My kids love to go swimming. It took a while but we eventually worked this activity into our weekly family routine and now the process is seamless. It’s been said that the average time required to change a habit is about twenty one days.

It’s interesting to see how easy it is to determine the positive habits you need to develop. The hard part usually is finding out what your negative habits are and this is because we are often in denial or we just don’t realize that something we do so easily and frequently is breaking us instead of making us. So it’s necessary to ask your friends, colleagues, bosses, mentors, and other role models who know you well enough for feedback on the habits you need to change.

To complete your list, look out for the trending habits in the feedback you receive. Once your list is ready, all you have to do to determine the successful habits you need to develop is flip it. So if the negative habit is lack of exercise with the consequence of associated health challenges now or in the future, the positive habit would be regular exercise with the benefits and reward of preventing those health challenges, looking better and feeling better.

But the most important thing here is ACTION! No action, no change… No change, no gain. Decide on three actions that will support each positive habit and get to work right away. Strike the days off on your calendar as you progress or find some other positive way to keep yourself motivated. It’s also important to pace yourself. Develop a new successful habit a month or a quarter… settle into it, appreciate the benefits and then take on the next one.

And if you decide to work on reading more, as a new positive habit, consider making The Power of Focus by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Les Hewitt the first book you read.