How to Build Self-Discipline Faster and Easier.

Learn the Power of Keystone Habits

Martin Meadows

Life is easy when you live it the hard way.The only difference between mediocrity and success are making the hard choices.

Self-discipline is the key that helps you make those hard decisions instead of sticking to what’s easy.

In this presentation you’ll learn how to introduce keystone habits that will help you break through obstacles, resist temptations and achieve your goals.

How to Form a Habit

On average, it takes 66 days to make a new behavior automatic.

Each day you repeat the wanted behavior, you need less discipline to make it stick. 66 days later, it takes little discipline to maintain the habit – it becomes automatic.

A habit consists of three elements: cue, action, and reward.

Your brain follows a simple process.When it sees a familiar cue, it makes you perform the associated action in order to get the reward it craves.

If your cue is being offered a chocolate bar, your action is eating it, and the reward is the explosion of sweetness in your mouth.

Fortunately, we can use the exact same process to form positive habits.

Take the example with the chocolate

bar…

Let’s assume the sweet taste is the reward you want. The next time you get a craving to eat a candy bar, replace it with an apple instead.

The first time will be the hardest – that’s when you need self-discipline the most. Once you repeat the same behavior several times, it will get easier and easier to replace the chocolate with an apple.

Several weeks later, you will grab an apple at the sight of a chocolate bar by default – and refuse the chocolate when offered.

Developing new habits is the essence of self-discipline, but there’s a better way to introduce new habits than painfully changing them one by one with cues, actions, and rewards… Keystone habits.

Keystone habits are patterns that lead to the transformation of several areas of life at once. Unsurprisingly, one of the most powerful habits that lead to changing other patterns is regular physical activity.

Studies show that regular physical activity may lead to:

Reduced overeating, Reduced smoking,Reduced alcohol consumption,Reduced risk taking,

and obviously losing weight and overall better well-being.

One habit can help you introduce numerous other healthy changes with little to no resistance.

Food journaling is another keystone habit.

Research shows that people who journal their intake of food ate less and made healthier choices.

In the studies, none of the participants were encouraged to change any habits besides writing down what they ate every day. The change – as in the case of physical activity – happened naturally.

Other keystone habits you can develop in your life and expect a positive chain reaction include…

1. Meditation.

There are at least twenty scientifically-proved benefits of meditation that carry over to all areas of life like:

More focus,Stronger immune system,Less depression and anxiety,Improved resilience and mood,Enhanced self-esteem.

2. Waking up earlier. Waking up even 15 minutes earlier can greatly affect each day by reducing stress and hurry, thus letting you make healthier decisions (rather than shoving that chocolate bar down your throat as your breakfast).

3. Trying a new thing every single day. Stepping outside your comfort zone and doing things you have never done before will help you discover new hobbies, meet new people, and face your fears.

4. Saving money. Having a cushion of savings leads to decreased stress and more financial safety that spills over to other aspects of life.

5. Expressing gratitude for things you’re thankful for. Studies show that writing down three things that went well on a given day led to steady increases in happiness.

Building self-discipline can be difficult, but if you establish some keystone habits in your life, you won’t need more self-discipline than you already have.

Automated behaviors will easily prevents you from breaking your resolutions and help you achieve your long-term goals.

If you want to learn more about self-discipline, perseverance, success psychology and personal development in general, click the button below and sign up for my newsletter to get my free book and more articles delivered straight to your inbox.

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Martin Meadows

If you want to learn more about self-discipline, perseverance, success psychology and personal development in general, click the button below and sign up for my newsletter to get my free book and more articles delivered straight to your inbox.

DOWNLOAD FREE BOOKprofoundselfimprovement.com