The Habits

Most of my friends know about my “HabitSystem.” Some like it and others don’t. When people like it, I explain it to them—just like I did in this book. What I found was that people are not only interested in the framework that is the HabitSystem, but also in how I do these habits. In short, people like to see results and hear stories.

To simply imagine the benefit of reading or drawing daily is a rather abstract task. Of course, it’s easy to see how you’d gain knowledge from reading every day and improve your art skills by drawing more. What is not easy, though, is imagining exactly how these repetitive habits really affect your life. Hearing a story or seeing the result of another person’s progress helps you get started because it’s easier to gain a sense of how things can work out. Instead of merely being told that it will all work out fine and listing the benefits for you to read, you get a glimpse into how the HabitSystem makes people feel—be it successful, energetic, or proud.

When I tell friends or acquaintances that I write every day, they are often puzzled and ask what I write about. When I show them some of my texts, they can grasp the value behind it. Hopefully, the readers of this book will see that value, too.

Similarly, if I tell friends or acquaintances that I draw every day, they are often puzzled and ask what I draw. Then I let them see my drawings or just show them the cheap book on how to draw that I found on Amazon.

As I said, people want to see results and hear stories. Often, these personal narratives can ignite the spark or provide the final puzzle piece that helps people understand how the HabitSystem works and what it is all about.

For this reason, I want to explain how I—or even some of my close friends—actually do my habits. I found that this serves as inspiration and fuel to help others get started. In the following part of the book, I will explain more than a dozen habits in more detail. I clustered these habits into the five spheres we learned about in the chapter on Growth Habits, as you will see in the graphic below.

Personal Development

“Don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems, wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenge, wish for more wisdom.”

Jim Rohn

Morning Routine

Most people struggle with building a consistent morning routine. However, as part of your Habit Journey, a morning routine is very possible. The number one reason why people fail to create a morning routine is, as always, that they want too much too fast. They want to have the picture-perfect morning with meditation, workouts, yoga, orange juice, and other stereotypical elements. We do know, though, that no matter what your current status is, such a perfect routine is too much of a change. Our dear adversaries Entropy and Resistance will work against you.

The best way, thus, to implement a morning routine, is to start step by step. First, make sure you implement a habit to go to bed at a consistent time and get up at a pre-defined time (see more on this in the part below). Without even having a working sleeping habit, implementing a morning routine is a bit of a stretch.

Think about the elements you want in your morning routine (take inspiration from the other habits in this book) and then use what the Romans called divide et impera—divide and conquer.

Start with the most important habit—getting to bed and getting up consistently—and then work your way towards having the perfect routine for yourself. Please note: this will not take weeks, but months. If you try to do too many things, you will probably fail. You must view it like this: if implemented sustainably, a morning routine will last you a lifetime. If you fail, however, you will have to start again from scratch sometime in the future when you feel “motivated.”

Go to Bed Early/Get up Early

You already know it, but it’s worth repeating nonetheless: enough sleep is essential, not only for your productivity, but also for your well-being. Everyone knows this, yet everyone seems tired most of the time. Why is it so hard to go to bed early? The answer is actually quite simple: because it is a habit. It is a habit not to go to bed early.

It seems like the interesting things every day happen late in the night—the intriguing article you just stumbled upon, or a new video by your favorite YouTuber. There are plenty of things that keep you from going to bed early.

I struggled with this for quite some time, too. In fact, I was notoriously bad at going to bed early. And this was a huge problem because when I went to bed late, I either got out of bed very poorly in the morning—when I had to—or slept in way too long when I did not have to get up. It wasn’t that I got into bed at 2 A.M. or anything, but even midnight or 1 A.M. is too late if I have to get up at 6 A.M. the next day. The only way to change this is to make going to bed early—and also waking up early—a habit. You need to program your body so that it just wants to go to bed at a given time.

Now, how should you approach this? Again, like with all habits, we need a clever approach. If you went to bed regularly at 2 A.M., a change to 10 P.M. will be too big. Instead, you need to gradually change the time you go to bed. Also, consider the days where you have a lot to do; a very early bed time will not be attainable and you’d end up breaking your chain. Try to be a bit generous at first—it will be necessary. I propose the following approach.

First, note down the time you went to bed for a week. Is there a pattern? Or do you go to bed at very different times? What do you do late in the evening that keeps you from going to bed? Are you doing legitimate work or just randomly browsing the internet, playing some stupid games, or binge watching mindless TV shows?

