The beginning of a new year seems like a good time to talk about The Daily Habit. Right now people are making New Year’s resolutions and goal setting for the year. And some people are doing both!
Something that I teach and coach with our clients is a process called “The Daily Habit.” It is unique for each person. I wanted to share it with you too so that you can transform your life into more of what you want it to be.
Steps to Your Daily Habit
Before we get started, take out a piece of paper or maybe a journal so that you can write down things as you are reading this.
The Daily Habit process is very simple and you start with this first thought and then follow through with the next steps.
- Think about three habits that would change your life dramatically. Write those down (here’s where the journal comes in handy!) You know what I’m talking about. We all have those things that we’ve written down in year’s past as New Year’s resolutions. We’ve tried to do them before. Be honest and write down your top 3 habits that would dramatically change your life.
- Pick one habit out of the 3 that would make the biggest impact in your life. Write that down.
- Describe this habit in detail. Meaning, what exactly is entailed in this habit that you would do on a daily basis. Maybe it’s a very simple habit. For example, one of my daily habits is to floss two times every day. It can be simple like this or it can be more detailed.
- Record the activity of your habit for 90 days. This is where the journal comes in handy or you can use the calendar on your phone. Whatever works best for you. The main thing is to track and check off your habit everyday that you do it so you have a sense of accomplishment and winning. 90 days is about how long it takes to create a habit.
You will discover as you focus daily on that one habit for 90 days that it will just become automatic in your life. If you don’t do it, you will feel like your day just isn’t right; and that’s how you know it is a habit. It’s just part of your daily routine.
The secret sauce when you start this process is telling someone else that you are starting a new habit. Either tell us, your family or a close friend so that we can help you be accountable.
My own story
I thought I would share my own real life scenario of how I used The Daily Habit process to create a habit in my life. This wasn’t something that I had ever done before but it has paid huge dividends for me. About a year and a half ago, I wrote down 3 habits and picked one. The one habit I chose to add into my life was journaling. This meant writing in a journal every day and asking myself a series of questions that I would answer every day. I’d never done that before.
I committed to creating the habit of journaling every day. In detail what this means is I have a journal and I ask myself a series of eight questions that I answer every day. I have to admit at first this was awkward, cumbersome, and even difficult. But, I kept going and when I got about 90 days into it, it became something that I anticipated. I found myself enjoying it and got great value from it both personally and relationally. Now, I love it and have kept doing it ever since.
During the process of creating this habit, I shared with my wife, my kids and even my coaching clients, that journaling is something that is an integral part of my daily routine. And so I wanted to share with you how it’s done and how it could work for you too. Your habit doesn’t have to be journaling; but that’s my story.
You might ask, does it have to be business related? It can be.
Does it have to be a physical habit? It can be.
A lot of people want the habit of working out everyday. Some other physical habits might be: going for a walk every day; getting in 10,000 steps everyday; eating a healthy breakfast; making five sales calls everyday.
Whatever your daily habit is — pick 3 things and then pick 1 to work on for the next 90 days.
Go through the steps I’ve given you and then share with us your one habit that you’ve chosen so that we can help you be accountable. We want to encourage you and help you celebrate your achievement at the end.
We love to celebrate these wins, these habits. Remember, pick a daily habit that is going to have the greatest impact on your life. Only YOU know the answer to that and what that is.
Thanks for reading this. At Confidence Coach we’re here to help the entrepreneur, the business owner, the CEO, reach everything that they want their life to be and help them achieve their hopes, dreams and aspirations. The Daily Habit is just one of the ways we do that.
Make it a great day and may 2019 be your best year ever.