habits

What habit would you like to change? 

In my experience everyone can change their habits, but there is one condition: you to have a reason to make a change. Don’t worry about how you will change, just focus on what habits you want to form and why. If you have a hard time keeping and maintaining good habits, you may be thinking “too big,”perhaps you need to break them down into smaller steps. For example, if you are struggling to focus on work when you are in the office, try turning off the notifications on your smartphone.

 

According to Wendy Wood (social psychologist professor), there are three main principles to consider when effectively changing habitual behavior. First, you must derail existing habits and create a window of opportunity to act on new intentions. The second principle is remembering that repetition is key. Studies have shown it can take anywhere from 15 days to 254 days to truly form a new habit. Lastly, there must be stable context cues available in order to trigger a new pattern. "It's easier to maintain the behavior if it's repeated in a specific context."


We are all creatures of habit

c/o Medium

In his book, “Change Your Mind, Change Your Results”, Shawn Shewchuk highlights that the roadmap for success is printed on the outside of the box you put yourself in. Putting on my clothes and tying my shoelaces are so firmly placed in my subconscious mind they have become habitual. Everything is a habit whether you admit or not. As children we are taught that practice makes perfect, but many of us have been practicing the wrong things for far too many years.

There are no high-performance people, there are only high-performance habits.
— Burrellism

There is a huge difference between waiting for orders and taking initiative. Statistics show that 90% of the western world is waiting for someone to do something for them. The best investment you can make is an investment in yourself as it will deliver the best return on investment. Where will you be in 5 years? Contact me via e-mail for a meeting if you want to improve the quality of your life.


Action comes before motivation

Nowadays so many lives revolve around instant gratification and dopamine addiction, and this control stimuli are the breeding ground for bad habits. Are you aware that your morning habits sets the tone for the day? Your discipline, faith and perseverance in your vision will give you the energy and drive to execute as habits are the compound interest of self-improvement.

Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. Good habits become easy habits when you learn to find joy in delaying gratification. The delaying is all the joy, and the gratification is just the consequence. Your habits shape your reality. I think the price of your good habits are seen in the present and the cost of your bad habits will be revealed in the future. Systems are simple habits as small, daily seemingly insignificant improvements done on a consistently over time, yields staggering results.

You do not rise to the level of your goals you fall to the level of your systems.
— James Clear 

Start a good one

c/o Getty Images

How can we create new habits and stick to them?
We all have habits that we wish we didn't have, but don't feel as if we can change. There are ways to help you change habits and I think the best way is to replace it with a new behaviour as you cannot break a habit; you must replace a habit! It’s really a case of willpower, motivation, and then repetition.

 

The question I frequently ask to people who are risk-averse is, “What’s the biggest chance you have ever taken?” It’s amazing how many people react with a defensive answer when they realise what “safe” lives they have chosen to lead. Small daily habits are unparalleled predictors of long-term objectives, and this is true for both individuals and organisations. 


Habits change behaviours

Humans are usually focused on the right here right now, whether it is about what to wear today or what we are going to have for dinner. This does not serve us as businesspeople as we are always looking ahead. Everybody has a little bit of self-doubt whether you want to admit it or not and I like to work with high achieving entrepreneurs who experts in their field. Decide about where you want to be and not about where you are, as more of the same gives more of the same. 

 

“The E-Myth Revisited” is a book by Michael E. Gerber where he states: …the entrepreneurial myth suggests that most people who start small businesses are entrepreneurs, and most entrepreneurs are not entrepreneurs, they are technicians having an entrepreneurial seizure. Controversial or facts? When we are clear about where you want to go then we focus on that without any outside distractions. And then we reverse engineer that, “this is where you want to go” - Let’s put a timeline on that, and because of the timeline (reverse engineering), we can say this is what you need to be doing monthly/weekly/daily or even hourly. Contact me via e-mail and let’s look at where you want to be and then figure out how to get there. 


We are conditioned

A paradigm is a program in your subconscious mind, it’s both genetic and environmental that’s controlling your behaviour. Your paradigm is your conditioned behaviour, and you have to change your own paradigm, I’m working on mine every day, what about you? 

 

A paradigm is nothing but a multitude of habits that have been programmed into your subconscious mind to control your behaviour. It’s got nothing to do with how smart you are, it’s got nothing to do with what your formal education is, it has to do with your paradigm. You know what your paradigm is, just study your own behaviour - think of your results. If you want to improve your results, then the only way that you can do that is to change your habitual way of doing things. Your results are an expression of the paradigm not your intellect, so until you change the paradigm then nothing is going to change.


Sunday exercise

When we close our eyes, or even if our eyes are open and start to use our imagination - the Einstein brain - we have just activated one of the bigger centres of our brain, the occipital lobe that’s connected to the motor cortex. It’s also connected to the motivational circuit; the nucleus comes and releases that dopamine that makes you feel good and makes you want to act. So, if you visualise yourself achieving the goal, if you visualise yourself behaving in ways that match the new belief, even if you visualise the words or you take the words on a sheet of paper and you read them. 

 

Try it: Close your eyes, see it, and feel it, your brain will begin to create a mental movie with the words and as it creates a mental movie with the words that’s happening in your subconscious mind. And when you give the subconscious mind these instructions a couple of things happen because of the way the brain hierarchy works. Number one is survival; number two is safety and number three is energy conservation. When you do something consistently, it takes between 60 and 365 days of repetition to override an old habitual circuit. Therefore, if you visualise yourself achieving the goal, feeling the success you want to feel, seeing the belief on the screen of your mind, you are actually creating an artificial numeral network through the science of neuroplasticity. And since your brain wants to conserve energy, if you do this on a consistent basis, your brain will automatically set aside the old beliefs and replace them with new beliefs, and then you will have deliberately and consciously evolved yourself.


