Do Your Habits Help You or Not?

I want to talk to you about habits, but in a very short and to-the-point kind of way. Quickly read this and then take a few small steps outlined below to see what your habits are doing for you and how to leverage them for growth.

Aristotle’s Ethics presents the idea that we are what we repeatedly do. Thousands of our clients over the last few years have agreed that this is a fundamental part of being human. And this is true whether the repeated activity is a net positive or negative. If you are repeatedly doing something that hinders you in the way of your time, health, finances, etc., then, over time you become someone who is just overall not good with those facets of your life.

We’ve written many articles about habits which you can find in the habits section of The Wireboard online, but today I want everyone reading this to do one simple 5-minute activity that can potentially kick-start positive change in your life. Ready?

1. Create a minute-by-minute list of how you spend the first 120 minutes of your day – yes… everything… literally minute-by-minute.
2. Circle 3 items on the list you just created that you know serve you really well – pat yourself on the back while recommitting yourself to those 3 items.
3. Cross out 2 items that you know do not serve you very well – then tell yourself that today was the last day that you’re doing those two things.
4. Key step here: Get your community involved. You can post on all your social media accounts what you circled in step 2 and what you crossed out in step 3. If it is not appropriate for everyone to see on social media, I would recommend that instead, you email these items to the 5 people in your life that you are closest to.

I know you may have questions, and I could write paragraphs detailing exactly how you should accomplish each of the above 4 steps, but today we’re not going to do any of that. One of the key themes I’ve developed in my work with clients in the necessity of starting now. That dynamic is in full-effect here. It’s easier to steer a moving vehicle, so re-read the 4 steps above and simply do what they say. Then let us know how it works out for you.

Yes, your Lizard Brain may get in the way of this 5-minute activity and try to coax or distract you into something else, but here’s the cool part: those of you who actually execute on the 5-minute 4-step activity are going positive change as a result. Again, if that’s you, let us know how it goes.