“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”

Mahatma Gandhi

You’ve probably seen this quote from Gandhi before. I love itbecause it’s so simple and yet so profoundly true.

The fact is, you are an accumulation of yourhabits.

From how you get out of bed, how you shower, how you dress, howyou walk, sit, and talk, how you respond to the world, how you actin front of others, and how you think — your habits determinehow you move through world.

And this isn’t a bad thing.

Habits are necessary.

They free up your mind so you can concentrate on how to surviveday to day. You don't have to think about how to drive your car soyou can be on the lookout for danger while you are driving. Youdon't have to think about how to walk so you can concentrate onwhere you're going.

However, habits can also keep you locked inself-destructive patterns that will limit yoursuccess.

Whatever habits you have established up to this point areproducing your current level of results. More than likely, if youwant to create higher levels of success, you are going to need todrop some of your habits.

For example, if you’re always late and frequently forget toreturn phone calls or e-mails in a timely fashion, youinconvenience others and run the risk of lowering their opinion ofyou and missing out on valuable opportunities.

Related: 10 bad work habits that you might be doing rightnow (& how to stop them)

If you spend every Friday night out drinking with yourfriends, or sharing a bottle of wine with your partner at home,that’s going to affect how you feel on Saturday morning — andhow much you’re going to be able to accomplish that day.

If you’re always buying things you don’t really need on creditand avoiding getting your finances in order, then you’re nevergoing to be able to pull yourself out of debt and create theabundant life you desire.

So, if there’s something you want to accomplish in life thatrequires you to start performing at a higher level, I stronglyencourage you to drop these bad habits that aren’t serving you— and develop new ones that are more in alignment with thelife you want to live.

Your habits can catapult you forward — or holdyou back. (Image: Shutterstock)

What habits are keeping you from achieving yourgoals?

I encourage you to be really honest with yourself here and askyourself:

• Are you always running late?

• Do you forget to return phone calls within 24 hours?

• Do you stay up late and never get enough sleep?

• Do you often break promises to your friends and family?

• Do you resist planning out your day?

• Do you spend money you don’t have?

• Do you avoid putting important tasks and events in yourcalendar?

• Do you drink alcohol more than once a week — and do youhave more than two drinks per day?

Imagine what your life would be like if all your habitswere their productive counterparts!

• What would your life be like if you ate healthy meals, exercisedand got enough sleep?

• What if you saved your money, stopped using credit cards, andpaid cash for everything?

• What if you stopped procrastinating, overcame your fears, andbegan networking with people in your field?

• What if you created a detailed annual plan for success— then chunked it down into monthly, weekly, and daily plansto ensure you stayed on track to achieving your goals?

Would your life be different? I bet it would!

There are two steps for changing yourhabits:

The first step is to make a list of all the habitsthat keep you unproductive or might negatively impact your future.Ask others to help you. Also, review the list of some of the mostcommon unsuccessful habits in Chapter 34 of The Success Principles.

The second step is to choose better, more productivesuccess habits and develop a system that will help supportthem.

Here are a few of hits for making sure you followthrough on your commitments on your new habits:

• Put up signs to remind you to follow through on the newbehavior. (I use this one a lot!)

• Stay focused on your new habit with an Accountability Partner.Check in with your partner for 5 minutes daily, or at least once aweek to make sure you're on track. Consider creating consequencesfor not keeping to your new habit. Perhaps $50+ foreach offence to a charity, or other cause you care about. Makethe amount high enough so it's painful to pony up the funds!

• Perhaps the most powerful ways to stay on track is to follow the"no exceptions rule."

Remember, your habits can catapult you forward — or holdyou back. People don't suddenly start living their perfectlife overnight... their habits play a large part in making itpossible for them to create the lives they truly want to live.

Related: Your key to success: Keep that negativity atbay

You can choose to develop habits that point you in the directionof creating your ideal life — or habits that keep you anchoredto your current situation.

Make the decision. Make the commitment. Then watch your new lifeunfold.

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