Second, assess when you have to wake up and what that means in terms of what time you have to go to bed. Additionally, consider the days where you do not have to wake up early—when do you want to wake up on these days? Sure, sometimes it’s nice to sleep very long into the Sunday morning, but let’s be honest: there are also many great things that can be done on a Sunday that justify waking up earlier.

We have to distinguish between two types of nights—weekdays and the weekend. Weekday nights include the nights from Sunday to Thursday and the weekend refers to Friday and Saturday night. It is important to make this distinction. You, like many other people, may be active on weekends—you go to clubs, the opera, a friend’s, or something like that. And that is totally OK. It is also fine to be just as religiously punctual on weekends, but from what I have observed, many people want to be free to do what they want to on their off days.

Here is what I do. I have my bedtime for the weekdays (11 P.M.), and I can go to bed on weekends whenever I want. It doesn’t break my chain when I go to a party and go to bed late. However, when I have a weekend where I do not stay up late, I adhere to my weekday bedtime. I find this is the best approach because it is flexible. You’re free to think about a solution that fits your life.

Third, based on the observations you have made so far, think about a time for the weekdays (Sunday to Thursday) that you want to go to bed. Add another hour and make it a habit. Use the same Tracking techniques as you use for all other habits to simply track whether or not you reached your daily goal.

Why the extra safety hour, you ask? Well, like with all changes, we have to adhere to the main maxim of the HabitSystem: Start Slow Then Grow. There is no reason to set a goal too tightly if this means you’re failing to implement the goal at all. It is much better to approach the problem from a long-term perspective and apply a system that yields sustainable results. With the safety hour, you will be able to build up a streak. Of course, you should try to go to bed one hour earlier, but this will not work on some days, believe me.

Success Journal

One of the best habit ideas I came across was invented by a dog named Money. To clarify, it was a talking dog that I encountered while reading a children’s book. I am not joking. OK, maybe I am joking a bit, but I can tell you this: I first heard the idea of the success journal from this storybook dog.

As a kid, I was given a very good book by my parents. It was called Ein Hund namens Money (A Dog Named Money), written by bestselling personal finance and self-help author, Bodo Schäfer. In my opinion, it is the best personal finance book for kids available on the German market.

At the beginning of this year, I was looking through some of my old books and stumbled across Money. I had fond memories of it and decided to read it once again. I was not disappointed. The two protagonists of the book are a young girl and a speaking dog. The dog used to belong to a self-made millionaire and shares insights with the girl about money and success. Among the financial recommendations, the dog proposes that the girl should write down, every day, five successful moments.

When I read that part, I thought to myself: wow, this is a great idea. And it is so perfectly applicable as a habit.

I set up a document and decided to define my habit this way: write down one entry about a successful moment every day. I chose just one, instead of the proposed five entries, because I wanted to be able to complete the habit even if I do not have much time to write. Since then, I have never failed a single day. Most days, I write between three and seven entries.

Here is what my success journal looks like. By entry, I do not mean a full-fledged article or whatnot. One entry simply refers to one sentence that could be as simple as I got out of the bed alive, or as extravagant as Today, I met my dream girl and bought a Ferrari. I put a suitable emoji next to each entry. In the first example, that would be a bed, in the second example, it could be a heart and a car. Normally, I would write two entries for the second example, as I want to convey one success with each entry/emoji.

The success journal allows you to keep track of the big and small victories in your life. Not only does it provide a collection of positive diary entries for you to review anytime you wish, it also creates an environment in which you think a lot about success. You will start to enjoy all the small successes every single day. And you get to revisit your victories every time you write down a new entry.

I find my success journal to be incredibly fulfilling and effective. Jotting down one entry per day takes only a matter of seconds. And if the day has several highlights, it takes just a couple of minutes. As time passes, your journal gets thicker and thicker, enriched with stories of big and small successes. And at some moments, you will see yourself looking at old entries while smiling to yourself and remembering the moment.

I keep my success journal on my computer because I can put emojis next to each entry. This adds a nice touch and visual pleasantry. Additionally, it allows you to search for certain events. I happen to use a simple word processing tool, Apple’s Pages. Microsoft Word is fine as well. There are also diary apps designed specifically for keeping a diary. Use what best fits your requirements. You can also write in a traditional, non-digital notebook.

