“Sow a thought, and you reap an act;
Sow an act, and you reap a habit;
Sow a habit, and you reap a character;
Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.” 

–  Samuel Smiles, Happy Homes and the Hearts That Make Them

Each of us have bad habits that detract from the quality of our lives.

However, the common approach to changing these habits are 1) make ourselves feel terrible about them 2) try to stop cold turkey, which hardly ever works.

Especially in the case of a habit, an action you’ve done many times and has now become a loop in your brain, it’s important to redirect your energy to something else.

Below, I’ve identified some of the bad habits that I’ll be replacing.

Excessive Social Media

Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. There are some great benefits to social media, but in moderation.

Set time limits for apps you waste a lot of time on. There’s a really cool way to do this through your iPhone setting where you will literally be kicked out of an app if you reach your daily time limit.

False Beliefs

I love the above quote because it captures how your thoughts are the starting point which eventually lead to a destiny.

Do we know the impact of our thoughts and beliefs?

A false belief I have is “My worth is determined by {insert anything other than my intrinsic value in Christ}.”

I’m replace that false belief with the truth that “My value is because I am a daughter of God, something I can not change, detract or add to.”

Anxiety

Anxiety is a common cause of various health problems.

Anxiety is one of the greatest impediments to achieving a goal or dream. Anxiety is often caused because of a preoccupation with hypothetical situations that will cause you to worry.

How would you like to be characterized as someone who lacks worry? I know I would!

But in order for that to happen you need to 1) identify what’s causing you worry 2) either craft a plan to get the things done that you’ve been putting off or determine it’s not a priority and forget about them 3) adopt the belief that worry will not add a day to your life.

To live a longer life, replace these bad habits.