Here are more tips on 3 habits that help you succeed in your goals. I’ve written about these 3 habits already:
- Persist v Procrastinate
- Discipline v Motivation
- Analyse Before You Rationalise Past Mistakes
I’m discussing one habit in each article with tips to help make them easier to practice.
Perseverance and procrastination are habits. Remember when you first learnt to ride a bike or drive a car – for most of us it took perseverance, right! The longer we stayed out of the seat, the longer it took us to learn. And Wow! How our lives changed when we stopped procrastinating and succeeded! Remember the feeling!
When we persevere, we procrastinate less, noting this is important because our habits work in sequences; sequences that for most of us are so automatic by the time we are adults that we are mostly unaware of them. Here is a scenario to illustrate – put yourself into it.
Scenario of Habit Clusters
We’re having a relaxed dinner with friends, listening to the conversation…
Some of us may … cock our heads to one side, nod our heads up and down and smile, give a little grunt or laugh, exclaim in delight or agreement, or not; have our hands in our lap or folded, cross our legs and lean back in our chair, lean forward, even furrow our eyebrows…
These are all habits. They are closely linked, dependent on each other and unique to each of us. We sequence and use them in clusters and recognisable patterns, sometimes even in a predictable order called ‘habit clusters.’
When our habits are automatic, we are longer aware of them, or of how the ways we cluster them influences us. Everyday habit clusters can support us or hold us back because they are linked to our deep-seated beliefs and behaviours. These habit clusters tell us a lot about ourselves, and also tell others about us. One of these common habits is procrastination.
We all procrastinate at times. It’s not always bad to procrastinate. If it’s a regular habit it can negatively affect potential throughout a lifetime. Persistence is a habit that helps to overcome procrastination.
How to Persist v Procrastinate.
- Layer the changes to habits or routines! Don’t try to do it all at once! Use ‘layering’ E.g. if your goal is to get up 10 minutes earlier each day and you just hate the thought of that, but you know it will reduce morning chaos – then start with getting up 5 minutes earlier and keep that going for 3-4 days, a week, then make it 10 minutes.
Another layering could be to reward yourself with something simple but immediate, something that gives you pleasure as soon as you get up, e.g. the sight of a vase of flowers, a piece of fruit you like on the bench top, a golf ball to remind you your game is coming up, a tune ready to play etc. Find something small, easy to access but something that pleases you in a small way. You don’t even have to do this every day – just sometimes. This layering can be motivating in itself. Don’t change more than one habit at a time. Work on one thing at a time, when that’s normal choose the next thing to change that will make the next step of difference for you.
We all procrastinate on some things. Being persistent means moving slowly but surely forward. Making small changes over time leads to sustainable, major habit changes in the long term – one layered step at a time!
- Small and integrated or layered integration! Aim for small changes, integrated into other changes that will slowly transform deep-seated habits and the belief systems that underpin them.
An example of layered integration. E.g. Here is what I did: (i) getting up 10 minutes earlier to shower in peace and avoid starting the morning with chaos, layered with (ii) using one of those minutes to cut up a couple of pieces of fruit and eating it while focusing my thinking for the day (what I needed to do before leaving the house and what my first tasks were once at work (iii) family time the night before which included making it fun for my children to leave packed school bags on a mat ready for the morning to reduce stress. These integrated small steps, helped to calm me and that had an effect on all my family as well – mostly! Perseverance meant the goal to get up 10 minutes early got easier and easier until it was normal. DON`T OVERWHELM – our brains are mostly programmed to resist sudden change and protect us from the effects of change. Work with your brain BUT drive it!
Aisha Tylersays, ‘Success is not about the absence of failure, it’s the persistence of failure.’
Summary: To keep moving forward, change one thing at a time and then slowly layer other small changes, one at a time. Don’t make too many changes all at once, keep layering small changes around each other.
In the next article some tips around – Discipline V Motivation. Let’s share soon.
Luciana Niven runs development programs for leaders to assess, build and measure resilience.
Luciana brings dedication, breadth and depth of experience to individuals and any strategic operations team, gained in a variety of senior positions, internal and external global consultancies. She has a wealth of experience and knowledge in Coaching and Mentoring, HR Facilitation, Learning and Development and Change Management. Building on this she designs ‘exclusively small group’ retreats in global locations that focus and support leaders, and individuals to direct and develop their own potential, with the space and time to ‘think,’ be coached and mentored over a week. You can contact Luciana for a chat and more information, click here: luciana@ldnivenconsulting.com