Before you can truly make the most progress, taking the biggest metaphorical step forward, you need to eliminate your worst habits before adding good habits. Of course, taking the right actions is always good, but make sure you stop taking the wrong actions first.
Here are three examples:
1) You may decide to add more vegetables into your diet to be healthier, but if you don’t stop eating junk food everyday, you’re not going to get as much benefit as you might hope.
2) If you’re deeply in debt and get a pay raise, that’s a good start to getting back on the right track. But if you want to become financially free, you’ll need to reel in your spending habits that got you into debt in the first place. (It doesn’t matter how much money you make if you spend all of it.)
3) A popular idea coming from politicians these days is to “forgive” the $1.5 trillion dollars in student loans that this country is facing. Yet despite all this talk of forgiving student loans, the government still federally insures/guarantees these loans (meaning that the money owed stays with the borrower no matter what, even if they declare bankruptcy). Instead of forgiving student loans while continuing to make federally insured student loans, why don’t we first stop guaranteeing the loans and then work on a solution to help those who are drowning in student loan debt?
Imagine that you’re on a boat in the middle of a lake and there is a hole in the boat letting in water. The most efficient first step would be to patch the hole to stop water from coming in, then working to eliminate the water that is already in the boat. But what most people do is react. They start scooping water out of the boat, but do nothing about the hole. Next thing you know, they’re exhausted from working harder and harder to get the water out, while still more water rushes in. If only they worked to solve the root cause of the problem first, then the rest of their life would be easier.
If you are able to find the root cause of the problem, instead of only addressing the symptom(s), then you could make real progress.
Don’t always look to add more good habits to your schedule. Time is finite and you will eventually run out of it. The best thing you can do is work to eliminate what is hurting you first, to stop doing things that impede your progress, to stop making mistakes, and then you’ll be able to grow exponentially by adding in the right actions.