Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits.

― Mark Twain

For the past 8 years, I've worked on various aspects of my life. In the beginning, it was mostly confidence and appearance related- working on improving my posture, my speaking voice, and my self-confidence- because I worked in a sales office where those things were valued. That was where I was first introduced to self-improvement and the power of the mind.

But it was after I left there when I really started working on myself on a deeper level. It started with nutrition, as I had returned to the martial arts training I was doing before I got into sales. I've never stopped working on nutrition, but I worked on it most heavily in those first two years.

Some of the things I worked on during that time were drinking the recommended amount of water daily, resisting sweets and other temptation foods, and becoming a vegetarian again (I was a vegetarian for about 5 years beginning in high school).

Soon after that, having read the first 5-10 pages of Bruce Lee's Tao of Jeet Kune Do an endless amount of times and being always confused by the Zen speak but interested in learning more, I read a little book by the name of The Beginner's Guide to Zen Buddhism. I was consequently led to an even deeper level of "self-development".

This is when I received my first real introduction to meditation and began meditating every morning before training, and soon after that discovered the work of Thich Nhat Hanh, Shunryu Suzuki, as well as others that would go on to be my teachers and began practicing meditation throughout my everyday life. And this is what would eventually inspire me to start writing.

Within that time I've changed a lot of my old habits, set and completed a lot of goals, and worked on improving my life in a lot of different ways. Here are some examples of habits I've worked on and developed during that time:

Daily sitting meditation Writing 1000 a words a day (and later 3000+) Mindful breathing every hour Mindfulness throughout my everyday life (which breaks down to multiple things) Seeking to understand and express compassion in every situation Waking up early (from 7:30 to 3 A.M. over the course of 2-3 years) Resisting sweets and temptation foods Drinking 8-10 cups of water daily Becoming a vegetarian (and now slowly shifting towards vegan) Morning tea meditation Reducing & controlling smartphone usage Keeping a journal Daily gratitude exercise Daily physical exercise Controlling spending and getting good at managing my money Being present for my kids Reading two books a month Establishing an email routine Improving my posture (sitting + standing) Seeing people as myself Being more present, attentive, and compassionate in my personal relationships

Some of these are small, some are big, some are life-long endeavors, and some took just a few months to fully develop. And in that time I've learned a lot about creating and changing habits, setting and achieving goals, and all-around striving to live life to the fullest.

It's my hope that I can transfer to you some of the insights I've gotten during that time. Perhaps they can save you time, help you get through a tough spot, or improve your life in a general sense. Whatever it is, I hope you find value in what I've learned.

20 Things I've Learned about Changing Habits, Settings Goals, and Living Life

1. Make life-long commitments, not short-term goals

Positive life changes like these aren't short-term goals, they're life-long commitments. The above list of personal habit changes I've made over the past 8 years are, for the most part, life-long endeavors. Meditation, reading, gratitude, money management, compassion, rising early, and taking care of my body are all things which I expect to do for my entire life.

Things do change, though. For instance, I no longer do my daily gratitude exercise because after doing it for nearly a full year I naturally find things to be grateful for in my everyday life without extra effort. But for the most part, this applies to everything.

What you're really doing with all this is designing your life, not trying to get some short-term result. If that's what you're after then you need to reevaluate why you want what you want first before you do anything else.

You should live grounded in the present moment, but understand that what you do on a day-to-day basis has a substantial effect on what you will be doing 10, 20, and 30 years from now. Realize this and begin making changes today- not tomorrow or next year.

2. Self-control is key

Self-control is one of the single most important factors in achieving anything. Self-control includes such aspects as the ability to motivate oneself, belief in one's own ability, and one's ability to handle strong emotions (all incredibly important abilities). Overall, it's a sort of internal locus of control which grounds you to some specific spot which you previously designated for yourself.

Imagine a boulder. This boulder experiences heavy rain, powerful lightning, flash floods, earthquakes, and more from Mother Nature. But no matter what, it doesn't budge.

When you decide to do something- achieve some goal or a simple intention- it's your self-control that keeps you rooted in place when adversity hits you, like the boulder that weathers the many storms that Mother Nature throws at it.

Your motivation, self-belief, and ability to handle strong emotions is what keeps you grounded. The good thing is, self-control can be developed. Whether it's motivation, self-confidence, or developing the ability to handle strong emotions, you can increase your level of self-control, and that will aid you for the rest of your life.

3. Develop faith in what you're doing

Buddhism speaks of having faith, but it's probably not the faith you're familiar with. Buddhist faith is a sort of trust or confidence in something, which in Buddhism is generally faith in the "3 jewels" of the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha (ultimately, the same teaching seen from 3 different perspectives).

Through years of daily practice monks develop confidence in their path, the Buddha's path, by experiencing for themselves the truth of the Buddha's words with regards to the path to peace and liberation from suffering.

This same type of faith, or confidence, is important to have in whatever you're doing. In order to translate to people why what you do is important and in order to keep pushing yourself forward when adversity rears its ugly head, you need to have faith in what you do.

Just as the Buddhist monk develops faith in their practice through their personal experience, to truly believe and get behind something you should first experience it yourself firsthand. Don't take someone else's word for it, be a lamp unto yourself.

Whether this is following the path to true peace and happiness or standing behind a product you believe in that can create a positive impact in the world, let people feel how much you believe in what you do and remind yourself constantly why you have so much confidence in it.