Force of Habit

Habits are seemingly small things, but they have great force in guiding our lives toward success or failure. The dictionary defines a habit as an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary. Habits can be our greatest ally or our worst enemy. Good habits are small things that done regularly will yield positive results. If you eat an apple a day and take a walk around the block after dinner, that will accumulate into a healthy body. If you save 10% of every paycheck, although it seems like a small amount, it will accumulate into a fortune over time.

As business philosopher Jim Rohn says, these small disciplines are easy to do, but they are also easy NOT to do. Disaster doesn’t strike on the first day that you skip your walk or substitute a Snickers bar for your apple….Disaster doesn’t strike the first paycheck you decide to spend it all instead of saving some of your money. But you’ve got to be smarter than that! If you continue down that road, disaster will certainly come upon you. You succeed and fail by small degrees everyday, with your wealth, health, and relationships.

If you can harness the power of habit for good, you will certainly have a life of many successes. How? It takes about 21 days of discipline to convert a new behavior into a habit. Work on one good habit at a time, so you don’t become overwhelmed. Healthy people are healthy because of they have good health habits – eating an apple instead of a Snickers bar, taking a walk around the block, etc. Wealthy people are wealthy because they have good money habits – staying out of debt, saving regularly, investing, etc.

Please remember, there is no quick fix for getting “financially healthy”. If someone tells you there is, run as fast as you can in the other direction! Most financial messes aren’t made overnight, and they won’t be cleaned up overnight either. As Dave Ramsey says, “You can wander into debt, but honey, you can’t wander out!” Decide today to commit yourself to good money habits, and watch them accumulate over time into financial peace of mind.