One of the most important ways to get lucky is by developing lucky habits. Everyone in the world has habits, some are good, some are bad, and some don’t make a difference one way or another. The point is that everyone has them. Habits range from biting your nails to always asking 10 people for advice before going ahead with a business deal and beyond. The Trick to getting lucky is to make yourself “Lucky Habits”.
Throughout this blog you will read about different ways to get lucky. I wrote about speaking to strangers, taking different routes to work, setting goals, and many other lucky habits to start.
Humans are creatures of habit. The reason that people usually don’t change much over time and that children turn out very much like their parents is that they learn habits when they are growing up and are stuck with them. Habits that you learn in your youth can cause you to become brand loyal to certain products just because your mother used them at home. You can also start drinking a cup of coffee every morning because that is what you see at home, school or the office. The only way to break a habit, change a habit or start a new habit is to consciously make it happen and work on it.
Habits are extremely hard to break. That is why it is so hard for people to quit smoking, lose weight and keep it off and change their overall financial situation. There are so many programs out there for all of the above examples but so many people just can’t do it. To quit smoking, you need to stop doing something you are so used to do. To lose weight and keep it off, you need to change your lifestyle to include exercise, different eating habits and a new mindset. To change your financial situation, you must first learn how to do it and second, change the way you deal with finances. It might mean starting to save money, it might mean investing, it might even mean cutting up all of your credit cards to make sure you don’t get into greater debt. All of these are easy to read about, study or get advice from friends but the hard part is changing your habits and creating new positive habits.
Change Your Habits
To change your habits, you must make the changes part of yourself. You need to set goals, write them down and find a way to make sure you follow them. Here are some ways to change your habits:
1. 1. Write down the habits you want to change and make sure it is somewhere you will see it every day.
2. 2. Tell a family member or friend to keep you in line.
3. 3. Get a partner with the same habits and change them together. Then you can push each other.
4. 4. Replace your habits with a better habit. For example, for smokers, every time you want a cigarette, have a candy. Or if you want to lose weight, get rid of junk food in your house and fill the fridge with vegetables so when you are hungry, you are forced to eat healthy.
5. 5. Do a little every day. You can’t change all of your habits in one day. It takes a lot of time and effort. Try changing one habit at a time and when you feel comfortable, start working on the next habit.
I recently decided that I needed to change my financial situation. To do this, I needed to get rid of all of my financial knowledge that I learned in the past and I started relearning everything from the ground up so I can build myself a solid financial foundation. I have been reading a lot, especially books from the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series and teaching my self to think like a “rich person” according to Robert Kiyosaki. I wrote down my goals and I started tracking my personal finances by creating financial statements for myself at the end of every month. I also started investing. At first, I didn’t think I could afford to invest but now I invest very regularly since I created the habit of putting aside investment money every month.
Take a good look at your life, look at where you are now and think about where you want to be in 10 years, 20 years and 30 years down the line. Then figure out what habits are going to get you there and figure out how you can put them into place. The sooner you change your habits, the sooner you will accomplish your goals.