One of my all time favorite topics to study and learn about, is the topic of habits. A couple of years ago, I was struggling with getting up and getting going in the morning. Being self-employed comes with it’s own set of challenges in that area - nobody yelling at you when you mess up, or do something you shouldn’t. Nobody demanding you be in to the office at a certain time. Nobody signing a check and paying you for just showing up, even if you don’t get anything accomplished. It’s not all cherries and roses, if that is a thing? So I decided to make a change. (More on that shortly.)
I have spent a lot of time studying up on habits in general. One of the things that has stuck out in a lot of the literature I read about habits, is that they define your life, and who you are. In Stephen R. Covey’s classic book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, he argues that our character as human beings is generally a summary of all of our habits. How we act and react, how we respond to those around us, are all symptoms of deeply ingrained habits that we’ve developed over weeks, years, and even a lifetime.
What is important to you, what things do you want to get accomplished long term, what truly matters to you in life? Take a look at some of the habits that drive your life, and that may answer some of these questions in a way you never thought about.
It is said that our subconscious rules our lives in ways that we overlook every single day. The routines we develop, the activities we participate in, and those that we choose not to. The exercise we get, or choose not to get. The vegetables that we eat, or the junk we eat instead. The attitudes we have, reactions to emotions or stressors, all are habits. It’s a cliche example, but think of the last time you drove from the store back to your house, and really have no memory of how you got there. The trip from that store back home is so deeply ingrained in your subconscious, that you literally did not need to be involved in the actual decisions that got you from one place to another. Your subconscious said “I got this, do something else. When you think about it, that’s kind of scary right? How many other things in your life does your subconscious control in a way that you never think of? The way you respond to your kids, the way you talk to your spouse, the amount of productivity you achieve each day, and lots more, could all be taken over without you even realizing it.
When I finally got frustrated at getting to work later than I wanted to every day, and saw how much it was affecting my overall health and the ability to do what I needed to do every day, I knew it was time to make a change. For anyone that has ever changed a habit knows, that is no easy task. Your brain has literally been wired, chemically and physically, to operate in a certain way. It takes an enormous amount of specific, intentional and concentrated effort to change that. So, that’s what I did.
Instead of doing the same thing day after day, and continuing to fail, I made some drastic changes. I put in a new alarm clock. I set it for nice and “crack of dawn” early. But this time, it was downstairs in the living room. And, it was loud. I mean like, air raid siren loud, and really annoying. Not something my wife enjoyed hearing for more than a few seconds. I knew that if I had no choice other than to race out of bed and go down the stairs, open up my iPad, enter my code, and turn off the alarm, it would force me into a new routine. Once I got downstairs, I then forced myself to feed the dogs. They started jumping up and down, excited for what they knew was coming. At that point, it was all over. I was up. No going back to bed after that.
And you know what? It worked. After only about 2-3 weeks of that routine, doing it every day, weekends included (see the bit above about enormous and intentional effort), it’s now a habit in my life. And almost two years later, I wake up pretty much every day before my alarm. No more snoozing, no more dashing out of bed at 7:30, hating my life because I didn’t have the discipline to get up and get going. It’s a habit. It’s the drive home from the store. I just do it.
Plenty more to come on this amazing topic, but if you’re looking for a change, don’t tackle 248 things at once. Pick one thing you want to change and put together a plan of action that involves a “shock” to your way of currently doing things, and dedicate yourself to doing it for at least two weeks solid, every single day, no exceptions. You’ll be surprised how much of your brain you can re-wire after just a couple short weeks.
Challenging? Yes. Worthwhile? Definitely. So what are you waiting for? Make a change today!