Good habits and daily routines are crucial for living the life you want.  Here are some tips on how those habits can help you reach your hiking or life goals.

I am a middle age father of two youngish kids (they are now 9 and 11).  My father recently passed away after a long bout with Parkinson’s dementia disease.  That got me thinking a lot about my own mortality and life.  Seeing my father die coupled with how quickly my kids seem to grow up made me realize how short our lives are.  Life is short and I realize how important it is for me to get into good daily habits and routines if I want to reach my goals and dreams.

Life Is Short

Yes, I know that lots of people over time, usually the older or middle age people, have talked about how short life is.  What I’m saying is nothing new, but having my father pass away really brought home the point for me.

Once we get into the middle or prime of our lives it seems that life goes by faster and faster.  We are busy with jobs, raising kids, and just living.  The days may go slow, but then weeks, months, and even years pass us by.  Before you know if your kids will be off to college and you’ll be an empty nester.  Then you’ll be at the end of your life looking back at what you did with your time.

Goals and Dreams

There are a few ways that we can live our lives.  We can just live day by day, without any long-term plans or goals.  Or we can set some long-term goals or dreams and work to achieve them.

Personally, I like to have goals and dreams.  They give me something to work towards and help make sure that I’m living the life I want to live as opposed to letting life buffet me around this way and that.

Some of my goals and dreams are centered around being financially independent or what I want to achieve.  Others are more my outdoors and hiking dreams.

Some of the trails that I dream of hiking one day are the Pacific Crest Trail, hiking down in Patagonia, around Mt. Blanc, and hiking in Scotland.

I don’t want to just go and hike those trails by myself.  Rather I want to hike them with my partner and my kids as a family.  I’ve found that some of the most fun and happiest times of my life have been multi-day hiking trips with my family (check out our family hikes in Nepal or Milford Track here).

Our Daily Habits And Routines Are Important To Reach Our Goals

I’ve learned that the only way to achieve our dreams and goals is to get into good habits and routines.

I read a great book that I would highly recommend, The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson.  I can’t say enough good things about this book.  Some books you can read over and over because they have such a good message and are motivational.  Well, this is one of those books that we, including our daughter, have read a few times.

This book does a fantastic job of explaining how our daily habits and routines compound over time and can lead to big changes and help you achieve your goals and dreams.

It is so important that we get into good daily habits and routines because over time those little things will turn into big ones.

Personally, I try to make sure I exercise a little bit every day so that over time I stay in good enough shape to hike the trails I dream of.  As I get older I need to work harder to be able to enjoy hiking.

One good weekly habit or routine that I’ve heard some other bloggers doing is to go for a family hike once a week.  The goal is to achieve 52 hikes in a year, one per week.  Making it a routine will make it totally achievable and possible.  But, the only way to meet that goal is to start small, get into a good routine, and persist.