Habits of Highly Effective People
Morning Routine
- 10 minute Yoga Routine
- 6 Minutes of Meditation
- 20 minutes of Writing
Creating New Habits
I’ve been thinking a lot about having a routine and creating habits. I just finished reading 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and I have growing thoughts about things that I learned. Specifically around the idea of creating habits and how that can benefit me. I’m trying to create consistency in my life and it’s been Challenging. The process of writing these short journals is part of creating that consistency in my life and it’s a personal challenge.
Consistency Is Key
I’m starting to understand that if I want consistency I must create new habits for myself. This also means that I must change my prioritize structure. More specifically, I must declare what my priorities are rather than letting my current emotions become the compass for the rest of my day. Habit creation can take anywhere between 21 to 66 days (source) This means that until the time that new habit is formed, this is a continual practice that must be prioritized. If the practice of creating this habit falls off then that simply means starting over.
Many areas of our life can be seen as creating habits. There are many areas of our lives that we want to improve. Take health for example; Taking care of your body and mind can be seen as a series of micro-habits that lead up to a healthy body. The issue I see is that most people overwhelm themselves by trying to do everything at once. They buy all the required gear, acquire way too much knowledge, and try to do far more than they are initially capable of. This leads to frustration, burnout, and eventually quitting.
The Video Game Approach
I recommend taking the traditional video game approach. In most video games you start by learning one specific skill. The new skill is explained to you, sometimes you see the skill used and then you learn to use that skill. After that, you are put through a series of scenarios where you are encouraged to learn your new skill. Once it’s deemed that you are proficient with this skill (developed muscle memory), it’s time to move on to another skill.
Many games structured that way, slowly increasing the difficulty as you reach certain Milestones (stages, levels, etc.) of the game. There are games (and people) where you are essentially thrown to the wolves and forced to sink or swim. There’s also a very valuable lesson that these games force you to learn, failure is the only way to improve. That attracts a small percentage of people but doesn’t make up a majority of the people. Games like the Dark Souls Series are a perfect example.
Facing Failure
You are constantly be faced with failure until you learn to adjust, in the Dark Souls series. Death is part of the mechanics of how the game works, and death occurs over and over. Around 36% of people beat the newest iteration in the series (
Source). That means that big portion the remaining 74% got frustrated, bored, or confused and never completed the game. Failure is not a bad thing, it’s a learning opportunity, and until you learn how to get around that obstacle you will continue to fail. While this is an extreme example it’s a great analogy for certain situations in life. If you don’t challenge yourself you won’t grow.
For the rest of us, I suggest the traditional RPG approach. You start from level 1 and do simple tasks repeatedly until you “level up”. As you “level up” you increase the difficulty by adding new challenges. The individual(s) decide what “level up” means. This is a far less overwhelming way to improve skill AND create new habits. These habits become a part of daily life and new habits can be focused on as time goes on.
Suggesting Reading:
http://amzn.to/2oyaloO7 Habits of Highly Effective People: By: Steven Covey
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