Daily Habits for Success
You need habits and a regular routine (not motivation and willpower) to become successful.
In my previous newsletters, I wrote about setting goals and measuring your progress. Goals and measures tell what you need to do. They help you identify what is important, what you should be doing, and when you know you have succeeded.
But how do you actually put in the work to become successful? Popular media likes to show examples of people like Steve Jobs (Apple founder and CEO) who are internally motivated - they are driven to success because of their passion, their creative genius, their hunger for greatness.
Unfortunately, most people are not this passionate, and they struggle with the motivation to study, exercise, stick to a diet, and do many other things. Even motivational speakers say that you can’t rely on “motivation” and “willpower.” Motivation and willpower are not that strong. A few repeated challenges to your willpower throughout the day will eventually make you give in to the temptation. (How many times have you been careful all day but then loaded up on junk food before bed!)
So, how can you successfully reach your goals if your motivation and willpower are not that strong? Many performance specialists recommend that you create “habits.” A habit is something you do on a regular basis without thinking. There are bad habits - like smoking or using social media. But there are also good habits, and the good habits will help you succeed. Habits are hard to break, and they last longer than motivation and willpower. You can use this “power of the habit” to your advantage.
Setting Goals - Again
My previous newsletters showed how to set effective goals - you can find them here. Strategies include using decision-making strategies, writing “SMART Goals,” and aligning goals to values and priorities. Goals are things you need (or want or should) do, and they should be things you can do.
Use a Calendar or Daily Schedule
A common motivational killer is unscheduled time. This is the “free time” you have set aside to do something. But, when the time comes, you don’t know what to do, so you sit there trying to decide what to do and end up doing nothing. More likely, you fall back on a bad habit - such as scrolling through social media - and then you feel guilty for “wasting” your free time. This guilt makes you feel depressed, and you decide to give up on the rest of your day.
A strategy for success is to schedule your day in advance. You don’t have to fill your whole day - you should be flexible so you can handle urgent situations and also allow for moments of spontaneous creativity and energy - but you should schedule one or two important goals each day (or every few days). Here is an example from my schedule.
Most of my day is taken up by work. I have put a few big goals for after work: writing on Mondays, jogging-walking the following three days, and reading after dinner.
From Schedule to Habit
Schedules work well when they are consistent and predictable. For me, Mondays are for creativity, Tuesday through Thursday for fitness, Friday for socializing, and after dinner for reading.
At first, the schedule will help you focus. Eventually, it will help you set up a pattern of behavior - a habit! Once you have set up the habit, you won’t need the schedule anymore. You will have internalized the behavior, and you will simply do what you need to. You won’t have to rely on willpower or motivation. You’ll “just do it.”
Here are a few strategies for building a habit:
Identify Specific Behaviors. You have to plan the specific day/time and the things you will do during that time. Otherwise, when the time comes, you won’t know what to do. If you just schedule “fitness day,” you will still have to decide what to do when the time comes. I avoid this by making a specific jogging routine ahead of time. I jog from the park to the marina (jog all the way, then jog-walk on the way back), then I either repeat it, or I jog-walk a shorter distance in the park. Other times, I jog-walk in the neighborhood - five times on the same route. I also pick out my shoes, clothes, music, and podcast ahead of time. This may sound boring, but it’s not. I’m removing the temptation to back out. When the time comes, I don’t even think about it - I just follow my schedule.
Start Very Small. People imagine themselves running marathons or writing a great novel, and when they can’t do it, they get discouraged and give up. Obviously, you can’t start at that level. Keep the activity on the schedule, but do what you can, then try to do more the next time. When I start jogging outdoors after winter, I can barely jog through the park without stopping. But eventually, little by little, my endurance builds up, and I can jog to the marina and much of the way back. On the first day, just put on your shoes and go outside. On the next day, put on your shoes, go outside, walk for five minutes or more, and come back. You have to start wherever you can, and then push a little more on the next day.
Change Your Environment. Many of our habits are built into our surroundings, and we cannot develop better habits because our environment pushes us to the same old (bad) habits. One of my bad habits was going to the junk drawer for “dessert” after dinner - there was always something there for me. Instead of fighting against my habit, I replaced the junk food and eventually stopped buying it. I replaced the 230-calorie candy bars with 20-calorie hard candy, then I filled the candy jar with seasonal fruit - now my dessert drawer is a fresh-fruit bin. I changed my bad habit (dessert after a meal) into a good one (fresh fruit everyday).
I also cleaned out my computer desk so there was less distraction, I downloaded up-beat music I can jog to, I put weights and a pull-up bar in my bedroom so I won’t have to go to the fitness center, and I keep my jogging shoes by the door. Small environmental changes like these will push you in a better direction.
Use Technology. Calendar and scheduling apps on smart phones can send alerts, and these can encourage you to meet your goal. I like setting more than one alert for important activities so I can build up excitement with a countdown: “Two days until your writing day,” “Tomorrow is your writing day,” “Your writing day starts in two hours.”
Many productivity apps also allow you to track your activities. You probably use apps to count your steps. There are similar apps to track the amount of time you read, meditate, and do other work as well. These apps can also discourage bad behavior. One of my favorite tools is the “weekly activity report” on my phone, which shows how much time I spend on each app. I try to use beneficial apps like iBooks and reduce the amount of time on non-productive apps like social media.
Accountability Partners - Tell Others. It’s helpful to have someone else to encourage you. You can have others check up on you and make sure you accomplish your goals. At work, of course, your supervisor constantly checks your progress on a major project. You can have friends and family help you follow your routine as well. You can also post your activities on social media. This weekly newsletter helps me stay creative. You have come to expect an email from me, and I am used to writing it. When I finish with this writing routine, I am also encouraged to my follow other routines - success breeds success…
Thank you for reading my newsletter. I am interested in helping people and organizations achieve better productivity and success. You can read my previous newsletters on the archive. Consider sharing this newsletter with others, or consider subscribing.