Nothing will change your future trajectory like your habits.

When we begin to chase a vague concept (success, wealth, health, happiness), making a tangible goal is often the first step.

Habits are algorithms operating in the background that power our lives. Good habits help us reach our goals more effectively and efficiently. Bad ones makes things harder or prevent success entirely. Habits powerfully influence our automatic behavior.

“First forget inspiration.
Habit is more dependable.
Habit will sustain you whether you’re inspired or not.
Habit is persistence in practice.”

— Octavia Butler

First off, goals have an endpoint. This is why many people revert to their previous state after achieving a certain goal.

Second, goals rely on factors that we do not always have control over.

Habits are better algorithms, and therefore more reliable in terms of getting us to where we want to go.

The third problem with goals is keeping a goal in mind and using it to direct our actions requires a lot of thinking and effort to evaluate different options.

unrealistic goals can lead to dangerous or unethical behavior because we make compromises to meet our stated objective.

“Habit is the intersection of knowledge (what to do), skill (how to do), and desire (want to do).”

— Stephen Covey

The purpose of a well-crafted set of habits is to ensure that we reach our goals with incremental steps.

Habits are easy to complete.

Once we develop a habit, our brains actually change to make the behavior easier to complete.

Habits are for life.

According to Duhigg’s research, habits make up 40% of our waking hours.

Habits can compound.

“Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.“

“First we make our habits, then our habits make us.”

— Charles C. Nobel

With consistency, the benefits of non-negotiable actions compound and lead to extraordinary achievements.

When seeking to attain success in our lives, rather than concentrating on a specific goal, we would do well to invest our time in forming positive habits.