Our daily habits determine how we think, what we do, what we achieve, and affect how happy we are. Yet, we are often left without the proper tools or guidance to change or analyze our habits.

We’ve all heard about the importance of setting goals, but often we forget the most important part of the equation.

Whether you want to start exercising, reading more, or learning a new skill, changing your habits is the fastest and best way to train yourself to achieve your goals.

Our goals without the habits needed to achieve those goals are like a setting a destination and not having a map.

Ultimately, our daily habits are the foundation of our lives and if you want to make a change in your life you need to change your habits.

The daily decisions we make are rooted in habit.

Let’s look at 9 powerful habits that can have a dramatic effect on your life.

Wake up Early

“The early bird gets the worm.”

Waking up early is one of the most powerful habits that anyone can develop. It can be a hard habit to maintain but when you do it has huge upside.

When you set your alarm to wake up early lets say at 5:30 a.m. you get to start everyday with a small victory. This can have a deep impact on your perspective and mood throughout an entire day.

I've found that since I started waking up much earlier than I used to ( I wake up at 5:30 a.m. most mornings, i'm still human and slip up occasionally)

Mornings are also a great time to do the things that you normally don't have time for throughout the day.

When you wake up early, you start feel more control over your life.

The still and tranquil, making it a great time for reflection, goal setting, reading, meditating, and writing.

This is often one of the more difficult habits to develop because hitting the snooze button on our alarms is so easy.

You can train yourself to wake up early one of two ways (deploy self-awareness): you can set the time you want to wake up right from the beginning or you can gradually work your way towards your ideal wake up time (5:30 am recommended).

Gradually working your way towards waking up early in 15 to 30-minute increments is a bit easier but takes longer.

If you are going to take this approach, change your alarm every 3 weeks until you reach your goal.

By waiting 3 weeks, you can habitualize your previous wake up time and make that your new baseline.