www.SuccessHabitsIn21days.com
The Seven Step How to Create Successful Habits Strategy: Be committed and passionate about creating the habit you selected. It has to MEAN a lot to you. You have to be clear about the compelling reasons to do this!
- Have a plan – Think ahead of what you will need – resources, people, time, etc- to make this happen, write out a plan of how you will approach each day. If you have a regular routine surrounding a habit you’re changing, create and commit to a substitute routine. What is your strategy for dealing with “friendly” sabotage (those ‘friends’ who don’t quite get what you’re doing and why) and challenging situations – which will appear in the form of moods, needs, emotions, “bad” days and frustrations…What’s your plan of action for handling these situations? If you have spiritual rituals or activities, it’s vital to make them part of your plan.
- Be organized – journal daily and follow these directions. Also, block time in your day to consciously take action on your new habit.
- Get Light! – Clear the Way – A magic moment for me this morning: I was at my kitchen window and saw a bird in my driveway, perched on top of a tarpaulin that was dropped on the ground but wasn’t flat on the ground (the blue ones, very light material.) I was thinking how amazing it was for this bird to be landing and staying on the top of a pocket of air practically. Then it walked around!…the image of it prancing around, not weighted down by any baggage, concerns or grudges actually made me laugh out loud. The application to this program was obvious. How light are you for this journey? What troubles from yesterday are you taking into tomorrow while robbing you of today? Consider what excess baggage you can leave – you can even decide to pick it back up later (let’s see if that’s going to appeal to you after NOT being weighted down by it for 21 days!) And here’s the magic of that moment for me. I was thinking, if that bird had some piece of leaf or crumb on his wings, weighing him down, it would no doubt shake it off before flying off. And as if on cue, the bird did a shake, then another and flew off light as a feather. The bird was working along with me! So, what can you shake off today? Habit breaking and forming can be a challenge, are you light enough for the journey?
- Speak Success to yourself daily. This is part of having a plan too. Watch how you speak to yourself about what you’re attempting to do. VERY powerful. You know, “as a man thinketh, so he is” Also, speak with or email your accountability partner regularly to motivate them and help them to remain on task.
- Get your heart right. Think of the best reason possible for achieving this goal of creating a powerful new success habit. With this new habit, other than yourself, who will benefit? Family? Employees? Clients and customers? The masses waiting for your product or service? How can you pay this forward? Who can you help with creating a new habit?
- Apply what you already know, get more information only where needed. If you permit yourself, you’ll recognize how much knowledge you already have about this process, “successful habit creating” strategies. I call this APK – acknowledge your present knowledge, build on what on you know and stop wasting time re-learning old information ( a sophisticated form of procrastination.) Do research only where needed.
Reading up on the research done by Dr. Maxwell Maltz – father of this material on creating habits in 21 days, is a good idea if you’ve never heard of him or read his work. Also, finding relevant information regarding your particular habit choice is useful as well. ( Please note: doing this “research” should not replace taking action with this 21-day process!)