Tag: Habits

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Enemy Of The Best

“The first step in crafting the life you want is to get rid of everything you don’t.” ~ Joshua Becker

“I had seen successful people let go of very good things that were not the best things to them.” ~ Dr. Henry Cloud

Don’t let the Good crowd out the Best.

In the book 9 Things You Simply Must Do To Succeed In Love And Life, Dr. Henry Cloud identifies one of the 9 Things as “pull the tooth”. If you’ve ever had a toothache, you know that temporary measures to hide or mask the pain do not work for long. You may be able to forget about it for a short time, but the pain always returns. Until you deal with the source of the pain, the problem keeps coming back. Continue reading “Enemy Of The Best”

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Want to change a behavior? Change your environment.

“Many of our repeated behaviors are cued by everyday environments, even though people think they’re making choices all the time.” ~ Wendy Wood

You and I may think we’re in control of our actions, but research shows that nearly ½ of human behaviors occurs in the same location each day and is cued by the environment. [Duke Today] Recall Charles Duhigg’s “habit loop”, the 3-step process that causes habits to develop. [Duhigg] The habit loop consists of 1) cue, 2) routine, and 3) reward. Repetition of this loop over time causes a behavior (the routine) to become ingrained as habit.

According to Wendy Wood, formerly the James B. Duke professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke and now at the University of Southern California, the cue is often our environment. Continue reading “Want to change a behavior? Change your environment.”

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Steady Wins The Race

Ready? On your mark. Get set. GO . . . consistently!
Consistent action is the key to growth.

“Motivation gets you going, but discipline keeps you growing.” ~ John C. Maxwell

Remember the fable about the race between the tortoise and the hare? The hare sped way out in front, then decided to stop for a bite to eat. The tortoise plodded along, slowly and surely, never wavering. When the hare saw that the tortoise was gaining on him, he took off again, far outdistancing the tortoise. He got so far ahead, in fact, that he decided he had time for a nap. Meanwhile, the tortoise plodded along, slowly and surely, never wavering. You know what happened — eventually, the tortoise passed the hare, who was otherwise engaged, and won the race. Continue reading “Steady Wins The Race”

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Goals Are For Losers

Do you prefer winning once in a while or winning every day? That’s a difference between having a goal and having a system.

“. . . as far as I can tell, the people who use systems do better. The systems-driven people have found a way to look at the familiar in new and more useful ways. To put it bluntly, goals are for losers.” ~ Scott Adams

Goals vs. Systems

Goals are for losers? That’s a pretty odd statement for me to endorse as someone who spends his working time helping and encouraging people to set and achieve goals. However, after reading this in How To Fail At Almost Everything And Still Win Big by Scott Adams, best-selling author and the creator of the Dilbert comic strip, I have to say he has a good point. Continue reading “Goals Are For Losers”

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Ten Daily Habits

“Give those you love the gift of taking excellent care of yourself.”

As you begin the new year, it’s a good time to reassess how well you are caring for your most important asset . . . you.  Excelerated self care — taking excellent care of yourself — isn’t selfishness but selfulness . . . filling yourself up from the inside. You can’t give what you don’t have. You must care for yourself if you are to be able to care for others. Continue reading “Ten Daily Habits”

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Stop Stopping

Stop Stopping

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” ~ Confucius

“A body in motion will remain in motion.” ~ Newton’s First Law of Motion.  I was doing wonderfully well. I was getting up and going through my morning routine — physical activity, meditation, journaling, and planning — consistently for weeks. I felt really good. I felt productive. I was making good progress!  “A body at rest remains at rest.” ~ Newton’s First Law of Motion  But then . . . I missed a day. Oops. My momentum slowed. Then I missed another day — turned off my alarm and slept in. I decided I needed some time off so I took off a couple more days. Before I knew it, more than 2 weeks had gone by and I was completely out of my routine. The more I missed, the less I felt like starting back. I had completely lost all momentum. I had stopped. Continue reading “Stop Stopping”

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Break Negative Habits, Part 2

“Wisdom is letting go of some bad habits everyday.” ~ Farshad Asl

Recently, we talked about the benefits of breaking negative habits. I shared a few unhealthy habits I used to have and expressed gratitude that I was able to replace several of them with more helpful and healthful ones. I shared a list of some negative habits identified in an article in Inc. magazine and invited you to consider if there are any habits keeping you from making progress toward your Excelerated Life.

On the outside chance that you may have 1 or 2 negative habits you’d like to replace with more beneficial ones, let’s consider some recommended and proven ways to break negative habits. Continue reading “Break Negative Habits, Part 2”

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Breaking Negative Habits

“Wisdom is letting go of some bad habits everyday.” ~ Farshad Asl

This is how I used to wake up. Clock goes off at 6:00 AM. Hit the snooze button. Clock goes off at 6:05 AM. Hit the snooze button. Clock goes off at 6:10 AM. Hit the snooze button. This continues till 6:30 or sometimes 6:45. Finally climb slowly out of bed, groggy and headachy from having too many beers the night before. Head to the bathroom, coughing and hacking because of my smoker’s cough. Pop a couple of Tylenol to help the headache. Continue reading “Breaking Negative Habits”

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Now What Needs To Be Done?

“The mature human being goes about doing what needs to be done regardless of whether that person feels great or terrible. Knowing that you are the kind of person with that kind of selfcontrol brings all the satisfaction and confidence you will ever need.” ~ David K. Reynolds

June* sought out coaching because she couldn’t seem to finish any of the things she said she wanted to do. She had a good idea of what she viewed as her life’s purpose and she had some challenging goals to enable her to live out her purpose. But when we met for the first time, she had made little measurable progress on any of her goals. During one of our early meetings, she selected one of her goals and we developed an action plan to move her toward it. June left with a list of things she could do before our next meeting and she was excited to get started. Continue reading “Now What Needs To Be Done?”