- Desiderius Erasmus
I played basketball last night with a "recovering smoker." This person has kicked the HABIT in an effort to better their health down the road. I applaud him for his EFFORTS and ponder a comment he made. He said to me, "the hardest thing about quitting this (smoking) is that I have to figure something to replace it with." Hmmm…
When I hear that, I wonder if we all REPLACE habits. Do we have a finite number of habits we are allowed to have? If we use one for NEGATIVE purposes, then does that take the place holder of what could be a POSITIVE ONE? What BAD habits do I have..? What SHOULD I replace them with?
When you examine the success (or failure) patterns of most people, you find a HABITUAL commitment to certain activities. For HIGH ACHIEVERS, many adopt a near obsessive pursuit of HIGH VALUE ACTIVITIES. For those CHALLENGED with finding success, we see a PERPETUAL cycle of POOR decision making. If you don't believe me, look at the most SUCCESSFUL person in your office and someone on the lower end… what is the big differences? Each get up and come to work. Both are intelligent. Each has 24 hours in their day. So what is the DIFFERENCE?
2 DEGREE SUCCESS STEP:
Personally, I am one of those people that work very diligently to IMPROVE my high value activities each day. As a suggestion for those that don't seem to have the NATURAL gifts of those other high achievers, which includes myself, I have been SUGGESTED the following: Focus on the 3 HIGHEST value activities you can achieve in a day.
If your goals are to (1) increase your income, (2) improve your personal relationships and (3) enhance your health, then you should be able to IDENTIFY 1 single high value activity for each. The activity is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT occurrence of the day for that area. Nothing comes before it. Example: If your goal is to increase you income, take whatever action DIRECTLY affects that increase. (Doing paperwork is not it, not is Facebook). If you are seeking to ENHANCE your personal health… go to the gym and run for 30 mins. Whether before or after work doesn't matter, simply do it at your first possible chance and GET IT DONE!
When you begin to execute these HIGH value activities… you will find they become HABIT. Once they are HABIT, your success will naturally follow.
Cheers,
Zach
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