Your Habits Make You Who You Are

What do you do every day? Do you wake up and work out, head straight for your office, have a leisurely breakfast, or something else? Whatever you wake up and do becomes who you are. You become the habits you create.

There’s more to you, of course. We are all much more complex than the activities we do every day, but my point is that the things you do every day, every week, every month make you the person you are today.

I’m not saying you can’t change or shouldn’t change, but you might want to think about what daily habits you want to create to make you feel good and accomplished at the end of the day.

I travel the world. For years people have asked me: How can you fly overseas, get off the plane, and get right to work? My response is simple: I’ve created a habit. Once I land, I don’t stop. In my mind, that flight was no different than a drive from one city to the next.

This is just one of the little habits I’ve created that help me stay productive. I’ve traveled the world for almost 10 years, without losing the time or rest I need to make things happen.

Creating a routine — a habit — allows you to accomplish things long-term.

Working with entrepreneurs and leaders I understand that they don’t always want to wait for something to happen. They want to make things happen right now.

But some things need persistence and repetition. You want to change the entrepreneurship culture in your community? You want to see more start-ups because you are running an economic development agency?

There might be some movement today, but the long-term effect comes only when you continue to do things day in and day out, for years. You have to give things a chance to see what happens, then modify, change, edit those things. Just keep going.

If you want to make an impact in your start-up community, or make a culture change in your community, think about what you can do long-term. Things can take time — my experience is that it takes somewhere between 10–20 years on average.

It takes time for people to understand that it is OK to fail and to learn from it, time to understand how to start and grow a business. With time — and the application of forward-moving habits — things begin to shift.

BEFORE YOU GO

We see our blogs as opportunities for dialogue. Please share your thoughts as comments.

1. What is your morning routine? How does it impact your long-term goals?

2. What modifications or edits can you make to your habits to enhance your journey toward long-term goals?

3. What advice can you share with other about creating effective habits?

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Faris Alami is Founder and CEO of International Strategic Management, Inc. (ISM). He works internationally, presenting Exploring Entrepreneurship Workshops and other entrepreneurial ecosystem — related ventures.