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They often say that it takes 21 days to either learn or unlearn a personal habit and 90 days to create a lifestyle. It really gets me thinking if this is truly the case because I want to change my mentality and develop a productive mindset. My dream is to become a freelancer and work wherever I can. So, before I can pull this off, I need to work on some of my negative habits, which include procrastination, fear of failure, overthinking, and lack of discipline. After thoroughly reflecting on myself, I have created a list of negative habits that keep me from reaching my goals. These four are my focus for the upcoming 90-day period.

I actually do not know if the rule is real. In my opinion, I think it takes way more effort and time to change a habit. But I do believe that 21 days could be a good start toward reaching the goal you are aiming for. At this point, I’ve got nothing to lose except a little bit of weight, so I’m willing to try out this rule.

I listed all four habits in a row and researched how I can break them. Solving problems comes through research.

• Procrastination
  Tomorrow never comes. It's so easy to say, "Nah, I'll do it tomorrow," but we all know tomorrow never comes. The reasons for procrastination don’t only involve time; it could also be caused by the fear of failure, overthinking the negatives, a moment of negative experience in life, and so much more. I'm not saying procrastination is always a bad thing; it could also give you room to think. But if procrastination becomes a habit for the small things in life, it will affect your bigger decisions as well. Remind yourself of that.
  
  How do I plan to work on my postponing habit?
  Since I have all the time on my hands, I will be scheduling some of my most important daily and life decisions. For 21 days, I will schedule time and set dates for when I want to work on my to-do's. Daily decisions are the small things like getting out of bed, washing, cleaning, cooking, exercising, and all that. Because small things affect the big things, I will do the same for my life decision-making tasks. If I schedule something for 1:00 PM, I will not do it later or earlier. This will be for 21 straight days, and hopefully longer.

• Fear of Failing
  The fear of failure is a mentality that is quite a challenge. I can't lie; the fear of failure has so many different kinds of reasons and causes. I think it's important to think really deeply about why you have this fear. I think mine stems from disappointment in myself, the opinions of others, and some general fear of nothing, which actually shouldn’t matter.
  
  How do I plan to work on my Fear of Failing habit?
  By reflecting on my thoughts. Why am I afraid, and would it matter or affect my personal goals? If it doesn't matter, it should ease my nerves and help me be less afraid.

• Overthinking
  Overthinking is something we will never get rid of, and most of the time, in my case, it is connected to my fears. When I start to overthink something, the fear I had before has already taken over. Overthinking is mostly about having questions without answers that we desperately need at the moment.
  
  How do I plan to work on my Overthinking habit?
  The answer for me, and it might not be for everybody, is meditating. I try to ease my mind and, like with fear, reflect on my thoughts. How important are these intrusive thoughts, and are they relevant to my goals? During these bouts of overthinking, I try to change the questions of why, when, or how something has happened into problem-solving solutions. I begin by asking why something happened (reflecting), when it happened (researching), and how I can make sure it never happens again (solving). In the end, I learn from these actions and thoughts. Like I said, this is what I think works best for me; it could work for you too, but maybe not for everybody.

• Lack of Discipline
  The subject above is the ultimate goal-killer of all time. Procrastinating is, in fact, a break in your discipline. One of the reasons for having no discipline is having no concrete goals. I can understand that big goals can seem unattainable at certain times. That’s why, to eventually reach your ultimate goal, you need to have small, clear goals that are daily, weekly, and even monthly achievable to prevent a break in your discipline.
  
  How do I plan to work on my Discipline habit?
  As I mentioned above, I will make my ultimate goals more reachable and clear by setting small daily, weekly, and monthly goals. It's like a video game—if it works there, why shouldn’t it work in real life? So, I will set clear goals for myself that are valuable in reaching my life goals.

I hope you enjoyed reading this. I will be coming back after 21 days to review my mentality challenge. These are all my personal findings and solutions. I need to emphasize that I believe this will work on my mentality, but it’s possible that your approach could be different. Respect everyone’s way of working.

See you in the next post. Have a good one.

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