The author Octavia Butler when asked how she was so prolific replied:
“First, forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. It will sustain you whether you are inspired or not.”
Habits are a powerful driver of behaviour.
If you successfully get into good habits you automatically do the right thing. So how can we improve our all-important habits?
There are three critical steps – PRIORITISE, DIARISE, SOCIALISE:
- PRIORITISE – Prioritise what you want to change. What new things do you want to do more of? What existing things do you want to do less of? Be crystal clear on what you want to stop/start.
- DIARISE – Schedule time in your diary/calendar, to start/stop these things. For example, if you want to get in the habit of preparing better for meetings, schedule time every week to prepare for next week’s meetings. And when the diary reminds you to do it, do it! Do not press “snooze”. Do not press “delete”. Just do it at the scheduled time.
- SOCIALISE – Of course, it’s all-too-easy to press snooze/delete. So use someone as your accountability partner and tell them about the changes you want to make. And ask them to check-in with you every week, to make sure you did the new thing, at the scheduled time. And better still if you do it for each other.
When you do all three of these – and you and your Accountability Partner stick with it – your habits will change.
This could be life changing so try it.
Many thanks to Andy Bounds for his assistance.