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Using systems and habits to improve your life is a proven method to succeed. It requires seeing the work as a system and then adjusting your thoughts and behaviors to be able to take advantage of your opportunities in life.
There is a phrase that gets used a lot by all of us. It seems innocent enough but carries with it a heavy block of cement that drags us under water over time.
The phrase can be tweaked to fit many different situations. We can use it to talk about going after our goals, fixing a problem in our life, or doing something we know we should do.
Read MoreTime is precious. We only have so much time available each day. We only live once and if we waste away our life, we don’t get a do-over.
This means that we have to value our time and not let it slip away without our permission. We can’t let it escape or get stolen away.
Read MoreFor many people, they go through life feeling as though life is lacking and is a constant struggle. We go through the moments in our life feeling inadequate and fighting for what we feel we deserve.
Having this aggressive mindset can reinforce the feeling of constant struggle. But there is a better way. It involves feeling happy and content but still continuing to work hard to keep improving.
Read MoreAll animals, including humans, rely on habit to get through their day. The brain is wired in a way that allows us to flow through repetitive activities without conscious thought directing our actions.
When we brush our teeth or drive our car, we rely more on habitual movements than on conscious thought. When the traffic light turns green we naturally remove our foot from the brake and apply it slowly to the gas pedal. When we are driving and the light turns yellow, then red, we naturally and automatically slow down the vehicle to stop prior to the intersection.
Read MoreThere are many things in life that we have no control over. In those instances it is easy to feel as though we don’t have control over anything.
But that isn’t the case. We have a great deal of control over the direction our life takes. We make conscious and subconscious decisions that impact the path we take.
Read MoreThe phrase business as usual is used a lot in the media. Many times it is used to describe the indifference of a company or individual who refuses to do the right thing. They put profit ahead of virtue and achievement ahead of taking a moral high road.
But I like to think of it a little differently. To me business as usual means we get back to the core actions. From a business perspective it means getting back to what it is that helped the company reach its level of success. From a personal standpoint, it means we get back to our habits and routines.
Read MoreScott Adams is the creator of the Dilbert comic strip. He has experienced success and is known to be an avid systems thinker.
He promotes the idea of systems thinking and the benefits of thinking systematically instead of linearly. He has some great YouTube videos if you are interested in hearing his take on systems.
Read MoreWhenever we want to change a habit in our life, we have to be patient and realize it takes time. It will take longer than we realize early on because if the habit is a positive one, it is likely going to be harder to get it to stick.
This is because the nature of habits. Habits tend to form when we have behaviors that get reinforced. If we decide to do something that provides instant, positive feedback, then we will be more likely to do it again. If it provides instant, negative feedback, then we will be less likely to do it again.
Read MoreMany times we view something as complex, simply because we don’t understand it. We don’t see how everything connects and interacts. We don’t see the full system, just a bunch of random details.
I love watching college football. I find it exciting and interesting to see how each team fares throughout the season and into the bowl season.
Read MoreHave you ever lost your keys and felt crazy because you just couldn’t find them? You checked all of the logical places but found nothing.
I think we have all lost our keys at one point in our lives. It could be due to a disorganized house, or sharing keys with someone else, but most likely the problem is much simpler than that.
Read MoreWhen it comes to systems and habits improvement, we have to fall in love with the process. We have to find a way to enjoy doing the work so we can continue to do it and grow from it.
We don’t look at hard work as just something we have to do. It isn’t something to hate. It isn’t something to shortcut.
Read MoreSometimes something happens to us that rocks us to our core. It could be a health scare, or layoff at work. It could be the loss of a loved one or some tragedy that springs up out of nowhere.
I have always struggled with how to process these. I tend to look inward quite a bit. I try to use it as a reflection on what is going on inside me. What am I doing that this highlights and shows that I am on the wrong path?
Read MoreThere have been several times in my life when I realized that a core belief that I had was wrong. I found something that suddenly changed what I thought was an absolute truth.
Each time this happened it drastically changed my life. It forced me to adjust how I live my life and how I view the world.
Read MoreFear is commonplace in life. We all experience fear from time to time. Sometimes this fear is perfectly normal and healthy and other times fear gets magnified or exaggerated and we make poor decisions due to feeling fear.
But too often fear controls our life. It does this by constantly prompting our decisions. It gives a little nudge every time we think about certain areas.
Read MoreI’ve read a lot of books about using systems and habits to improve and accomplish goals. As I read, sometimes it seems to be presented in a way where it seems like we just found out about some magic tactic.
It almost seems like success in anything is suddenly guaranteed. All we have to do is follow the system. But it’s more complicated than that.
Read MoreWhenever we take on something new we tend to go through an awkward stage. I remember learning to play the guitar when I was younger. I could barely remember where my fingers were supposed to go to form the chords.
I would stumble around and take pauses between notes. It was completely un-musical. It sounded horrible. If I didn’t explain the song I was trying to play nobody would think it was a real song.
Read MoreWhen we start creating systems and processes in a business it is easy to let it become a complicated mess. There is a lot of complexity and we need to make sure the process accounts for many variables.
But as we do this, we should actively look for ways to simplify. It sounds much easier said than done, but if we keep this focus on simplicity we can cut through some of the unnecessary detail.
Read MoreWhen we set out on a journey to reach a new goal, we often spend a lot of our time envisioning what it will be like when we reach the finish line. We think about the rewards and how we will feel when we win.
We only spend a small number of our thoughts on challenges. At this point we breeze through potential struggles in our mind assuming that we either won’t have any or we will push right through them.
Read MoreIn the systems and habits approach to improvement, we learn how to form systems to help us reach our goals. We design the processes, the routines and the habits that take us towards success.
This helps to start changing our behaviors so that we automatically do the right thing. We don’t have to rely on willpower for every positive decision we make throughout the day.
Read MoreMany people that I know seem to just go through life without much thought about the direction they are heading. They think about immediate things such as problems that come up or challenges, but they don’t take the time really determine what it is they want.
Sometimes this is because we just know. We have a solid foundation of what we want out of life and it is easy to stick to it.
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