For a new year, new job, or just for a re-start anytime, you can begin now to spend more time on better habits. Making small changes over time is the most effective way to make a strong change in yourself.
In a particular order, here they are, in 3 groups of 3 areas. The groups are: Simplicity, Challenge, and Happiness.
“Success is a matter of understanding and religiously
practicing specific simple habits.” – Robert J. Ringer
Simplicity
Simplify – Use a method, such as the “Technique of Threes“, to limit and group your choices. If there are many items or choices, combine some or chunk them into categories.
Simpler choices = less stress = more awesomeness inside!
Singlemindedness – We can’t really multitask, so work on one task or goal at a time – focus! Studies have shown working a single task to completion is more effective & creates better results for our effort.
Optimize – Find and schedule your best “peak times” for each important activity. Your morning may be better for creative tasks such as writing, and your afternoons better for organizing or having meetings. And, just after sleeping may be idea-nurturing time.
“Challenge is a dragon with a gift in its mouth.
Tame the dragon and the gift is yours.” – Noela Evans
Challenge
Tension – manage conflicts in yourself and in your life using the style of a calm person you know (or are inspired by). You can insert peace, rather than worry, into your thoughts. Your thinking will be just as focused, but more clear.
Capabilities – know your strengths and accept your limitations as you use the best in yourself.
Unsettle – challenge your brain every day by changing your patterns. Examples are: go home using a different path, use a different hand or foot for activities (such as eating, throwing, or even a TV remote control!). This action helps your brain health.
“Happiness is a habit – cultivate it.” – Elbert Hubbard
Happiness
Flow – there are moments which flow without extreme pleasure or pain, as we perform an activity we can do without stress. Examples depend on our passions, such as painting, writing, speaking, shopping, or doing anything… except watching TV! Create a lifestyle for enjoying the flow of each moment. More importantly, recognize what these activities are, and set yourself up for having more of these “flow” experiences.
Curiosity – every day there are ways you can explore your world. You can “decide” to take a moment to carefully experience your surroundings, using your sight, touch, hearing, or other senses. You will always be able to find new elements and thoughts by practicing curiosity. This habit will help later with problem solving or when you feel bored (such as being stuck in traffic).
Optimism – pursue the positive outcomes and thoughts for your life’s activities, overcoming the attention-grabbing “negativity bias” with deliberate focus on positive aspects. This habit can also be combined with these habits listed above: curiosity or unsettle.
You can add or subtract from this list to build your own approach to practicing habits for personal improvement.
Wow, Paul,
You really got me reading this and thinking about it. I really like the Challenge category because I’m very ambitious though I do know my limitations. I am a self-learner and I am always looking to challenge my skills whether it’s for my creative or problem-solving ability at work.
Also when I focus on a task I always try to finish it through, especially at work. This gives me strength later to multitask with efficiency. When you know how to do one thing well, you are able to focus your mind on a lot of things at once. It helps because I’m challenging myself as well. These are really good stuff you have up here. Smarts! 🙂
Ana – I appreciate the feedback. At first it seemed odd to combine habits to improve ourselves with the idea of challenges, tension, and unsettling on purpose. But I’ve learned a lot from challenging times. Nice to hear it was a helpful combo!
You mention strength, which is part of a topic for a post that’s already written. It will be posted in a day or so.
I have also noticed that everyday seems to be just the regular schedule. I always feel I need to do different things every morning rather than the same thing every time.
I usually start out my day waking up at 8:30am and then get to work by 9:30am. Then I would set up my laptop, check my voicemails, grab some coffee as soon as Tony comes to bring me an egg for breakfast. And it’s not necessarily in that order but somehow it feels like it happens in the morning. Then as the day progresses, some tasks varies, and some are the same thing every day. That includes meetings.
I try to take some time off to myself during the day like at lunch to think and maybe play a game browsing the web. I should just one day just take a walk around the building, catch some fresh air, and relieve myself of all the stresses from earlier. When I get back to my office, I feel refreshed, calmed down and on the go once more.
Are these positive habits?