When you’re jotting things down, you might be tempted to include bad events as well. I would refrain from doing so. Life is simply too short to waste precious time and energy wallowing in failure. Instead, I write down learnings. Learnings are things that I have learned on that day; no matter what kind of experience I had, there is always something to learn. It could be a new exotic word in a foreign language or the result of a failure I experienced. So, I do not write down just the failure but rather what I learned as a result. This way I keep the mood of the journal positive, while reflecting my experiences.

As I developed my success journal, I started using different colors for different entries. For instance, every entry in blue refers to a learning. I also add a little star to the date on very good days. Whenever I want to I can search and easily find the highlights of my past.

All those high points were added over time. I did not start with colors or special emojis. I want to mention this because my system has grown over time. It started out simple but developed slowly. Just as I mention when discussing Start Slow Then Grow, start with a small habit. You can add features over time, but the most important thing is to stay consistent. Make features optional and allow yourself to only write one entry if you are stressed or have little time.

My sister also writes in her success journal on a daily basis. Her approach is a bit different than mine. Instead of writing one successful moment per day (like I do), my sister has created a couple of categories that she uses to guide her entries. She writes one entry each for the following categories: mental, health, and relationships. This way, she applies a balanced approach to her life. For every category, she writes what she has done or what she has achieved. While this approach is not entirely different, it creates a holistic viewpoint of your day-to-day life. First, you can create a set of categories that fit your life. Possibilities are, amongst others, career, family, mental health, physical health, spirituality, learnings and many others. Then, you will be more mindful each day as you will try to improve in these areas.

Again, I have to voice a word of warning: do not start out with too many categories. This may lead to failure along the way and make it difficult to sustainably implement the habit.

Plan the Next Day

In our increasingly complex world, we are confronted with an ever-growing number of tasks and chores that we have to keep track of: bills, e-mails, texts, calls—you name it. It can be overwhelming when trying to manage everything that needs to be done. While I have to admit that I cannot offer you an easy solution to this issue, I can give you some suggestions. One of the most effective ways to be more organized is to plan the next day.

I have adopted this habit from my brother who has been using it for quite some time now. What he does, basically, is this: every evening he grabs a piece of lined paper and schedules the next day: appointments, tasks, and things he wants to do. It’s actually really simple and does not take a long time. Yet, as a result of this planning, he is aware of what he’ll face on the next day. He is thus prepared and his brain will find ways to schedule the tasks and activities.

My system looks like this. I keep two calendars. The first is a Google Calendar that syncs with all my digital devices; the second is a physical calendar. I use the latter to plan my next day. All new appointments are immediately entered into the digital calendar and at the evening of each day, I put the appointments for the next day into my physical calendar.

Again, you should resist the urge to come up with a perfect system from the start. It is much better to begin with an imperfect system that you can develop over time. Try different things and see what works. You can always make changes and improvements. Planning the next day can be the first action to start this process.

The Physical

“No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.”

Socrates

Exercise/Lift

We humans are very physical creatures. However, the modern environment has tamed us—which has also made us ill. We have to move; we have to exercise to be happy. Our bodies are supposed to be used, to endure pain, and to be trained. In my opinion, physical exercise is a mandatory element of everybody’s life.

If you are not a professional athlete training on the edge, the simple rule of the more (exercise) the better is true. This is the case for 99% of people because, let’s face it, most people are quite lazy. This might sound harsh, but you know it is also quite true. Sometimes, more often than not, the truth hurts. We have to learn to accept it.

Now given that we know about the importance of physical exercise, we should act on it. I don’t care about what type of exercise you like. I personally enjoy weightlifting and working out at the gym, but I understand that this is not meant for everybody. You have to do something: run, lift, climb, dance, have sex. All these things are actions your body is designed for. Your body will weaken if it is not confronted with obstacles that are meant to be overcome. You already know all of this but I am reminding you just in case you have forgotten or have come up with another excuse.

The hard part is not knowing that you must physically move, the hard part is doing it consistently. Going for one workout, one run, or a half an hour on the treadmill will yield zero impact. It will feel good in the short run and the protein shake after your workout will probably make you feel even better. Yet you have achieved nothing and you should not be proud of yourself.

One training does not count; ten trainings do not count. Only when you hit the three-digit mark can you start to consider yourself proud. One hundred workouts can be hit in one year, given you work out twice a week. This should be your goal.

