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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.
Our behaviors follow patterns. We react in similar ways when confronted with similar stimuli. In certain environments we act by doing the same thing we have always done.
We often feel we have control over these types of autopilot thoughts and behavior. But time and time again we react and think about what’s happening much less than we realize.
Read MoreThis past Saturday I watched a great college football game. The University of Minnesota played Penn State. Both teams came into the matchup undefeated. Both teams needed the win to keep their momentum. Both teams wanted to win to help their odds of getting into the College Football Playoff.
From the start, the University of Minnesota came out playing tough. They were the underdog but played with a ferociousness that is often reserved for the top programs. They ultimately won the game and set off a party in Minnesota for accomplishing such a great feat.
Read MoreLast month I was working with a team that was having trouble hitting the goals that we set. They were struggling but seemed convinced that the current way of doing things was the best way.
They argued that the small changes we wanted to make weren’t going to have any impact. They felt they were too small. They wanted something major, not some small daily change.
Read MoreI put a lot of value in standards. In my personal life I am always looking at what the standard thought or action is in any given situation. In my work life, I help define the standards for each role in the business. This gives clarity around expectations and accountability.
Standards are important yet most people find this topic boring and mundane. Who wants to look at the standard process or routine when they can dream about what they might do once they succeed?
Read MoreA lot of people I know procrastinate when it comes to important things they need to do. They wait. They think about it. They analyze. They worry.
While research and analysis is important it is more important that we start moving. We can’t sit back and wait forever. We can’t tell ourselves that we are waiting for the perfect time because there is no such thing as the perfect time.
Read MoreWhen we start to improve and chase our dreams, it is easy to get caught up daydreaming about rewards. It is more fun to think about success than thinking of the work required. It is a natural motivator to convince us to do something difficult to change for the better.
But for most people this doesn’t translate into lasting motivation. Instead it creates a mindset of daydreaming. Then we start to want the rewards more and more but aren’t willing to do what is necessary to reach our goal.
Read MoreThere are patterns in each of our lives that we often ignore but can clue us into great insight into how to improve. We can search for recurring themes in our life. Then we trace the path back to our thoughts or actions that created the environment for those themes.
Even though it is often difficult to see this in our self, we can usually spot it in others. We see why those around us struggle. We know what they should do; they need to listen to us. For some reason, we can see what they miss due to bias and flawed thinking.
Read MoreWhen it comes to motivational speakers I have noticed a theme. They all seem to present information to motivate listeners to do great things. If you aren’t changing the world, then you are failing, they argue.
They say that everyone is here for greatness. We all have capability to do amazing things in life. We can all live in wealth and glory, we just have to tackle life.
Read MoreThere is an old saying that says, “How you do anything is how you do everything.” The saying presents the idea that how we work and act in our lives are more cohesive than most people realize.
Most people assume we can work hard when it is something we care about. We can work less on things we don’t like but have to do. We can ignore areas we don’t want to do.
Read MoreThe other day I was watching TV when a familiar scene appeared. The character was trying to decide what to do. There were two imaginary little characters on each shoulder.
On one shoulder was a miniature devil. The little devil was trying to tell them to do what feels right in the moment. On the other shoulder, an angel. The angel was trying to convince the character to do the right thing.
Read MoreOne of the benefits of the systems and habits approach to improvement is that we start to create structures in our life that help us succeed. We create an environment where we can flourish.
This means that we don’t rely on self-control all the time. Instead of buying our favorite snack food and hoping we resist the temptation of eating it, we simply avoid purchasing that particular snack. Instead of putting ourselves in situations where constantly have to use willpower to stay on track we use habit to keep us on track and willpower to build habit.
Read MoreWhen I was in college I was always looking for the easy way through life. I would avoid taking classes that were too challenging, I would work a minimal number of hours at my retail job, and I avoided anything that resembled hard work.
I felt that I could simply think my way through life and avoid having to do the hard work everyone else had to do.
Read MoreWe all hit a rut from time to time. But sometimes it feels like the rut is the normal path. Instead of occasionally having to overcome obstacles, we get hit with them over and over.
During these times, I tend to feel hopeless. It feels like nothing I do is good enough. Instead of making progress towards my goals it feels like my goals are moving further and further away. My pace of improvement is slower than the pace of the goals moving away, creating more distance between where I am and where I want to be.
Read MoreWhen I was in high school I learned how to play the guitar. I took a few lessons to get the basics. I read articles on guitar. I tried to be around other musicians as much as possible. I would even spend hours practicing the same chords over and over again.
I didn’t think much about the process. I simply had a goal (to play the guitar) and then did whatever I thought would help me achieve that goal.
Read MoreWhen I graduated from college I recall feeling a tremendous gap between where I was and where I wanted to be. It seemed like I had all of this energy to do something great, but my opportunities were meager and I had to settle for entry-level work that left me unfulfilled.
I think many college graduates feel this way. Some might say it is a feeling of entitlement. Some say it is due to the misconception about what will happen once you have a college degree.
Read MoreImprovement in life takes various forms. For most of us, we are forced into an improvement system as we grow from infant to young adult.
We are forced to go to school and learn more and more. We have to learn rules of the world and how exactly we fit in.
Read MoreRecently I was able to attend a college football game for one of the larger college football programs in the country. The father of one of the players coached me in football when I was younger so I have known him for years.
At our tailgate, long with his family and many friends and acquaintances was another high school football coach. I was able to strike up conversation with both of them about football and their observations.
Read MoreRecently at work I was working on developing a new system for performance management for our staff. We always tracked several important aspects of performance but recently innovated our work processes rendering the old ways to measure performance inaccurate.
We needed a new way. Initially we saw all the reasons why this would be difficult. There is a ton of complexity in the business and trying to find a simple, consistent method seemed impossible.
Read MoreMost people think that effort means everything. We go through life assuming if we are going to do something, we have to do it 110%.
Therefore, if we start something, we immediately want to be experts. We don’t want to go through the awkward beginning stages where we are not very coherent and coordinated in our attempts.
Read MoreWe all hear the advice to stay focused in life. We all know that focus is key to success. But how can we become more focused when there are so many things pulling at our attention?
While it may seem that focus is only for times when you can shut the door to your office and think, it isn’t. Focus needs to be something that you utilize whenever something important comes up so you can properly think through the problem you face to determine the best steps to take.
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