionize your 2021 business year. You must particularly embrace the truth that any success you might envision in life is a product of your polished self as an individual. Business success is not some lofty ideal that is external to you – it comes from within. Most of these habits are meant to refine your spirit, body, and soul. Like Brian Tracy once said, “Successful people are simply those with successful habits”.