There are two strategies to workout consistently. One is with our good friend, Daily Repetition. The other one is a bit different. To be honest, exercise is the only thing where I personally prefer a non-daily approach. Consequently, I do not consider workouts to be a daily habit. I am also not a fan of daily mini workouts like pushups or some other bogus stuff. This is because our body develops differently from our brain and, thus, a different approach is necessary.

Option A: Train with compound movements (non-daily)

If you are serious about fitness, you will have to start lifting heavy weights with compound movements. I am talking squats, bench-presses, and deadlifts. This is where the gains are made. Daily sit-ups will not cut it, nor will body-weight squats create an impressive physique.

The problem with compound lifts and a solid approach like StrongLifts or Starting Strength (ask Google for details), is that you will have rest days. After all, muscles are built on the off-days. Thus, when you lift weights, a daily approach is not viable. However, we know that a non-daily approach is harder to sustain than a daily approach. So how do we manage a habit like this that is not daily?

I propose the following. For the first month, aim for one workout per week. This is easy. The next month, aim for two workouts per week. In the third month, your goal is three workouts per week. Anything above this is not necessary for a beginner and will yield (if at all) only minor benefits.

Option B: Train daily however you like

If you do not like big compound movements and want to do something else instead, I’d advise a daily approach. Do whatever you want every day. But stick to a simple Completion Threshold. Stephen Guise, author of Mini Habits proposed to do one push up daily. Not 10 pushups, not five, but one.

Be aware though that working out like I described in option A will yield far better results than bodyweight exercises like pushups or sit-ups.

The Creative

“I’m always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up in the morning and see the light. Every day I find something creative to do with my life.”

Miles Davis

Write

Here it is: my favorite habit. Writing is one of the things that I really love doing. It allows me to express myself, be creative, and just become one with the work that I’m doing. This has not always been the case, however.

I always wanted to be an author but never found the time to write consistently. That’s why I decided to start writing every single day. And trust me, during the first few weeks, it was very hard. I did not know what to write about and I was unable to find the right words. But I wrote anyway. On some days, I wrote about the coke bottle on my desk, and on other days, I wrote fictional pieces in a fantasy setting. Most of the texts I wrote are really bad. In fact, the stuff I write nowadays is probably not very good either. I don’t care. I love writing every day and I cannot see myself stopping at some foreseeable point in the future. And what is it going to look like in ten years? Maybe then, after hours and hours of training, my writing won’t be so bad after all.

I am still young and I will be still young in ten years. And even if you are not young anymore, ten years is not as long as it might seem. Try to think about your life ten years ago. Doesn’t seem so far away, does it? Now imagine how much you could have written over those years. Sometimes I scroll through my writing diary with its hundreds of pages and I am simply amazed by the sheer amount of text I have produced. I read some of the entries and sometimes I will find tiny bits of text that I had totally forgotten about writing. I read them and think to myself, What a bunch of bullshit, you wrote that? Other times I think, Wow, that’s a nice piece of text.

Writing will unleash a huge creative potential inside of you. You will see the world with different eyes, and yes, you will sharpen your senses and your mind. This revelation will only come to you when you experience it first-hand. You will not believe my words but you will believe your experiences. Trust me, you will be amazed by the rewards you reap from writing!

One thing I consider to be really important is the setup. As with all habits, writing should be designed in an intelligent and simple way. If it is too cumbersome to start writing, you will simply not do it. If, for example, you write on a computer which takes a couple minutes to boot, you will find the habit really hard. If, however, you have a fast computer readily available, starting to write will be much easier, even if you just type some gibberish, which still counts.

I have found a very neat way to write every day. I have one document titled Writing Journal. It is a simple document with a nice font. Every entry includes the following elements. First, a centered heading consisting of the date for that day. Second, a bold heading, the name of the text. And third, the text itself. I copy and paste this basic template every single day and start writing right away. The only thing I have to do is change the date. That’s it. My document grows larger and larger. Over time, I have added sections for months and an automatically generated table of contents. But all those things are elements of the Habit Journey. The most important thing is that you can write easily. Everything else is just a refinement. As always: Start Slow Then Grow.

Draw

My newest habit is drawing. As a kid, I used to draw regularly and my skills were decent. However, at some point, I stopped and my abilities waned. From that point on, whenever I sat down to draw, I thought I lacked the talent and skill to draw.

