Habits

Little Wins

Posted by HorrieM
Shoulder surgery on HorrieM’s dominant right arm has put the ability to illustrate on hiatus for six weeks. So we’ll be delving into the archives and returning to where it all started with the first six posts of the HorrieM Blog. Both the writing style and illustrations have evolved over the years. Looking back, everything is a bit raw and a little cringeworthy … but what the heck!
 
[Week 3 of 6] It appears “the blue man” did own a shirt at one stage … huh! Day three of the 30 posts in 30 days challenge introduced the first instance of what has become the usual left justified, almost poem-like writing style. Though I can’t remember exactly, I suspect inspiration came from a second consecutive day at the gym (that I also suspect didn’t last) and having a real conversation with a teenage daughter.

 

Celebrate the little wins:

  • Consecutive days at the gym
  • A small client
  • The first step in learning something new
  • A conversation with your teenage daughter
  • The first course of a qualification
  • Introducing a small change
  • Reading the first chapter
  • The first down payment
  • Saving a small amount
  • The first day of a new habit

Little wins lead to progress and bigger wins.

 

Restoring the peak

Posted by HorrieM

Peak performance is just that.

It’s a peak.

Correspondingly, there are troughs.

You cannot always be “on”, all the time.

Periods of “off” are required as well.

To accelerate and then take your foot of the gas.

To ebb and to flow.

To soak it up and then let it out.

To rest and restore.

Ready to peak again.

 

“Mindfulness is the miracle by which we master and restore ourselves.” — Nhat Hanh

“In dealing with those who are undergoing great suffering, if you feel “burnout” setting in, if you feel demoralized and exhausted, it is best, for the sake of everyone, to withdraw and restore yourself.” — Dalai Lama

 

Habit 7 … a reminder

Posted by HorrieM

Take some time out.

Preferably before juggling balls start to drop.

Before the thinking get blurred.

Before performance is impacted.

Take some time out.

To renew.

To regenerate.

Recharge.

To sharpen the saw.

Take care of the body.

Nurture relationships and the heart.

Feed the mind.

Cultivate the spirit.

You’re no good to anyone if you burn yourself out.

 

“Renewal is the principle—and the process—that empowers us to move on an upward spiral of growth and change, of continuous improvement.” — Dr. Stephen R. Covey

Habit 5 … a reminder

Posted by HorrieM

Rushing to communicate.

Wanting to be heard.

Getting the point across.

What if the recipient isn’t ready to hear?

Doesn’t want to hear?

Or your point simple doesn’t matter to them?

Seek to understand, first.

Listen.

Actively listen.

Really listen.

Really understand.

Then seek to be understood.

 

“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” – Dr. Stephen Covey

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood®

https://www.franklincovey.com/habit-5/

 

The body you have

Posted by HorrieM

The body is amazing.

Appreciate what your body can do for you.

Appreciate what is required to nurture it.

Listen to your body.

Pay attention to what it is telling you.

Look after the body you have.

It enables you to do amazing things.

Until it doesn’t.

 

“Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.” – Jim Rohn

“Honor the physical temple that houses you by eating healthfully, exercising, listening to your body’s needs and treating it with dignity and love.” – Wayne W. Dyer

 

Until it becomes all the time

Posted by HorrieM

You start something new.

First time.

A new habit.

Second time.

A new behaviour.

Five times.

Great!

Six times.

Now, keep going.

Ten times.

Keep building competence.

Twenty times.

And confidence.

Thirty times.

Until the new becomes ingrained.

Many times.

It is simply what you do.

All the time.

 

“Quality is not an act, it is a habit.” – Aristotle

“For a habit to stay changed, people must believe change is possible.” – Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change

 

You have more control than you think

Posted by HorrieM
Office zen

You may not like it.

You did not ask for it.

It will still be here tomorrow.

You can put your head in the sand.

But that won’t make it go away.

Focus on what you can control.

You have jurisdiction over more than you think.

What time you get up.

Your morning routine.

What you watch.

(How long you watch.)

What you read.

What you put into your body.

What you do with your body.

Your self-talk.

Those you check-in with.

Those you assist and help.

What you put out into the world.

How you rest and recuperate.

What time you go to bed.

Do what you can with what you’ve got.

 

“I cannot always control what goes on outside. But I can always control what goes on inside.” – Wayne Dyer

 

So, when did it become a rut?

Posted by HorrieM

You’re caught in a rut.

It’s a self-imposed rut.

But a rut, nonetheless.

There was no rut initially.

So how is it there is one now?

Well, very slowly, ever steadily, the rut has been worn.

Worn by habits, behaviours and routine.

Each day starts anew, but the choices have become pre-set.

So the same approach will work to get out of a rut.

Start very slowly, but ever steadily.

Make a small change.

Replace a bad habit with a good one.

Celebrate little wins.

Make different choices.

Build on success.

Then you’ll wonder where the rut went.

 

“The path of least resistance and least trouble is a mental rut already made. It requires troublesome work to undertake the alternation of old beliefs.” – John Dewey

“When you’re in a rut, you have to question everything except your ability to get out of it.” ― Twyla Tharp, author of “The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life”

 

It’s the simple things …

Posted by HorrieM

There is value in doing the simple things well.

Being extraordinary at doing the ordinary.

We tend to know what they are.

Arriving early.

Actively listening.

Using someone’s name.

Spelling someone’s name correctly.

Returning a call.

Cleaning up after yourself.

These may not seem like much at all.

Until they are not there.

Arriving late.

Being interrupted.

Forgetting someone’s name.

Spelling someone’s name incorrectly.

(You know when your name was last spelled incorrectly.)

(And you probably remember who it was.)

Unreturned calls.

Leaving a mess for others.

(Which inevitably leads to those office kitchen signs.)

If the simple and ordinary are not done well …

… what do we suppose for the complex and difficult?

 

“What is easy to do is also easy not to do.” – Jim Rohn

“Success is doing ordinary things, extraordinarily well.” – Jim Rohn

 

Neural highways for habit traffic

Posted by HorrieM

You know you need to change.

You know what needs to be done.

To break an unhealthy habit.

To change the default action.

To replace a detrimental behaviour.

The old needs to be replaced with the new.

New creates a new neural pathway in the brain.

But the old neural pathway, old habit, is well established.

The old pathway is like a highway.

The new neural pathway is a dirt track.

Continuing with the new behaviour will build the pathway.

It becomes a lane.

Will power and self-motivation is required.

It becomes a road.

Focus and repetition.

A new highway is built.

The new habit now has a strong pathway to drive on.

What neutral highways are you building?

 

“For things to change, you have to change.” – Jim Rohn

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”– Jim Rohn

“We generally change ourselves for one of two reasons: inspiration or desperation.” – Jim Rohn

 

(I couldn’t decide which Jim Rohn quote to include … so I went with all of them.)