Although January is usually a fantastic time for setting new goals, planning for the year and creating resolutions, it can all too quickly slip back into business as usual, and if you’re not careful you end up doing exactly what you did before.
To check this out – all you need to do is go to the gym on the first week of Jan, and then visit again in February / March to notice the difference. (I speak from experience here)
The thing is that slipping back into our old ways isn’t always because we don’t want to do anything different – for many of us it’s just because life happens and it’s quicker and easier if we go back to being on auto pilot. The problem here is that this can really stop us from progressing and seeing what we need to change and where we need to improve.
In fact, we might even go about our days getting frustrated or annoyed at things that happen or that we do, but instead of doing something about it, we just find a work around, get hacked off and keep going regardless. We might even ‘own’ this behaviour…”Oh this always happens to me!” or “I’m so sick of X”
“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got” (Henry Ford)
Which is why, every so often it’s a great idea to do some self reflection and see what you need to switch up, where you need to develop, and what you need to fix once and for all so you can keep moving forward.
This exercise is something I do on a regular basis – and I also do it with my clients too. It’s super simple (as all the best things are) takes nearly no time at all, and always throws up some powerful gems.
Have a think about your day and think about what you need to:
Stop doing – these are the things that are hacking you off. The habits that are no longer serving you. For example – checking your emails as soon as you wake up and before you get out of bed; working long hours, skipping lunch etc
Start doing – These are the things that you’re putting off. You know they would add value and really benefit you but for some reason you just haven’t got round to putting them into action. As it’s always trickier to start something and keep it going once you’ve made this part of your list, write down the value it’ll give you, and commit to doing one of them for 90 days. Then test and measure to see whether it worked for you. If so, add it to the continue list. If not, cross it out and move on to the next one.
Continue doing – these are the things that are really working for you and you need to keep them going. For example – going for a run; having a lunch break; spending time with the kids after school etc.
The beauty about this exercise is that not only can you do it on your own on a regular basis, it’s also a really easy format to use to collate some feedback from your team and the people around you.
I’d love to hear your thoughts about what you’re going to stop doing, start doing and continue doing and how this works for you. Let me know in the comments.