The Power of Habits, Routines & Rituals
KEY POINTS:
1. The second key concept that will set you up for success is to install world-class habits.
2. We fall into habits because we are programmed to conserve energy. But we need to make sure that our habits are helping us achieve our potential.
3. By recognizing our cues and then planning how we will respond to them, we can change our habits.
4. By introducing daily behaviours that are consistent with a high-performance life, you will develop routines that will help you move towards your dreams.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Building Great Habits
Do you ever wonder why Olympic athletes spend so much time training? Certainly they have to develop the strength, endurance, and flexibility they need to excel, but they also have to hone their technique to the point where they can do it without thinking.
Athletes get feedback from their coaches about their technique and then practice the new approach over and over again until it’s automatic. Great practice leads to great habits.
You can make significant strides toward your dream if you know how to build the right habits.
I would like to focus on a particularly excellent book on the subject: The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by New York Times reporter and Harvard Business School graduate Charles Duhigg.
Duhigg explains that 40-45% of the “decisions” we make every day are not actually choices - they are automatic behaviours. This is because we as humans are programmed to conserve energy. No one can sustain a heightened level of mental focus and attention all the time. This is how we can get sucked into “bad habits”, especially at the end of the day when we’ve gradually depleted our supply of cognitive load. Just think about your willpower to eat healthy food at the beginning of the day versus at the end of the day.
However once we start to recognize these bad habits, we can start to make a change. The first step is to notice when you fall into these destructive cycles and then you can make a plan for avoiding these bad habits in the future. For example, if you always get sucked into scrolling through social media on your phone before bed, don’t bring your phone into your bedroom. If you have important work to get done, don’t leave your phone on your desk. This will take time and discipline, but eventually you will be able to get out of the cycle and these “good habits” will stick.
We need automated processes to conserve energy. But we also need to make sure that these habits are helping us achieve our potential. By recognizing our cues and then planning how we will respond to them, we can change our habits and develop routines that will become our new “fall back” for when we’re extremely tired, frustrated, and depleted.
As we move through each module, every two weeks I'll challenge you to incorporate a new habit into your life that will help you improve your performance. By taking just a few minutes each day to consciously practice doing something new, you will lay the foundation for building great habits as we move through the program.
There you have it. By now you’ve set dreams and goals, and you’re ready to make small consistent changes in how you live to bring you closer to those dreams.
If you want to learn how to make a good habit stick? Get tips from this Toronto man who has run nearly 16,000 days in a row.
The information and advice provided in this program is intended to assist you with improving your performance, as well as your general health. It is not intended and should not be used in place of advice from your own physician or for treatment or diagnosis of any specific health issue. By participating in this program you acknowledge that undertaking any new health, diet and/or exercise regime involves certain inherent risks, that you assume such risks, and that you release Wells Performance Inc. from any responsibility or claim relating to such participation.