HOW I LEARNED ABOUT HABITS
Attending Denison was one of the best decisions of my life. I earned a
spot on the baseball team and, although I was at the bottom of the
roster as a freshman, I was thrilled. Despite the chaos of my high
school years, I had managed to become a college athlete.
I wasn’t going to be starting on the baseball team anytime soon, so I focused on getting my life in order. While my peers stayed up late and played video games, I built good sleep habits and went to bed early each night. In the messy world of a college dorm, I made a point to keep my room neat and tidy. These improvements were minor, but they gave me a sense of control over my life. I started to feel confident again. And this growing belief in myself rippled into the classroom as I improved my study habits and managed to earn straight A’s during my first year.
A habit is a routine or behavior that is performed regularly—and, in
many cases, automatically. As each semester passed, I accumulated
small but consistent habits that ultimately led to results that were
unimaginable to me when I started. For example, for the first time in
my life, I made it a habit to lift weights multiple times per week, and in
the years that followed, my six-foot-four-inch frame bulked up from a
featherweight 170 to a lean 200 pounds.