It takes guts to form the right habits, to stay true to them despite all the things that life does to try and pull us away. Here is one way to look at success habits:

Devise – consciously decide what you yearn to become more of.
Expectation – seeing yourself in the possession of or having accomplished that desire.
Activity – action towards it every day.

Do those three daily and it will form a habit, and once you form a habit the process becomes innate and effortless. But remember:

“Action is the evidence of your expectation! To expect is to act; to act is to expect; to do both is to fulfill your dream.”

When we act on something, when we set a goal and go for it like mad, it is because we believe we can do it, we expect it to be done. If one makes a goal and thinks it is impossible, they will either meander along for a bit and give up or never start at all. Action, putting in the effort every day, is EVIDENCE that you truly believe in what you are doing, that you yearn for it, that you expect it to become a reality, and that you are willing to make the necessary sacrifices to make it all happen. In short, following through shows you and everyone else that you mean serious business. That’s the bottom line.

So don’t “change” habits. Replace them. Get up in the morning, for example, by replacing the old habit of sleeping in with the new one of writing, or reading, or exercising, or doing something else that really turns you on. Successful people form the habit of doing the things that failures won’t do. They do the uncomfortable things that mediocre people balk at. They see the end result, knowing that from pain comes growth, from fire comes tempered steel, and they have faith in their ability to make it through to that end reward. I am asking you to do nothing less than to look past the irrelevant little voices that tell you otherwise, and to see what you can really become.

As Lao Tzu said,

“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”

Let go of who you are, what you were, whatever it is that holds you back, and replace it with the ideal self you desire, and expect, you can be.

Your precious life deserves nothing less. Give that blessing to yourself: a life that you truly lived, because you first believed you could live it.