The HabitSystem changed this. After I saw how easy it was to learn new things, I decided to make drawing a daily habit. Having no idea of how to start, I just bought some pencils, a pencil sharpener, an eraser, and a sketch pad. I found a cheap book for 10 € on how to draw. Overall, I invested at most 30 € which I consider not very much. I also found tutorials on YouTube. That’s it. I learned to draw shapes, how to shade, and in a short period—shorter than I initially thought possible—I drew some images I’m quite proud of. Of course, the perspective is still off and maybe my shading lacks consistency. But I draw every day. On some days, I only try to draw perfect straight lines, on other days, I draw more sophisticated images.

Drawing, just like writing, is one of the ultimate creativity tools. At first, you have no idea what to draw. After all, you think to yourself it will look like shit. But sooner rather than later, you will have many ideas in your head. You look for different techniques. Drawing—at least to me—is meditation. It calms me and I find it quite entertaining.

As it is a very explicit skill, you can easily gauge the progress you have made, especially in the first few weeks and months when you will make the most progress. You will see the differences between months. Maybe you will even laugh at your old pictures, but six months down the road, you will laugh at the skills you have now.

Drawing is not some sort of competition but an endless journey—just like all other Growth Habits. There is no definite goal in mind—the process, the activity itself is the goal. Think back to our oak tree. The oak tree does not grow with any particular destination in mind. It simply creates, each year adding more mass and extending its reach.

Of course, drawing can also reap tangible benefits. If you are a business consultant, being able to draw perfect matrices on a flip chart will impress clients. The same is true when you draw a flow chart with little comic-like elements. Your increased drawing ability will make you a natural when using creative design apps for business like Sketchnotes.

Drawing comes at little cost and can yield big benefits. In the worst case, you draw and nobody sees your pictures. Yet, the time spent drawing is unquestionably better than time spent watching TV. I think we can all agree that no one gets better at watching TV by spending more time doing it. But when drawing, you always have the opportunity to improve and hone your artistic skills. At the very least, you just had fun drawing the picture of a falcon. It’s up to you.

The Mental

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

Mahatma Gandhi

Meditate

Science has repeatedly shown the numerous benefits of meditating regularly. In today’s ever-changing environment, moments of calmness and mindfulness are required. Meditation is not some new-age bullshit, but a legitimate technique for training the mind. Meditating is also easy. Just sit still, close your eyes, and focus on your breath. Your thoughts will wander. Accept this and revert back to focusing on your breath.

It’s as simple as that. Over time, you can try different meditation techniques or variations. Though some people may try to dazzle you with their stories of earth shattering four-hour blocks of meditation, do not be mistaken: any amount of meditation is beneficial. Start Slow and Then Grow is a given here because you will easily feel the positive effects of just a little bit of meditation, and you will want to do more. Why? Because of the mental clarity that meditation brings. It also gives your weary brain a break from the constant barrage of stressful thoughts created by our fast-paced lifestyle. Meditation, even just a few moments each day, can help you feel calmer, give you a better night’s sleep, and result in better mental capabilities.

Code

Being able to code—no matter which language you use—will help you to develop problem-solving abilities and structural thinking. There are many relevant free resources available online that will help you get started. For instance, you can learn with the free courses offered by CodeAcademy, watch YouTube tutorials, or ask coding-related questions at stackoverflow.com.

I started with an HTML and CSS course on Codeacademy.com. Right now, I’m learning JavaScript with watchandcode.com by Gordon Zhu. I also watch Excel VBA tutorials on YouTube.

Once again, you have to start somewhere. Make it a daily goal to learn some new techniques and skills—or just practice. Inevitably, you will get better. While learning something completely new may seem intimidating at first, you now have the HabitSystem to get you started. By tracking your slow and repetitious growth process, you will soon see the gains you have made.

As with coding, any new skill you develop intentionally will enhance your thinking skills. Not only that, but studying something like coding will also increase opportunities for continued learning.

New Language

Growing up in Germany, it is common to learn not only German but at least one other language. I learned English and French in high school and a bit of Spanish at the University. I think it’s a bit different when you grow up in a primarily English-speaking country. After all, English is the lingua franca and spoken almost everywhere. Yet, I know many Americans and English people who love to learn other languages. The benefits are unquestionable.

I do not want to argue in favor of learning a new language. In the end, it is entirely your decision. However, if you are learning a new language right now—and one can never finish learning a language—or you want to start, doing so by making it a habit is a great idea.

