A Boomer's Footprint

Tag: habits

  • Maybe I am being selfish, but you can be selfish too.

    chained hands

     

     

     

    Break out of the chain holding you back.

     

    If you are really committed to meeting your challenge, you must become “selfish.” Yep, this is one time when it’s okay to put “me” first. And I don’t mean selfish in a take-take-take or needy-needy way. But by taking the time and focus needed to reach your goal and allowing your family and team to do the same.

     Life is busy – full of to-do lists, chores, endless emails, social media surfing, not to mention maintaining real time relationships and oh yes, FUN and relaxation.

    We have expectations and demands from ourselves, bosses, customers, clients, suppliers, friends and loved ones.

    No wonder we go to bed exhausted, sleep fitfully and wake up tired.

    We often jump from one task to the next. We stop what we are doing one moment and give our attention to this new thing.

    (As a personal opinion – this is why the cell phones are so distracting.  Does your phone ping every time you get an incoming message?  And then do you stop whatever you are doing and react?)

    Following up on the recent post – Adopt a Good Habit – a key element for achieving success is to make your action a priority each and every day.

    -1- Your habit should be a regular and consistent. Complete your new action the same time, same place every day. Write it in your calendar and do it. Remember, No Excuses. If you miss a day, it’s okay just begin again.

    -2- Take small action steps. Break a big goal into manageable bites. You’d be surprised how much you can accomplish in 10 – 30 minutes a day.

    -3- Plan Ahead. If your action requires tools, books, tapes, trash bags, boxes, or your work out clothes, have them ready to use before the scheduled task time. Don’t waste time “Getting Ready”, then run out of time to do the activity.

    And don’t forget to tackle your task with joy and enthusiasm. We can improve the quality of our lives right now.

    Read your affirmations and goals every day to remind yourself why you are committed to change.

    Good luck.  Let me know how you are doing.

     

  • Adopt a Good Habit

    people-sanddune

    Your road ahead only seems like you are climbing an insurmountable sand dune at first! But regular, small steps will get you there.

    You already know why I suggest that adopting a new habit is an integral component of achieving your 90 Day Challenge. But to spell it out……

    “A Habit is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously.”  Wikipedia

    The obvious key words here – regularly and occur subconsciously.

    If only we were already at the subconscious stage but NO not yet. But by  repeating an action over and over again, by taking consistent, small steps daily, we can reach our goal. Our routine can become rote –a habit.

    Keeping a record of your 90 Day Challenge experience is so important.  Sitting down every day and writing in your journal, can keep you motivated to keep working towards goal. It’s actually encouraging to read back over your writings to see your progress.

    Then, imagine sharing your journey with others. This is my goal on the “ourcommonjourney” blog page.

    Here are my 8 steps for adopting a new habit. The 8 steps will be part of our conversation over the next few months.

    -1- Know your WHY

    -2-What is your goal  (Should be written by now)

    -3- Use affirmations, visualization and meditation (Should be written)

    -4- Commit to 90 days – Our challenge

    -5- Make it regular

    -6- Start with small steps

    -7- Plan ahead

    -8- Accept a bump in the road.

    Next post is about committing to our action plans.

     

     

  • Committing to our new habit

    Why is it so easy to follow a bad habit and yet so difficult to create new good ones?

    I don’t mean our daily habits – such as wake up time, work day start, or walking the dog.

    I mean making the wrong choices – overeating, choosing the wrong food, drinking, watching too much TV, skipping the gym, etc.

    Our commitment and attitude are so important as we strive to improve a part of our lives.

    Reviewing our goal every day is essential. Remember the saying – out of sight, out of mind.

    This is very true in this instance. We must keep reminding ourselves of our goals.

    WHAT do we want to change.
    WHY do we want to make the change.
    WHEN will we achieve our goal.

    If you haven’t written down your goals and placed them in a prominent place, get it done.

    We must keep focused on our goals every day.

    One simple technique I use to create a new habit, I call “just this one time”

    Some say habits take 28 days to become ingrained. But I find. I hit the wall about 21 days and can easily give up.

    So I remind myself of the saying “just this one time”. It then is a time by time choice. I am not thinking about the next 28-30 days but just what choices I make today.

    This is especially true with my food choices. When available, I know I always order the french fries. Once I began saying “just this one time”, it was so much easier than thinking I can not eat fries again.

