Choose Your Habits, Choose Your Life

People are creatures of habit. But how often do we think about what it really means and how we can use that simple insight into our nature to our advantage?

Many of our habits become ingrained in us over time before we even realize they are habits. Unfortunately, many of these unconsciously-acquired habits, whether it's hitting the snooze bar in the morning, or approaching the same kind of patient case in the same way every time, can end up having a diminishing effect on your life. You can also consciously and deliberately instil a habit.

Psychological studies differ as to how many weeks or the number of repetitions it takes to develop a habit; however, it is quite clear that you can train your brain to adopt new patterns of thought and behavior. This means you can choose the habits you want to become second nature. Knowing that, why not choose the ones that contribute to your personal and professional growth?

For example, one of the best habits to get into is to take a half-hour or so at the end of each day, no matter how tempting it is to just head home, and instead update charts, read and answer email, and tie up any other loose ends that are cluttering your desk (and your mind). It may seem like a burden at first, but once you make it a habit you'll notice how good it feels to walk out complete for today and ready for tomorrow.

Being a successful leader means having the self-awareness to recognize the habits that drive your life and the discipline to strategically reprogram those habits to get the best results. This may sound overly simple, but the fact is it takes significant effort to achieve. This is why so many people get swept along in the currents of life, or make attempts at change that don't seem to "stick."

Breaking out of old, limiting habits and establishing new productive ones require a special mindset. Those who can do this eventually discover that they can pretty much choose their own path to the life they want.