Habits and the Fulfilled Life

This is the final blog in our series on habits. We hope you will benefit from the insights about how we can embrace the opportunity to learn new productive and helpful habits while reducing counterproductive habits.

Be Patient

As we mature, life takes on deeper meaning. Early in our lives, we spend time trying and doing things, seeking immediate gratification. This desire never leaves us and creates habits that significantly impact our more mature lives, when we are seeking a better tomorrow for ourselves, our families, and our communities. Habits are decision expressways that get us where we have gone so many times before…fast. Perhaps we would like to adjust some of these habits at this stage of life. Be patient, the habits took time to be developed, and they will take time to unwind.

Why Habits Work

While the brain accounts for 4% of our body weight, it utilizes 25% of our energy. The brain is an efficiency machine, continually seeking ways to save energy, and creating habits from sets of actions we perform regularly is one of its better ways to preserve our energy. A repeatedly used neural pathway gets enhanced. Like water supply to communities, the more water needed, the larger the pipe.

Be Uniquely You, Not One of Many

We all have some good friends from childhood we are no longer in touch with. The priorities we shared with them and the activities we engaged in together at that stage of life don’t hold the same meaning. Be different in a way that serves your deeper purpose in life. Do not follow the crowd if it does not honor the path you have set for yourself.

Live life on Purpose

So, now that we are more mature, which is a journey in itself(!), more often, we are more purposeful in creating the life we desire, not just for today but for the life we desire tomorrow. Maturity is tricky because we never lose our ego or adrenaline rush from “doing, accomplishing, and checking the box.” The problem is, unless what we are doing serves a deep and meaningful life purpose, it can contribute to creating bad habits.

Stress, the Hijacker

Stress hijacks purposeful behavior. When we experience stress, our primal brain reacts, and that is not often in service of our life’s deeper purpose. The saber-toothed tigers the primal brain was created to protect us from are not around much anymore, but the brain to protect us still is.

Mindfulness Reduces Stress

We spoke of mindfulness and its power to help us live life more on purpose. While working on creating the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center, I met many people nearing the end of their lives who wished they could live their lives again and do things differently. They had gotten caught up in short-term wins that were great in the moment, but the accomplishments faded quickly because they were not deeply meaningful to their family, community, or themselves. They wished they could do it over differently.

Be Persistent

Persistence may be one of the greatest strengths we can possess. Be patient; do not get frustrated with yourself. As shared above, your brain thought it was doing you a favor. Anyone who meditates knows our minds wander, and we must come back to focusing on the breath, our mantra, or whatever gets our mind to focus on the here and now. Forgive yourself; it is ok, but now, be persistent in creating better habits.

Create Good Habits

The habit of starting my day early has been good for me. I feel more alive by starting with a jump on the day. As I write this blog, I am on vacation with my wife, Lynn, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and I need to finish this series on habits for you today.  My habit of getting up early allowed me to capture the picture above, a quiet spot overlooking Lake Superior at sunrise. The setting was a bonus, but the habit enabled a great start to the day, the setting, and ultimately, my fulfillment of completing this blog.

I hope you find this series on habits helpful. Let’s see what we can do to create more purposeful habits to live that fulfilled life we seek….Fritz