    Try this approach when you are too tempted to skip a workout, ignore a task, reach for that extra glass of wine or choose the wrong foods.

  • 8 steps to create a new habit

    8 Sure fire ways to create a new habit:

    Are you determined to make this change in your life? The funny thing is that the word DETERMINED is what it takes to be successful.

    You must commit from your heart that you want to succeed. Some changes may require you to form a new habit.

    Our days are run by our habits – the time we wake up in the morning, the order we put on our socks and shoes, our regular driving routes,how we organize our work desk.

    This practice works for us because we don’t have to think about how to perform these regular tasks. Reaching this stage of “just doing” is the goal when starting a new habit. At first, we may have to remind, encourage and even force ourselves to do something we “say we really, really want”. But eventually you will succeed!

    1. Know your WHY. This is your desire. It includes a list of benefits you will receive from adopting the new habit. The reason must be strong and clear. The deeper the emotion associated with the desire to change, the greater the motivation, greater the opportunity for success. It will be your inspiration and motivation. Read this statement everyday to remind yourself why you are making the commitment.

    2. WHAT is your goal? Write it down. It should be detailed, measurable and include a deadline. Goals should be stated in the present tense. The brain believes that present tense statement is already true. So your brain will look for ways to make it happen.

    3. Use of powers of affirmations, visualization and meditation to keep you focused on your goal. Read your goal statement everyday to remind yourself why you are making a commitment to change.

    4. Commit to 30 days. Habits take at least 30 days to stick. By stick I mean become rote. This is a process of retraining the brain to adopt a new activity or way to do a task.

    5. Make it regular. Do your new habit the same time everyday. Consistency is the critical to make a new habit. Write it in your schedule and stick to it.

    6. Start with something simple. If you have a big goal, break it down into smaller steps. While it may take longer to accomplish the big goal, your will experience success along the way and not be overwhelmed at so big a challenge.

    7. Plan ahead. If your goal requires props, have them ready to use before the scheduled time to do the task. Don’t waste time “Getting Ready”, then run out of time to do the activity.

    8. Accept a bump in the road. Be realistic about having an immediate success. Accept it if you miss a day. Do not use it as a reason to quit. For your first goal, choose something which you have a good chance of
    accomplishing. You want to have a success right away.

    Good Luck.

  • How to overcome procrastination

    Procrastination is such a big obstacle that I am writing an extra blog post with suggestions to overcoming this obstacle and to getting things done.

    Do not become overwhelmed with this list.  Look for the tips, which can help you the most. Remember, putting off a task, does not make it go away.

    As you begin, focus on the benefits you will receive when you stop procrastinating and start taking action.

    How to break out of the cycle of procrastination – tips from my mentor, Raymond Aaron

    Create a new mindset:

    Look at past successes – what did I learn that I can carry into this task

    Adjust your attitude – develop an “I can do it” mentality

    Develop self management skills – keep focus on task at hand

    Look at project from the goal oriented viewpoint

    Recruit support – get a fan club, an accountability partner “60% is good enough” by avoiding perfectionism, you save a lot of time.  The lower bar has a bigger chance of success.

    Remove distractions:
    • Work on messes – a clear, clean environment equals clearer mind
    • Do not multi-task – pay attention to the highest priority task only

    Getting started / Time Management:

    Create new habits.

    Focus on the most important thing first and get it done

    1- Make your to do list – list everything that needs to be done
    2- Prioritize the tasks
    3- Break a big job into manageable parts  – divide and conquer
    4- Allow enough time to complete a task – consider how much time is available and complete a small step in that timeframe
    5- Keep the list in front of you keep checking them off
    6- Work in small steps and cross items off the list
    7- Begin to accomplish just 3 small tasks each day

    Take any necessary breaks and enjoy them.

    After your success:

    End of day preparation – review what was accomplished, make list of things to accomplish the next day – set the real
    priorities and do them first.

    Reward yourself for even the smallest effort/

    Last tip from The ultimate solution by David Allen

    DO IT NOW!– the 2 minute rule – if something can be accomplished in two minutes of less Do it Now.  What takes more time – record it for later.

  • Changing bad habits

    One reason we are stuck with negative or limiting beliefs, doubts and fears is because they become engrained in who we are.

    They become habits. We have many beneficial habits in our lives, which make getting through each day happen effortlessly.

