Books on personal development, leadership, and motivation are plentiful. Book stores and libraries are filled with a slew of topics on these subjects. A search on Amazon for personal development books brought up 60,000 results.

Surely there is a lot to learn from these books and yet if most people were applying ideas from the books, we would be more evolved and have a better world.

So, what holds us back from making the changes put forth in these books? Real learning only happens when we apply what we have learned or understood.

I recently went on a three-week road trip for my summer vacation and listened to the audio book by James Clear, Atomic Habits. I was very impressed by the ideas proposed by James and the principles on which he bases his system to change habits.

We all know that habit change is quite difficult, and James Clear says that it is not because we are not motivated to change but because we do not have a clear system to follow.

I am a proponent of goal setting and yet I have struggled like most people with achieving certain goals due to self-restraints and fighting engrained habits. That is why I find his system intriguing and sensible.

I got back to work this morning and immediately applied his system to create a new habit. I have a project to develop and market a new online coaching program and had written down a goal and plan of action.

But I was struggling with setting aside the time to progress on the project and I felt frustrated with my lack of headway. 

The new habit I am creating is to wake up early and start work right after my morning meditation. Normally I would eat breakfast and catch up on current affairs while I ate. This is quite pleasurable for me but does take time as I like to prepare fresh food every morning and of course enjoy the foodie experience while reading.

The shift is to put the work before pleasure but also to focus only on my project and not read emails, social media, or any other distraction.

My reward then is to have my breakfast and reading time once I complete the focused work on my project. It worked wonderfully this morning and it also felt great, so the reward was both physically satisfying and mentally and emotionally fulfilling.

Here is my process for making the change.

• Have a goal; complete my course creation and marketing material by September 30.
• Create a habit of waking up early every morning and put in two hours of focused work on my project.
• Reward myself with a freshly prepared breakfast and reading of current affairs.
• Recognize my accomplishments and feel good about myself.
• Track and measure my habit so I know I am doing what I committed to.
• Repeat this every day of the week.
• Get back on track if I miss a day.

I know this is only day one, but I can see this working well for this project and other habits I wish to create.

Of course, the book covers much more than what I have written here but for me this is a great start, although I do plan to review the principles set forth in the book to help me progress and stay on track. I will write more articles about this subject and provide updates on the progress of creating this new habit and others.