Back to Good Habits – Episode 323

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[00:01] Welcome to the Prosperity Podcast. Welcome to another episode of the Prosperity Podcast. We are going to be talking about something that happens every single fall, and that is students going back to school, but it’s also time for us to get back to work. And ultimately, it’s back for us to do something and Kim is going to share what that is. What is it, Kim? It’s back to good habit time. Yay. And that’s what we should do, right? Absolutely. Dan Sullivan, my mentor as strategic coach, has shared a wickedly awesome wisdom, how we are actually 100% disciplined already to our existing set of habits. Yes, we are. That is so well said. Isn’t it? And so if you think about that, we’ll often say, oh, I need more discipline.

[00:53] No, you don’t. You just need a different set of habits. And what I love to focus on is adding habits. So for example, let’s say that you are working on your health and you say, okay, it’s going to be the fall, I need to get back on track and get away from summer of eating ice cream or whatever it is. What is the habit that I want to add? And let’s say it’s drinking more hot tea or drinking more water or having a healthy protein shake at night instead of the ice cream or whatever. So I really focus on adding the habit rather than the takeaway part. In other words, if you focus on no ice cream, don’t have ice cream, you know, reduce ice cream, all you’re thinking about is ice cream. But if you think of add, then that habit can just like fill up the space both mentally

[01:47] and in your physical actions and the quote bad habit just sort of falls off the table. Yes, it does. So here’s something and I’m going to do this. I’m going to take some examples from this Reader’s Digest post and we’re going to take the child examples, but we’re going to twist it and we’re going to take the good habits. So here it says designate a homework spot for your kids. Now we’re going to say this, designate a blank for a better habit. Would that be a place to read, a place to have a gratitude list? What would that be Kim? Well, reading, gratitude, listening, being quiet. You could just call it your quiet spot is so important in today’s world and ideally that spot would be outside and that’s not easy for everybody.

[02:35] I get that and especially as we get into the winter and if you live in the Northeast, etc. But just a few minutes outside is just so valuable to us human beings every single day. And then I also think that there are habits around workouts that are super valuable that may not always be place based, but they can be item based. As an example, I have some runner friends that sleep in their running clothes so that when they get up, they just put on the tennis and go. And so I’ll tell a story actually that Dan Sullivan shared around this. It’s the habit of a particular ballerina to go to the gym every day and stretch. And somebody was commenting on this habit. She said, oh, no, that wasn’t the habit.

[03:22] The habit was being downstairs to meet the driver that came for me every morning at six a.m. Oh, that’s good. So yeah, it was a external commitment that she had to go there. Correct. That’s wonderful. So here’s another habit from this book, this article here in Reader’s Digest, and it says, allow plenty of playtime. I think that should stop when we’re like 10 or 11 years old. And yet I’ll admit that I am not good at this. This is an area I need to work on desperately because I tend to be very task oriented and very work oriented. So I think everybody has to identify their own definition of play. And for me, what I’ve come to over time is to realize that I really, really, really like to make progress.

[04:14] And so to keep myself from working on business things all the time, I’ve developed other personal things that I can do to make progress that count as play for me. And so what you want to look at is play is rejuvenating. So what rejuvenates you? And that takes a little bit of learning. I experimented with driving race cars and then I experimented with sailing boats. Talk about a 180, right? And then I experimented with other things that were simpler, like learning how to crochet, as an example, is something that I do that I can make progress with. And yet it rejuvenates me. So I know they’ve taken recesses out of school. I really disagree with that. We absolutely have taken recesses out of our adult lives in many cases.

[05:01] And so ask yourself the question, what rejuvenates you? And then I encourage people to find things that rejuvenate them as an individual and also things that rejuvenate them as a couple. If you’re in a relationship, it’s very important that you do some rejuvenating together. So identifying those two things. And again, sometimes it takes a little bit of experimenting and trying things before you really realize what’s going to work. Absolutely, it does. And I think to top up the list, I’m going to steal one from you. And I hate to use the word steal, but I think it’s going to be appropriate, which is having an attitude of gratitude. And I think at any time we can become overwhelmed with the projects that we’re

[05:41] working on or whatever it may be. And one story that has stuck with me, and I’m going to ask you to actually tell the story because it’s fairly quick, but it’s good. There’s been a time when you were only able to focus on a color. Tell us that story. Oh, yes. Well, there was a plane that I was getting on. And right before getting on said plane, I got a phone call with some pretty negative information and I was literally stepping on the plane like there was nothing that I could do about it. They were telling us to shut our phones off and away goes the plane. And so I have a choice during the next two hours of that plane flight. I can sit there and be frustrated and ruminate about all the problems or I can

[06:24] get myself an attitude of gratitude. And I really chose, I made a very conscious decision to get myself an attitude of gratitude. And so my way to do that is to go through and think of things that I’m grateful for. And so there are some obvious things that I could come up with. Well, two hours is a long time to be thinking of things that you’re grateful for. And so I ended up really desiring to add to my list and I chose to focus on the blue seat in front of me. So I really dug into this blue color and I sliced it and diced it every way that I could. And I have shared that story, which apparently resonates with some people because it enabled me to have a focus and it enabled me to get off that

[07:12] plane with that attitude of gratitude and all of the good that it did for me. And science is even showing these days what it does for your mindset, what it does for your physical body. And so my ability to tackle that problem was extremely increased because of my positive focus work. My attitude of gratitude getting that I chose to do during that plane ride instead of being in the woe is me complain or be frustrated mode. Oh, wonderful. You know, for me as a producer of this podcast, I’ve heard the story. I love it. And one thing that I absolutely love is that we here before the recording light turns on, we get to talk about listeners and you. We get to talk about people that are throughout the country and countries,

[08:08] but we also get to talk about the individual listeners and how this podcast has affected your life. And without a doubt, we are so extremely grateful for you as a listener. And when you send in questions, it is just fuel that helps everyone say, okay, we’re there. And even though we’re 300 plus episodes in on this podcast, and we’ve done it for years and years, when we hear from you, it really is a highlight. And so I am so grateful for you taking your time to listen with us on the show. And I want to add to that because we are grateful and we enjoy sharing these nuggets of wisdom and trust that they are helpful to you. Absolutely. Well, thank you listeners for being with us on this podcast, and we look

[08:58] forward to sharing another episode with you soon. Thank you for listening to the Prosperity Podcast. To take control of your money and have it work for you, visit us at partnersforprosperity.com. If you liked this episode, make sure you subscribe and leave a review.