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It is not a secret that we as humans we want to achieve incredible and meaningful things in life. In other words, we want to be successful, fulfilled and accomplish as much as we want for our own benefit and for benefits of others.
Countless books written on a subject of success and achievement. There is no lack of information available to us. It is actually quite opposite. There is so much information available to us that often we feel lost and don’t know what to do with all the information that flowing our way.
If abundance of information available, why don’t we use effectively to our advantage? What we need to do to make sure that we take advantage of all the information that available to us?
I love to learn new things and I am really grateful and fascinated with all the resources we have available to us. I don’t have to go to the library to get the information I want. I just sit on my chair, open my internet browser, type several keywords in Google and here we go, I have information I requested. It is incredible and we often take it for granted.
Having necessary information fast is a big deal. But to take this information, apply and internalize to our advantage it is completely different thing.
I tend to go through tons of information on a daily basis. Yes, I definitely notice that I became much more knowledgeable in many areas I have interest in. At the same time I notice that by becoming knowledgeable I did not necessarily improve quality of my life which I was intended to do in a first place. Yes, I enjoyed the process of learning, but something were missing. It seems obvious that in order to improve myself, have balance and desired quality of living, I would have to apply the information I’ve learned.
It is seems intuitive, but for me It took some time to figure out how to apply the information I’ve learn by internalizing it for lasting results.
I am convinced by now that the best and easiest way to create a lasting change is to become aware of those two secrets.
Secret 1
Apply idea as soon or as close as possible to the time you discover it.
Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric put it really well by saying:
“The desire, and the ability, of an organization to continuously learn from any source, anywhere and to rapidly convert this learning into action - is the ultimate competitive advantage”.
This can be definitely applied on a personal level as well.
It is a good idea to apply just learned material or an idea right away because it is so easy to forget something we come across yesterday or even couple of hours ago. And with multiple good ideas we becoming aware of every day is becoming difficult if not impossible to remember all of them. I am not even mentioning about allying them.
I know from an experience that if I write down good idea I’ve learned and schedule to apply it at the time I got the idea, it is much more likely that I will act on that idea in a scheduled time, preferable right away if possible.
If idea is complex and required multiple steps, just write the first step and act on it right away.
Secret 2
The best way to apply the idea is to form a habit/ritual that will ensure that things you want to change will last.
We all creatures of habits. Either you aware or not, but most things we do in life are automatic. We operate on autopilot. It is a Nature way to make sure that we are following the path of least resistance and do not spending to much energy on things we already know how to do. You can probably remember times when you drive your car and talk with your friend on a sell phone at the same time. Next thing you know, somehow you already got home.
How what happened?
Because you probably drove the same route countless times before, you can do it now without even thinking about it. You basically have done it on, what I called “autopilot mode”.
I struggled before with idea of going to gym and work out regularly. I could be in a gym once a week. Next week I might be there two times. Next week as much as zero.
I learned from multiple sources that it takes somewhere from 21 to 30 days to form a habit.
I decided to form a habit of working out 3 times a day, Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7:00PM.
I wanted to point out something really important here. If you notice, my commitment is very specific. Before I tried to form a habit of working out regularly, but it never work out the way I wanted. I even thought that all that habits forming thing is a bunch off baloney.
Then I come across the fact that everything you are trying yo accomplish must be a very specific, otherwise it is to general and we as humans can’t pay attention to a general things really well.
Our mind like specificity and clarity. Clarity is power. If you understand this one concept, you without a doubt will be ahead of most people and be able to reach any desired outcome much faster and in most efficient way.
Now almost 2 months passed and I didn’t skip my 3 times a week routine even once.
Interesting thing happened after one months into this routine. One day I feel so tired and I would never even think about going to the gym before when I feel that way. I know that because before when I feel even slighter tiredness, I would just stay home or do something completely different.
Now next thing I know, I already dressed and on my way to the gym. It is happened completely on autopilot. I so got use to work out at the same time 3 times a week that by body already programmed to do that automatically.
Now it is easier for me to go to gym that not to go, which is a good thing.
I can simply work on forming another habit that will serve me possibly for the rest of my life.
We are all driven by our habits anyway. So why not consciously choose habits we want to improve and let those good habits run our life on autopilot.
One thing you need to be aware of though. Firs week or so, you will tend to escape from performing your new ritual. It is obvious and understandable. Your all habits trying to pull you back and want you to come back to your old and familiar regime. It is very important to be aware of that and not let your mind trick you into going back to old routines.
In about couple of weeks it will become much easier, but you still need to apply some conscious effort in order to stick yo your plan.
The question might arise: Which habit do I need to form first and how many habits is good to develop at one time?
There is no one answer to that question, but what you need to be aware of is the reason why you are trying to form a habit in a first place and to define your priorities at the moment. If you know that most burning area for you at the moment is for instance financial area, maybe it is a good time to create a ritual with concentration on making more money.
For example:
Every morning from 8 to 10 AM I will be signing in on headhunters websites and I will be sending a minimum of 7 resumes per day with consequent follow up in 2 day until I found the job I desired.
Try to avoid to perform a lot of rituals at the same time. I tried at one point to implement radical diet change.
I tried to completely change my diet, pretty much in one day. I dumped all the foods I had in my fridge and jumped into completely new diet (macrobiotic diet). As you may guess it didn’t work out really well for me Eventually I quit and got really upset about all of that, blaming myself for what happened.
After I failed miserably, I did try again but this time I tried one food at a time, and then add other foods as time went on. Now my diet is totally changed. I almost completely eliminated meat form my diet, add a lot of nuts and greens to it. Now I am happier and healthier as a result.
You can apply this principles to any area of life.
In my next post, I want to introduce you to several leverage points that can make you become much more productive and fulfilled.
