Scholars advocate that when you are in the captive moment of a moving speaker, seminar, or revelation, make a move immediately because the time for your next action is N.O.W. – Never On Wait. In this way you push past the inertia and begin to develop momentum toward the new behavior.
When you are undertaking a move in a new direction, whether it is one degree or 180 degrees from your original path, it takes time and persistence. Yet the more promptly you take the next step the quicker you build momentum and the more you accomplish within a particular time.
Executive Coach M.J. Ryan, in an article entitled 5 Ways to Change Your Habits to Become More Successful, September 21, 2016, 9:00 AM EST, presented useful tools for changing habits.
- Focus
We all want to accomplish multiple things, yesterday. But instead of diffusing our energy by undertaking several things at once, concentrate efforts on one thing at a time.
- Make it Actionable
Give your action certainty. For example, I will spend 10 minutes a day writing in my journal, or I will wake up 30 minutes earlier to exercise.
- Use a Habit-Changer
This is a phrase repeated like a mantra which reminds us of what we will do differently. Perhaps you are looking to change your tendency from being too bossy. You may say, “Ask don’t tell.” The more frequently we use it the quicker we adopt the change.
- Focus on the Horizon
We tend to look into our future and see how far we still need to go, even though we have progressed. Instead, we should reflect on what we accomplished. I got up 15 minutes earlier than I did a week ago to exercise. Or I saved $100 more than I did a month ago.
- Don’t Turn Goof Ups into Give Ups
Persistence pays. Since we are undertaking a new habit which has not been established yet, we are likely to disrupt our flow with a mistake or by forgetting to act. We need to get back up, refer to our Habit-Changer again and keep going. Begin to change a habit that is no longer serving you, right away because the time for action is N.O.W.
For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
(NIV, Philippians 2:13)
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