Make a Difference in Your Life in 2009

We just entered the year 2009 and left 2008 behind. No matter how bad you did in 2008, this year you have the opportunity to begin anew. You can fix the wrong things you did in 2008 and do better the things you did right in 2008. All in all, aim to make a difference this year. Don't let the end of this year come without any significant growth in your life and career. Instead, make it your goal that you will arrive at the end of 2009 as a much better person.

The question is how can you make a difference this year? While there are many possible ways to do that, I would say that the best thing to do is to build the habit of improving yourself. You can only achieve something big if you consistently do positive things in your life. The key word here is consistency. Even if what you do seems small, with consistency you will reap big reward eventually.

For example, you can build the habit of reading thirty minutes a day. It may seem small, but if you do it consistently you will have spent 15 hours a month on reading. Just imagine how much new knowledge and skills you could have acquired in that amount of time. On the other side, those who don't have the habit of reading may take much longer time to gain the same level of knowledge or skills. Or perhaps you build the habit of writing one hour a day. If you are consistent, you will already spend 30 hours a month on writing. That will put you much further ahead of those who do not have such habit.

On the other hand, you should also eliminate the bad habits you have. For example, if you are smoking, you can make it a goal this year to stop smoking. Or perhaps you have the habit of procrastinating. This year you can build the habit of doing things right away.

As you can see, making this year a difference has a lot to do with habits. The more good habits you build and the more bad habits you eliminate, the better your life will be. Habits are powerful because you do them consistently and therefore your life is shaped by them. Things that you do only occasionally won't be as powerful. Again, the key to making this year a difference is consistency.