    However, some habits stand in the way of our achieving the dreams and success we want for ourselves in life.

    Some of these bad habits are hard to break because they become enjoyable and we want to keep them.  This is especially true
    about our relationships with food.

    We can close out eyes and vividly remember the smells, tastes, and textures of many foods that we are “addicted” to. Regardless of how many times we read about the harmful effects of these foods, We can not stop eating them!

    According to wikipedia, a bad habit is a negative behavior pattern. Behaviors are acquired and develop over time. Habits are actions we take over and over again. Habits become unconscious, automatic thoughts and actions we take when we encounter a situation, which are based on prior experiences. With bad habits, these actions may not give us a desired or different result from the past.

    Changing a bad habit is possible. We can learn what it takes and put new actions into practice in your daily life to change the
    engrained habits of a lifetime. We can even learn to change the nature programmed into your genes, but it will take determined
    actions, over and over again, to reprogram your mind and change yourself.

    Here are 7 ways to break a bad habit:

    -1- put it in writing – use your journal to write about a bad habit – include exactly what is the habit, what do you do before engaging in the habit, what benefits does the habit bring you (this is important because we usually experience something satisfying from the habit), and what is an alternative habit choice.

    -2- make it conscious – become aware of when we engage in the habit, such as picking at nails, watching TV, eating junk food, running late for an appointment, procrastinating, etc.

    So many habits are mindless, routine, we don’t THINK about doing them. We can focus on our choices and decide if they are giving us the results we desire.

    -3- choose an alternative behavior – decide what to do instead. By being prepared with healthy food alternatives, we are less likely to reach for an unhealthy one.

    -4- choose positive thoughts – use positive language to adopt change. Instead of saying – “I am not eating any junk food today”. State – “Today I will eat a piece of fruit for snack.” Then of course, do it!

    -5- have patience – changing a long standing bad habit is not easy and it will take time.  Take small steps on a regular basis.

    Use the phrase  “Just this one time” and choose the side small salad instead of the order the french fries (So often “just this one time” for fries is every time!).

    -6- engage an ally – identify a friend with a similar bad habit and work together to change.

    -7- Reward yourself – the Pavlov method can work. We can focus on what reward we will earn for sticking to our goal.

    Choose an appropriate one – when You choose to eat fruit every day for snack, do you want to sabotage your efforts with a big banana split at week’s end?

    In summary, bad habits, which have developed over time can be changed.  Take regular, consistent action to succeed.

  • 15 Minutes of Fun a Day

    We have spent this month experiencing more joy and happiness in our lives.

    This week’s exercise is about enjoying 15 minutes of FUN every day. A technique I learned from Shawn Achor, a Harvard positive psychology expert. (Look on youtube for Shawn’s videos.)

    The 15 minutes of fun has to be active. We have to be mindful about it – meaning to really enjoy what we are doing.  We can say to ourselves, I will have fun for the next 15 minutes. We simply can change the way we are thinking about our fun activity.

    The challenge is to consciously include time in your life every day to play, laugh, create, enjoy, spend time doing what you enjoy, to have fun.

    Sounds simple enough but it is surprising how hard it may be to purposely have fun.

    Some changes in your life require creating a new habit or breaking an old one. Some say it takes 28 days to create a habit, but my
    experience showed me that it takes much more – twice or three time the number of days.

    This week is a perfect opportunity to create a new habit. A habit which will bring you joy and happiness for many years to come.
    The practice of including focused joy in life.

    Consciously committing to a 15 minute fun activity can even help you start to become healthier.

    How is that possible you ask?  If we exercise we start feeling better, if we start feeling better we will want to eat healthier. When we change our eating habits, we will become healthier.

    When you use the fun 15 exercise, your brain says I’ve been successful in one domain, I bet I can be successful in another domain. I can try out another positive fun 15 minute habit.

    To get started create a list of things that bring you joy, make you laugh, you simply enjoy doing.

    Some possibilities: exercising for FUN…

    Working out for life
    Working out for life

    – take walk in a park
    – cook a new recipe or old favorite
    – pull out the sewing machine and create something
    – hit the golf links

    Golf outing
    Golf outing

    – sign up for a laugh a day type web site
    – see a movie
    – tart a hobby
    – laugh out loud

    Right now go to a your day timer, cell phone, appointment book:
    – schedule the fun time in your calendar
    – write down the activity you will enjoy