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This past Friday, in my Leadership Coaching Program, I taught exactly how to build great habits and basically win life.
We ARE our habits in every sense.
Consider yourself for a moment.
You are a byproduct of the habits you have and the stuff you do every single day.
Are your habits dialed in so they work for you and help you operate an inertia-resistant lifestyle?
Do they enable you to get more done?
Enjoy yourself more?
If you’re interested in getting my formula to build and integrate wonderful habits into your career and life, why not jump in my leadership program and get this great lesson and an entire leadership library filled with lessons on ALL the career skills you need to max out your progress and enjoyment?
Picture with arrow: https://www.milewalkacademy.com/andrew-lacivita-leadership-monthly-live
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HABITS RECAP
When it comes to changing the way we operate our lives, we need to reshape the way we view ourselves.
Sounds odd, but everything we do in our life feeds our self-image, including our habits.
So, it’s important to know which habits support the life we want to build and put ourselves in a position to—as easily as possible—develop, practice, and continue the habits that help us.
In the habit-building session, I covered many areas. Here are some of the highlights:
What is a habit? There are habits, routines, lifestyle systems, practices, and another dozen or so words or expressions people use interchangeably. Call this stuff whatever you want, but it’s about developing regimens, automations, and good practices so you can build an enjoyable life.
Start with WHO, not why. The best place to start with habits is to choose the ones that most fit the lifestyle you want. It’s about who you want to be. As I mentioned earlier, everything we do in our lives feeds our self-image, including our habits.
Habit enablers and success factors. There are three critical enablers that’ll make it much easier to build a habit: 1) Intention, 2) Frequency and Consistency, 3) Environment. If you use these enablers to your advantage, the level of effort (or willpower) you’ll need to exert to follow through and build your habit drops significantly.
Intention. There is goal-based intention. That’s the “what.” This is something such as, “I intend to go for a run,” or “I intend to run a marathon.” There is implementation intention. That’s the “where,” “when,” and/or “how” you’ll achieve the goal such as, “When I wake up tomorrow morning, I’ll go for my run.”
Frequency (how much) and Consistency (when). Frequency is the number of times each day or week you perform the habit. Consistency is the “when” you do it (as in the time of day).
Environment. When building a habit, your environment matters. You need to cue it for what you want; otherwise, it will cue you based on what you’re used to. That’s because we tend to see our habits in the environment they occur.
The formula. It takes four steps: 1. Cue environment: Establish the setup, room, place, or wherever you perform the habit. 2. Do the task: Simply perform it. 3. Reflect: Consider what you did, track it, and think about the positive ripples. 4. Reward yourself: Offer yourself some form of positive reinforcement.
Tracking and reflection. No matter who you are or what you do as a vocation or in your life, you will never feel successful or great about yourself if you don’t take the time to reflect. You can use a habit tracker as well. It’s nice to click off the numbers so to speak.
How long? I wouldn’t bother trying to figure this out. I’ve done a ton of research and I’ve not only seen numbers all over the place (21, 30, 67), I don’t actually believe any of them. I’ve personally built rock-solid habits in three (3) days for some things and three (3) months for others. Regardless of your situation, I think the speed at which you can build the habit depends on three factors: 1) The habit you’re trying to build, 2) How effectively you implement the tactics, and 3) The number of repetitions.
Break a habit. Breaking habits comes down not only to willpower, but also to a change in your approach, attitude and language…or you can add a “pain penalty.” Avoidance is easiest. Changing your mindset helps (e.g., you get to go to a job, not you have to go to work). Opposites do not attract—every time you think about your bad habit, do something else.
As you can see from these highlights related to building habits, there is a lot to get right to put yourself on and keep yourself on the right track!
If you’re interested in taking that deeper plunge with me, catching the replays, and also enjoying attendance at our monthly Zoom get-togethers, check out the entire Leadership Coaching Program.
Your habits really will help you catapult your career and life!
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