Hello Friend,
If you’ve read the first two posts in this series on habits, we’ve covered “What is a habit” and “Why bad habits are hard to break.” Hopefully, you have taken some time to list your habits and describe where they may be leading you.
Today, I want to expand upon these thoughts and talk about how you can start replacing the old (and unhealthy) habits with new (and healthy) habits geared toward your success. These new habits will position you to realize your full potential and thrive across all of life.
There are many keys to building successful habits. Today, I want to focus on three that will provide you with a ton of leverage as you begin to make these essential changes.
The first key is to learn how to love what you hate. Let’s face it -- there is a reason for not developing healthy habits in your life -- whether it is in your health, personal growth, relationships, or any other area where you are seeking change. It’s because these habits seem painful and difficult. Yesterday, I was doing my shoulders and arms lifting routine when I realized just how hard some workouts are. My muscles were burning. I wanted to quit. But the key to pushing through pain and difficulty is to learn how to love what you hate. How do you do that? Well, you do it by developing a compelling “why” behind the new habit. You need to have a compelling vision of how your life will be different after consistently following through with this new behavior. Having a compelling vision helps you tap into a picture of “the future you” that is inspiring, exciting, and motivating! Why does every fitness program being marketed across the fruited plain provide you with before and after photos? They are showing you a picture of the future that is both powerful and transformational. So...write out a description of “the future you” in detail. Let your words paint a picture of how you will be different because of this change. Describe how you will feel, what you will weigh, how it will affect your relationships or your energy level, what you will be able to do that you can’t do now. Write it all down. Know WHY making this change is so important to you.
The second key is to start small. Recently, one of my friends emailed me and said, “Bill, are you still doing your 100 push-ups a day routine? Since I’ve been working from home with COVID, I’ve got out of my routine of walking at lunch time and I’m getting a little soft.” At the time, I had changed my routine and was no longer doing my push-up routine. But I said, “Jack, if you want to, I will start that up with you.” We talked back and forth about how we could create a simple and sustainable daily routine that would be somewhat of a full-body workout. We created something that we call “The Daily 300” and have done almost every day since May 29. It consists of 100 push-ups, 100 air squats, and 100 4 count leg flutter kicks. Now, is this the end-all and be-all of our fitness needs? No. But do you know what it is? It is something. It is sustainable. And this simple habit we cultivated has allowed us to develop a daily routine that has made a big difference. It’s what Darren Hardy refers to as “The Compound Effect”. Simple, but high leverage activities done consistently daily will create significant change over time. That leads to the third key.
The third key is to recruit a team! One of the most powerful resources that you and I can tap into when cultivating new and healthy habits is people. If you want to succeed in developing new behaviors that become the operating rhythms of life, you need to surround yourself with like-minded people. You need a team! Assemble a group of friends or colleagues that share your vision, believe in your potential, cheer your success, and hold your feet to the fire when necessary. Jack is on my team. And as Jack and I started, others heard about what we were doing and wanted to join us. We now have a group of 5 guys committed to “The Daily 300,” and we have a daily texting chat between us to encourage each other and hold each other accountable in our pursuit of building healthier bodies. And each day, when we finish, we simply text the word “Done” to the rest of the group. This may not seem like much, but I have found it to be a powerful motivation. There have been times at 10:30 or 11 pm when I didn’t feel like doing my 300 exercises, but because others had typed in “Done” throughout the day, there was a part of me (partially the very competitive side of me) that said, “I can’t let my team down!” So, at 11:00 pm, I start cranking out the push-ups. And guess what? Because of that daily accountability from some like-minded guys, one of the guys in our group has lost 12 lbs! 12lbs!! That’s the power of recruiting a team.
The above story shows how to build habits, not by muscling up more will power, but by leveraging multiple resources that make sustained positive behavioral change not just possible but probable.
When you decide to “love what you hate” by writing a positive motivational statement, start small, and recruit a team to join you on this journey, amazing things will happen. YOU WILL CHANGE! Isn’t that what all of us desire?
Questions:
What is that new habit you want to cultivate?
Why is building this new habit so crucial to you?
How will your life be different in 3 months, in 6 months, in 1 year, if you stay with it?
What small and sustainable daily routine can you start with? It may be an action that doesn’t require more than 5 minutes.
What will you do?
When will you do it?
How often will you do it?
Who can you recruit to join you on your team? Do they share your vision? Do they believe in you? Are they the kind of person that will cheer you on and breathe energy into your life? Will they commit to the process as well?
You got this!!