Read

Reading is quite simply one of the best activities you can possibly engage in. It is super easy, does not require many resources and can be done nearly anywhere. Books are cheap and offer incredible value. Most people know this. While some people may question the benefits of reading, everybody would have to agree that reading yields a non-zero chance of bettering your life. In fact, it is actually impressive how many benefits a single book can bring.

The only reason I started doing habits was because I read Mini Habits by Stephen Guise, and The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. The hours I invested into reading these books have completely changed my life. I highly appreciate the efforts of these two phenomenal authors, and I have to admit that a lot of their work is present in this book. Some of their core ideas serve as fundamental pillars in the HabitSystem. Surely, someone on this planet may have had these ideas before Mr. Guise or Mr. Hardy were even born. Yet, the fact that they put these concepts into easily digestible books made it possible for me to use them and develop my own system. With this book, I intend to do the same. I want to provide people with the possibility of benefiting from the experiences I have had. And the great thing is that many books offer just this—distilled experiences you can apply. Some do it rather well, others do it poorly. But even a bad book may be able to teach you something.

In my opinion, there is no reason not to read—be it fiction or non-fiction. I personally prefer to read non-fiction because it literally installs new neurons and connections in my brain. I also believe that non-fiction provides better benefits in general, especially when it comes to the domains of knowledge, skills, and self-development. However, in the course of developing your reading habit, you may want to start reading some world literature—Ernest Hemingway, Jack London, or the occasional A Song of Ice and Fire novel. All of this is possible.

If you are just starting to acquire a reading habit—and I assume this is the case for many people—you will most certainly need to start slow. Reading is a skill that improves upon practice. After half a year in, you will see yourself careening through books. Your pace will be faster and your understanding better. In the first year of reading, I read 18 books (and I only started implementing a HabitSystem-like reading habit in the second half of that year). The second year, I managed to finish 36 books. In the long run, I am certain that I will be able to consistently read 40–50 books every single year.

The Entrepreneurial

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.”

Chinese proverb

Work on Your Business

This habit is probably the broadest and most abstract habit in the HabitSystem. The truth is, there are hundreds of different types of businesses and also many activities within each that you could do every day to grow your business. If you already have a business, I suppose you will constantly put effort into it. But by implementing a habit for your current entrepreneurial pursuits using the HabitSystem, you may soon find that not only are you getting more done on a regular basis, but that you also now have an efficient way to track your time.

This book is not focused on how to start a business. There are many people more versed, skilled, and experienced when it comes to becoming an entrepreneur. But I can help you with getting started. If you have some vague idea you want to monetize or some non-profit idea you want to work on, this part of the book may be interesting for you.

The two things we will look at are getting started and achieving consistency.

The most important thing is getting started

No idea ever worked if it was not worked upon. This may seem totally logical—and it is—but many people fail to recognize it. They make the same mistake as the people who theorized a thousand hours and achieved nothing. Think back on our roots: Action and Simplicity. Without Action, nothing can be built.

The business world is a world of doing. Sure, planning plays an important role, but when you, as an individual, want to do something, you must act—go out and take massive action. Just having an idea doesn’t cut it. Execution is what matters.

Hence, instead of theorizing about different things all day long, get started. The real world is the best teacher. Things may look good on paper, but the real world gives you the best feedback you can get.

The second most important thing is to keep it up: Consistency

Once you get started, you must keep it going. Many people give up way too early. And I’m not talking about the people who give up when adversity emerges. I mean the people who give up even before that. I talk about the people who work on a project for a few days or weeks—and then stop. Their problem is a lack of consistency. You need to make it a habit to work on your business every single day. There is no day off. There are no weekends.

Like all other habits, the business habit is a daily one. On Sundays, you may only do a tiny little bit. But you still grow your business. Every day you are passive, you are wasting valuable time. Every day without progress is a day wasted. Even if you just call one lead, or make one tweak on your website, you still made progress.

Monetize your other Growth Habits

Chances are, you have some valuable skills that you can turn into money. If not, the Growth Habits in the creative and mental spheres will help you to develop skills you can use to create amazing things.

Even if you do not come up with a business idea right away, I am certain that your Growth Habits will also fuel your entrepreneurial outlook. Sooner or later, there will be a point where you want to go out and start a business. Make it a habit of working on it—grow it a little bit every single day.