Many of us make resolutions at the new year, but how many of us really stick with them? I spend a lot of time psyching myself up to go the gym more, but it usually takes about a month for me to fall right back in to my old routine. The schedule usually goes something like this:

Gym Week 1) Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday
Gym Week 2) Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday
Gym Week 3) Tuesday, Friday
Gym Week 4) Tuesday

I’m not a failure, thank you very much. In fact, I’m a very driven person. I think my main problem is that I don’t pace myself and I’m not patient. As a group, entrepreneurs don’t tend to be a patient lot. We want to see results and we want them now. Unfortunately, when we don’t see them right away, we may move on to something else, thinking our current plan is not working. Much of the time though, it would have worked, if we’d just stuck with it.

The Nature of Habits
Habits take time to form. To return to my previous example, sports medicine doctors say it takes about 21 days to form an exercising habit. That’s how long it takes for your body to adjust to the increased activity and start producing endorphins, the chemical behind the runner’s high. Once you have those endorphins flowing, you actually look forward to the workout because your body craves the chemicals. That is the point where the chore becomes the habit. In business, this length of time varies tremendously with the nature of the project, but the same principle applies. You start with a business plan. Let’s say that plan involves SEO of your site and building backlinks to drive traffic. It may take weeks before you make that first sale. Then it may take more weeks before you make the second sale. Eventually, however, that traffic will net you more and more sales, word of mouth will bring you more traffic, and your business will be taking off. At that point the profit will be motivating you to keep going, and the chore will become a habit.

How do you form a habit without burning out?
Pace yourself. Develop a business plan that involves a series of manageable tasks you perform each day. Don’t get too ambitious right at the beginning. Don’t set gigantic goals for yourself—work sale to sale. For each sale you make, study how it happened. Where did the traffic come from? How can you get more traffic from that place? If you have to keep several projects going at once to stay interested, that’s fine, but be sure to tend to each one each day. Slow and steady wins the race for a reason.

Daily Achievement
With small goals, you can achieve something tangible each day. This small motivation will keep you moving forward without feeling discouraged. Small steps also give you the opportunity to fine tune your process as you work. There is no sure thing in business, and having the flexibility to tweak things to respond to what works will make your business versatile and market relevant.