Habits are solutions to recurring problems, many of which are unconsciously inherited from family and society. Personal growth begins when you consciously evaluate these automatic solutions and ask if they are truly the best ones for your current life, then take responsibility for upgrading them.
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Habits must evolve with life's seasons (e.g., career changes, having children). A habit that served you well in one phase may hold you back in the next. Be willing to give up old, successful routines that no longer align with your current priorities and identity.
True habit formation isn't about the action itself but about embodying an identity. Each small act, like one pushup, is a "vote" for the type of person you want to be. This builds evidence and makes the identity—and thus the habit—resilient and deeply ingrained.
Most people operate on autopilot, repeating the same thoughts and actions daily, which limits their potential. The key to breaking this automation is awareness. By actively seeking feedback, you gain the necessary "analytics" to see your own patterns, stop being controlled by them, and consciously rewrite your behavior for improvement.
If you feel like you're constantly struggling, it may be because you're forcing old habits into a new season of life. Self-awareness is key. By asking "What season am I in?" and "What am I optimizing for right now?" you can realign your habits with your current reality, reducing friction.
The most powerful way to make habits stick is to tie them to your identity. Each action you take—one pushup, one sentence written—casts a vote for a desired identity, like "I'm someone who doesn't miss workouts" or "I am a writer." This builds a body of evidence that makes the identity real.
Every person runs a subconscious optimization routine guided by a single "primary question" that dictates their values, beliefs, and actions. Identifying and intentionally rewriting this core question is the most effective way to reprogram your mental operating system and achieve your desired reality.
View habits as having "seasons" rather than as rigid, lifelong commitments. A habit that serves you well during one phase of life (e.g., building a startup) may need to be adapted or replaced in the next (e.g., raising a family). This flexibility prevents feelings of failure and promotes long-term success.
Ambitious people default to adding new routines to improve. However, the fastest way to accelerate progress is subtraction: identifying and eliminating the mindsets, behaviors, or people ("boat anchors") that are creating drag and holding you back from operating at full power.
Popular advice to change small habits often fails because the underlying mindset isn't addressed first. You can force yourself to make daily sales calls, but without the right belief system, you're just 'rolling the dice' instead of operating with intention and achieving better results.
The first step to overcoming bad habits is accepting full accountability, rejecting the notion that you're a victim of circumstance or heredity. Pointing to others who have broken similar negative patterns proves it's possible, reframing the challenge as an opportunity to be the first in your lineage to change.
