Habit Reboot: An 8-Day Devotional by Darryl DashSample

The Power of Small, Consistent Habits

This plan contains three habits, which will change you forever if built into your everyday life.

The power, of course, isn’t in the habits themselves. You can practice these habits and completely miss the point. But these habits can lead you to focus daily on what matters most (God) and how He shows up in your ordinary, complicated life.

Do you want to change your behavior? Change your habits. Habits are the unconscious, automatic routines that shape our lives.

If you want to change, the place to start is to experiment with small, consistent actions to find what will help us reach our goal.

Over the next few days, we’re going to look at three core habits that matter most. Here are some tips as we begin:

1. Invite a friend. It can be more effective to develop habits with others.
2. Practice the Clean Slate Policy. When you get behind, miss a day, or discover what doesn’t work for you, wipe the slate clean and start again.
3. Pursue progress, not perfection. Consistency matters more than doing it perfectly.
4. Shrink the challenge. If you’re not practicing the habit, chances are you’ve set a goal that’s bigger than the time and energy you have available. Try shrinking your task until you’re 90% sure you can do it.
5. Keep going, even when you don’t see progress. Small habits, maintained over a long period, can lead to lasting change.
6. Take as long as you need. Don’t just complete this plan. Aim to build lifelong habits.
7. Have fun. Experiment. Be curious. Take the habits seriously, but approach them playfully. Aim to learn about what works for you and what doesn’t. Enjoy the process.

I can’t wait to get started with the first key habit tomorrow!