HABITS ARE HIP

HABITS ARE HIP

 

Ok, so may be habits aren’t the hippest thing in the world. But they just might be the most important. What separates the best from the rest comes down to habits. A few good ones (that’s really all it takes – two or three really good ones) will make a massive difference in the way your career and your life looks at the end. They will make the difference between mediocrity and mastery. So choose them well.

 

Here’s a metaphor that may serve nicely to make this point: A good habit is like a sturdy oak tree. It starts off as a little seed, planted in a single moment. Fail to nurture it daily and it dies a fast death. But tend to it, just a bit each day, and the thing grows. Until one day it’s so strong that it is next to impossible to break.

 

Your habits will define how close to your personal mountaintop you get. Ones I’ve observed in world-class people include the following:

 

·       Align all your actions with the highest levels of excellence and integrity

·       Put relationships with people first

·       Take highest levels of accountability

·       Leverage adversity to make you/your career and your life even better

·       Get up early

·       Under-promise and over-deliver (always give people more than they expect and you’ll win)

·       Be a passionate learner (read daily, listen to audio programs by insightful thinkers and attend seminars)

·       Spend the first 60 minutes of each day dreaming, planning or simply working out to maintain remarkable personal vitality

·       Balance being tremendously good at what you do with becoming a

·       Tremendously interesting and well-rounded human being

 

Just a few to pick from. To get you going. To plan your seeds

 

“What separates the best from the rest comes down to habits”

 

Do a clean sweep

Do a Clean Sweep

 

I’ve spent much of the past twelve months in what I call Strategic Hibernation – pulling back from much of the “busyness” of my life and rethinking things like my priorities, my values and my personal philosophy. I’ve accepted fewer social invitations, limited many activities and spent a lot more time in reflection – just to make certain I’m climbing the right mountain and spending my days in the way they should be spent. I’ve also spend a lot of time this year doing a “Clean Sweep”

 

A clean sweep is a superb way to streamline, simplify and refocus your life. Most of us have a ton of baggage and clutter that we carry with us on this journey. These might include, “messages,” like incomplete relationships or people you have yet to forgive (or apologize to). The baggage in your life could include “undones”, like a will that needs to be prepared or a life insurance policy that should be updated. The clutter could relate to an unkempt yard or a bunch of unpacked boxes stacked in a spare room. The idea is this: when you clean sweep these things – put them into order or delete what needs to be eliminated from your life – you will feel lighter, happier and your mind will experience more peace.

 

My clean sweep involved getting a will, getting rid of a lot of things I hadn’t used for a while, putting a financial plan in place, tidying up my physical spaces, saying goodbye to pursuits that were not aligned with my personal and professional strategic objectives (goals), installing systems to be more efficient and spending a lot of time refining the model of my business. Guess what? It worked – beautifully.

 

I have more time to do what’s most important. I’m more relaxed and in the flow. I have more energy and more creative. And I’m having more fun. So do a Clean Sweep of your life. And start soon. The results just might astonish you.

 

“Delete what needs to be eliminated from your life – you will feel lighter, happier and your mind will experience more peace”

 

What do you evangelize?

What do you Evangelize?

 

An evangelist, by definition, is simply someone who spreads good news. It’s someone who gets stuck on a big idea or a passionate cause and then walks out into this day and spreads the message like a virus. It’s someone who gets to be engaged in doing something important that it’s all he/she things about, dreams about, talks about. It’s a human being who understands – at a cellular level – what Dr Martin Luther King Jr. meant when he said: “if you have not discovered something you are willing to die for, then you are not fit to live”. This troubled and uncertain world of ours needs more evangelists: human beings doing great things, blessings lives by their actions, making a difference.

 

Where did most people’s passion for greatness go? Each of us had it as kids. We wanted to be superheroes, astronauts, poets and painters. We wanted to change the world, stand on mountain tops and eat lots of ice cream. Then, as we aged, life began to do its work on us. Fearful people snickered at our dreams. disappointments began to show up. Life began to hurt us and we began to buy into the propaganda that says we should not thing too big, reach too high and love too much. Breaks my heart to think about it. But that’s exactly what happens.

 

You are meant to shine. I believe that fiercely. You are here to find that cause, that main aim, that vital destiny that will move you at the most visceral level and get you up at the crack of dawn with fire in your belly. You are meant to find something that your life will stand for and that will consume you, something so beautiful and meaningful that you’d willing to take a bullet for it. It might mean developing people at work and helping them live their highest potential. It might mean being an innovator who adds outrageous value to your clients and brings cool products to the world. Your cause might involve elevating communities or helping people in need.

 

I don’t know what your life’s most important to do is. That’s for you to figure out (through some deep reflection, introspection and soul-searching; doing that within a journal is a wise idea). But I do know this: when you find the mission that your life will be dedicated to, you’ll wake up each day with that fire I mentioned. You won’t want to sleep. You’ll be willing to move mountains to make it happen. You’ll find that sense of internal fulfillment that may now be missing from your life. And you’ll preach that message to anyone who’ll listen. You’ll become an evangelist.

 

“You are here to find that cause, that main aim, that vital destiny that will move you at the most visceral level and get you up at the crack of dawn with fire in your belly”