The way to a good life is to do what works best for you

Change is binary. You are either getting better or worst.

But it doesn’t end there. People who are intentional about change can influence the trajectory of their lives. They become better versions of themselves.

Almost every area of your life can be improved if you take control of the progression or direction. And you can sustain your personal growth if you leverage compound growth.

William James once said, “All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits — practical, emotional, and intellectual — systematically organized for our weal or woe, and bearing us irresistibly toward our destiny, whatever the latter maybe.”

The habits you have adopted for your wealth, relationship, health, intellectual life, or career are either working for you or against you. One way to measure their effectiveness is to compare your past self to the present self.

Have you made progress in the last two years? Are you wiser than you were six months ago? Have you learned any complementary skills in the past year? Is your investment portfolio leveraging compound interest?

As uncomfortable as they may be, the difficult questions we ask ourselves every quarter or year are meant to help us grow and design a better future for ourselves.

Lack of clarity about where we are headed in life can show up in almost every area of life. That’s why it’s essential to take control of your change.
In his new book, High-Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That Way, Brendon Burchard said, “Often, the journey to greatness begins the moment our preferences for comfort and certainty are overruled by a greater purpose that requires challenge and contribution.”

Successful people apply life principles differently — choose your own true north

But, the real question is; how do you embrace good habits you can sustain? Change is hard to teach, even to intelligent people. That’s why you must design your own change.

There’s no universal truth — there’s only what works for your unique circumstances. If I can save 40% of my income every year, it doesn’t mean you should adopt the same approach to build wealth.

If investing 10% of your income is what you can afford right now, stick to that. As long as you can make it consistent, it’s good enough.

What works for Warren Buffett may not necessarily work for Ray Dalio. They are both highly successful investors, but they are pursuing different goals. And so are you — your life, career or investment goals are entirely different from mine.

We can’t all invest like Warren Buffet or but we can apply some of his lessons and advice that works for us. The most important thing is to make that habit sustainable. Everyone plays a different game in life. And it has to work for you; otherwise, you will give up.

Learn to understand your own game, and most importantly, what you want to get out of it for your future self, and then play it your way.

“Think for yourself to decide 1) what you want, 2) what is true, and 3) what you should do to achieve #1 in light of #2 . . . . . . and do that with humility and open-mindedness so that you consider the best thinking available to you,” writes Ray Dalio, in his book Principles: Life and Work.

You alone are in charge of the trajectory of your life — not experts, mentors, coaches, successful people or influencers. You know yourself more than anyone will ever know. Do what works for you and your future.

No matter what you learn from experts, you have to learn to apply,
measure and do more of what’s working for you. Your own unique goals, ambitions should define the direction of your life.

“When you get trapped by the belief that there’s just one right way to do something, you set yourself up for failure,” says J.D. Roth.

There are no one-size-fits-all rules or principles in life. Your personal situation determines the rules you should be applying in your life. But first, make your destination clear — define what you want and then identify the principles, habits, rituals and behaviors that can work for you in the long term.

This article originally appeared in Medium.