Don’t be selfish

Everyone understands the need for change in the abstract, but on the day-to-day level people are creatures of habit. Human psychology contains many dualities, one of them being that even while people understand the need for change, they are also irritated and upset by changes that affect them personally. A change that upsets core habits and routines are deeply disturbing to them. To soothe the anxieties of those who dread change, one should create a new set of values and rituals to replace the old ones.


Every value in life must be paid for and those that pay are the ones that get it. Do you need some good ideas to change your life for the future? If you want good ideas then you have to go to the workshops and training courses where good ideas are being taught. Be well prepared, so when opportunity comes along it will pass by the person or organisations who are not prepared. Contact me via e-mail for workshops and training based around about mastering the science of achievement and the art of fulfilment.


Learning new things

Happiness is not simply the absence of despair; it’s an affirmative state in which our lives have both meaning and pleasure. Most people know what is good for them and they know what will make them feel better. Most people don’t avoid meaningful life habits because of ignorance of their value, but because they are no longer “motivated” to do them. They are waiting until they feel better and frequently this is an extremely long wait. 

 

HAPPY PEOPLE:
·      Express gratitude
·      Cultivate optimism
·      Avoid over thinking
·      Practice kindness
·      Nurture relationships
·      Learn to forgive 


 

Many experiences in life that bring happiness are in your control. The more choices you are able to exercise, and control, the happier you are likely to be. You are responsible for your own life experiences, whether you are seeking a meaningful life or a happy life. I think that virtually all the happiness-producing processes in our lives take time, usually a long time, for example, changing old behaviours, building new relationships, raising children, etc. This is why patience and determination are among life’s primary virtues. Contact me via e-mail when you ready to install acceptance, gratitude and accomplishment into yourself or organisation.


Habits change behaviours

We are all creatures of our own habits and beliefs, but we can change those habits and beliefs at any time we want. What might we achieve for ourselves if we are not at the mercy of habits, and instead we were the masters of our habits? I think small daily habits are unparalleled predictors of long-term objectives and this is true for both individuals and organisations. 

 

We go in the direction we face, and we go in the direction we design. Direction determines our destination, we cannot change our destination overnight, but we can change our direction. It’s fascinating what a small change of direction will do. A few decisions in learning, discipline, behaviours, and habits can very quickly make all the difference to our direction.
Here are 8 habits of lucky people:

1. Work hard
2. Complain less
3. Teach others
4. Share credit
5. Be on time
6. Be kind
7. Be teachable
8. Show gratitude


New ways of working demands for new habits. Life is too short to wait for a great day to invest in better life experiences. Contact me via e-mail for a framework guidance meeting. 


Functions and activities

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Those of us who are not so fast with our legs have to be faster in our heads. Most of us learn how to do, unfortunately, very few of us learn how to be. Obsession is always there at the start of learning. I think becoming obsessed with something is what allows you to learn, to develop a habit, turn it into a routine. Contact me via e-mail for an evaluation of your systems and processes.

Process saves us from the poverty of our intentions.
— Elizabeth King

Habits

Rat Pack.jpeg

Earlier this year I became a certified Power of Habits trainer as I believe the biggest influence in life is habit. I think the outcomes you seek are based on the habits you develop and maintain. Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement and a small habit, when repeated consistently, grows into something significant.


It’s almost that time of the year where everyone starts making New Year’s resolution. It’s almost that time of the year where everyone starts “dry January”. It’s almost that time of the year where everyone starts to think about the habits that they would like to change.


I am here to guide you and your organisation, send me an e-mail and let’s arrange a non-binary virtual meeting.


Why Do We Do What We Do?

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The great Zig Ziglar said, “Motivation gets you going, and habit gets you there. Make motivation a habit and you will get there more quickly and have more fun on the trip. You are free to choose, but the choices you make today will determine what you have, be and do in the tomorrow of your life.”

 

We are not in the business of knowledge transformation we are in the business of skill acquisition. Do you know the difference between a skill and a habit? A skill is the ability to do something well and a habit is something you do mentally or physically, that starts as a choice and then becomes a nearly automatic pattern.

 

In reality, a habit is the function of our subconscious mind. There is no greater evidence of the marvelous power of our subconscious than the force and sway habit holds in our life. We form habits in our subconscious mind by repeating a thought or behavior and act it out over and over again until it establishes tracks in our subconscious mind and becomes automatic. What percentage of our daily behaviors are choice? Studies have shown that between 40 and 45% of what we do each day are habits. Therefore, when we understand how habits work, then rather than being the consumer of our lives, we become the creator.

 

The Power of Habits training is about teaching leaders and individuals how to leverage habits so that they can improve results. The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, being more productive and achieving success is understanding how habits work. The Power of Habits training will do 3 things: increase performance, improve outcome and ignite culture. Performance is what we do, results is what comes from our actions, and culture is how we behave.

 

We change the world by changing behavior and there’s a process to that and at Peak Balance (Vital Smarts), our digital learning tools can help facilitate training outside the traditional classroom settings. We have put together a series of micro-trainings which consist of a series of short, focused learning modules that are delivered through Adobe Connect. These trainings have proved to be highly effective at accelerating onboarding and improving retention. 

For further information - contact: sb@peakbalance.dk