What did your mom tell you when you were growing up?Cover your mouth when you cough.

• Don’t wipe your hands on your clothes.
• Don’t talk with food in your mouth.
• Stop picking your nose! (Oh, was that just me?)

She was right, you know!

All those things your mom told you growing up — little did you know your mom was helping you build a collection of good habits that would set you up for success in life. Because who wants a cough-in-your-face, dirty clothes, food-in-mouth talking, nose-picker for a friend, a colleague, or a spouse? 

We all have habits, good and bad. Much of our life is characterized by habits. Stu Walesh tells us, “neurobiologists, cognitive psychologists, and others indicate that from 40 to 95 percent of human behavior—how we think, what we say, and our overall actions—falls into the habit category.” That’s a lot of behavior.

Consequences of Bad Habits

Maybe you don’t think about bad habits very often, but success in life is often hurt by our bad habits. For instance, bad habits can curb our performance in multiple areas of our lives including work, marriage, relationships with children, and friendships. YourDictionary.com provided several bad habits that will hinder progress in your life: 

• Getting distracted from what you should be doing
• Excessive alcohol consumption
• Failing to go to the dentist for regular cleanings and checkups
• Failing to protect your skin against harm from the sun
• Regularly carrying a heavy bag on the same shoulder
• Sitting for long periods of time
• Skipping meals in an effort to lose weight
• Smoking cigarettes

These habits, if left unchecked, can result in major life disruptions – even death. It’s difficult to make progress on your goals when you’re dead. Short of death, bad habits can also hinder progress in other areas. For instance, constantly interrupting people pegs you as socially unaware. That may earn you a pass on your next promotion. Leering at other women (or men) while you’re out with your spouse is not helpful for a good marriage. But there is a better way.

Benefits of Good Habits

As powerful as bad habits are to take us off a success trajectory, good habits can keep us on that path. Forging new habits are even better. An extra 50 pushups and 50 situps a day can give us a new upper body in a few short months. One salad for lunch every day can give us a boost in energy and lower our weight if we’re used to eating sloth-inducing carbs. And that’s just for your health. What about business?

According to Inc.com, the top 5 habits of successful business owners are to ask for help, own with integrity, have passion, plan ahead, and make time for yourself. Failing to do any of these habits can inhibit your growth trajectory, ruin relationships, or cause unnecessary burnout. And these are habits that everyone can practice, not just business owners. The benefits of good habits like these can reorient our lives onto a more successful path.

Think about it this way:

Imagine two new hires at a company for the same position. Both women arrived at the organization with glowing recommendations from their previous companies and everything appeared to be similar. But one thing distinguished the workers from each other. One practiced good work habits while the other let things slip. The first woman, let’s call her Grace, arrived 10 minutes before her shift started. She completed her assignments on time and offered suggestions to improve workflows – even leading a small team to handle an important project.

The other woman, let’s call her Mia, wasn’t as motivated. She would consistently arrive late to work and periodically call in sick. She would do her work, but it was often later than expected and not as thorough as her counterpart. Grace and Mia started on a similar path, but one outshone her colleague. When a position opens up, who is the obvious choice for advancement? The takeaway is clear: bad habits lead to problems and good habits lead to promotions.

Examples of Good Habits

So what are some good habits?

This isn’t a complete list, but a starter list to help you think about how these habits will help you on your success trajectory. This also isn’t rocket science. Good habits are not always complex, but simple. They may be difficult to implement for one reason or another, but that shouldn’t minimize their effectiveness in your life. This list comes from Jeff Nickles’ “17 Good Habits for a Successful Life” – the link is in the description and the show notes page of our website.  

1.  Get on a good schedule.

“We need structure and routine in our lives. Our bodies expect it. They perform best when we operate on a regular schedule. We especially need to eat and sleep about the same time each day. If you are the parent of a young child, it is your job to teach this habit early. This routine stays with a person their whole life and helps them to develop good work habits.  Find a schedule that works for you and stick to it!”

2.  Eat a healthy diet.

“Our brains need the right food to perform at their peak. Don’t go to school or work on an empty stomach. Students need to train themselves early to eat a balanced and healthy diet. We tend to carry the habits we learn when we are young forward with us for most of our lives. Learning to eat right now can avoid many health issues down the road.”

3.  Learn to exercise.

“We need physical activity to stay healthy.  The benefits of regular exercise are well documented. We need to find exercise routines that are fun and match our individual tastes. Developing a good exercise routine is a habit that will increase both the quantity and quality of your life.”

4.  Practice gratitude.

“It is so easy to get in the bad habit of envying what others have. The grass often seems greener on the other side of the fence. It is vitally important to learn gratitude. Practice thinking about the things you have to be thankful about.”

5.  Manage money wisely.

“Why don’t they teach a good personal finance class in school?  Students need to learn to earn, save, budget, track, and wisely spend money to be successful in life.  Good money habits can never start too early.”

We could go on, but the point is not to create an exhaustive list of good habits, but to prime the pump of thought so you can think about areas where good habits benefit you. Good, habitual practices can have far-reaching effects in our work, life, and everywhere in between. 

The Bible on Habits 

The Bible doesn’t address habits in the same way we talk about them today, but the concept of habitual practice is implied in many places. For instance, the Apostle Paul tells us, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2) Paul is not referring here to occasional practice. We can’t renew our mind with every-once-in-awhile patterns. Plus, you’re testing something day-by-day to see what God’s will is. And our habits – starting with our habits of the mind – can transform the way we live. 

Takeaway: How Are Your Habits Affecting Your Life?

What about you? Are your habits helping you achieve your goals? Or are they pushing you further from them? Or maybe you don’t even know which good habits can take you to a more successful phase of life.  

I’d love to hear your thoughts on habits – the good, the bad, and the not so pretty. I aim to personally answer your comments on this channel if you have questions about habits, leave a comment below, and let’s chat! 

All the best!