baby steps

I want to be better and every year I set goals or make resolutions and, most of the time, the only consistent part of my resolution, the…

I want to be better and every year I set goals or make resolutions and, most of the time, the only consistent part of my resolution, the “habit” I have established at year end, is abandoning the resolution.

Read more books, exercise more, manage my calendar in a more efficient way…by year end, I can recycle my resolutions and hope next year is better.

Last week, a founder I work with told me about a guy he knows who believes in the power of habit. This is not unique — but the approach he takes to creating the habits is worth sharing.

He believes in setting big goals but then working back to the daily minimum effort that will deliver the big long term personal gain. The key is to pick a minimum requirement that you can do daily — no matter what — and focus there.

Don’t say, “I want to read more books” or even a book a month or week. Set a minimum daily requirement of reading 10 pages.

Don’t say, “I want to make more time for family” or even set aside a night a week for family dinner. Set a daily minimum of 45 minutes focused on your spouse and kids.

Don’t say, “I want to exercise more” or even I will work out 3 days a week. Set a daily minimum of 25 push-ups.

Unlike other things I have read about daily habits, he stays focused on a big personal goal — the significant transformation he is trying to achieve — but breaks it down into micro daily requirements that are specific and small enough that there is ALWAYS time to get them done.

I love it and am going to try this approach in 2017.

For context, his big goal was to run ultra marathons — he started by setting a daily minimum requirement of running every day. 9 years later he runs six miles a day at 7min pace. He has not missed a day in all this time — including a post operative run after some out patient surgery a couple years back.