Life is built from choices. The better your choices, the better your life.

The reason we make bad choices is because we forget what we care about most. We prioritise what we want now, over what we want most.

We do it over and over again. And that single choice becomes the architect of our lives. It determines everything, from health to wealth to happiness.

Instead of exercising you turn the TV on. You know it’s better to exercise but you allow your short term thinking make the decision. Looking back you wish you made the right decisions but in the moment you make the wrong ones.

When someone you look up to gives you guidance something changes. Because you respect them, you listen and you choose to do the right thing. You’re able to take back control and make better decisions.

Living your best life requires that you first know what you want and second, you consistently choose to do what you need to do to make it happen. Most people can figure out the first part. It’s the second part that everyone fails on.

There are three steps to taking back control: 1. Put powerful reminders of how you want to be, in places you’ll see them: Reminders to be grateful, to appreciate the moment, to make the most of your day, to be disciplined, to work on your dreams instead of watching TV…

You already know these things. You just need to be reminded. When you feel week, tired, distracted. You need to be reminded what matters most.

2. Design your environment to make good habits easy. Put your exercise clothes in a place you’re going to go in your house. Create an appealing, tidy space that makes you want to go and work on your dreams. Don’t go in a room with a TV in it. If you do, the temptation is to watch it.

Make it as easy as possible to do the good habits and not the bad ones.

3. Don’t over commit. Say you’ll go for a five minute jog or do five minutes of work. Five minutes is better than none. But if you can do five, you’ll probably do more. When the commitment is small and easy, you make it more appealing and less daunting. The key is to make good habits as easy as possible. You need to do the things you know you’ll regret not doing.

Doing the things you need to do to make the life you want isn’t that hard. The hard part is getting started each day. That’s the hurdle you need to get past. So make it as easy and appealing as possible to do the things you want to do to make your life great.

Once you get into a habit of doing the things you need to do, they become easy. They’re just a part of your life.

Here are those three steps again:
1 put reminders from people you respect in places you’ll see them.
2. Make good habits easy.
3. Commit to just a few minutes.

If you want some powerful reminders of good habits go to thewisestwords.com. Put them on your wall, somewhere you’ll look frequently. The link’s in the description.