The Secret to Better Habits in 2021 | Ryan Holiday

The title pretty much says it all. This is a pretty good read for those who want to build better habits... now. Why wait to get started, right?

Link: The Secret to Better Habits in 2021

Below are some of my key takeaways from reading this.

Improve yourself with incremental acts performed consistently every day

Self-improvement is all about small, incremental acts performed consistently and intently every day. It's about doing the work that needs to be done to get better, day by day, until you finally get to see some results.

Kinda sounds like the advice Bishop Barron gave on one of his Daily Gospel Reflections — that baby steps are all you need to take to start doing God's work. In this case, it is also applicable to self-improvement.

Building habits is a long-term endeavor

When it come to building habits, you have to think about it from a long-term perspective. Similar to how losing weight is a marathon, not a sprint. The build-up to developing a good habit is almost always underwhelming. Like as if they don't amount to anything. Almost like how compound interest works. But this continued work and effort that you put out, into developing a habit, is what allows you to develop that habit in the future.

Routines can bring order to chaos

And lastly, having a routine in place can help you build habits in the long run. This is because routines give order to our sometimes chaotic daily lives.

It's almost similar to the idea of instilling discipline in yourself, as mentioned in Jocko Willink's Discipline Equals Freedom book. When you can no longer count on willpower or motivation to get you through, you can count on discipline and routine to get things done.

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