Stop me if you’ve heard this before.

You can’t move forward if you’re living in the past. At least not in any productive way.

I know—this is hardly new information. But take a moment to really reflect on this, and you’ll see why it’s important.

Did you know that only 5% of our brain focuses on conscious activity? This means that the other 95% is imbedded in the subconscious, or those activities we do so much that they become habit. In this context, habit refers to repeated actions that are so used to us that they are more body than mind.

Habits can be a good thing when they set up positive routines for us. They help regulate our actions so that we can be successful. But there is a downside—habits can keep you living in the negative past.

The very definition of repetition is doing things over and over again. This puts habits on a chronological scale. You can’t have a habit if it hasn’t been performed over a stretch of time. This means that—in performing some habits—you are in fact keeping your negative past actions on a trajectory to the future.

Your habits are your future. And if you are involved in negative habits that keep you in the past, you will never move forward in the way you want.

Let’s look at an example. If you are in the habit of wasting too much of your free time, you are seriously setting yourself up for failure. This is because you are programming your body to get used to this free time, and that in itself keeps you from positioning your mind to do hard work. In order to be successful, you need to make sure that your 5% of consciousness is fully active and taking charge of every situation. If you let your subconscious dominate all your activities through habit, you will find it hard to move forward in a positive way.

This means that you need to make sure your habits align with your future goals. Don’t carry the past with you. Your success is waiting around the corner—but you must grab it fully and actively.

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