Putting it simply, what we accomplish, our performance, is a function of what we do and what we don’t do. I’ll say this holds true for us as individuals and for organizations.
Okay, you may be saying, so what’s the big deal? The big deal is that most of what we do is habitual, and habits, by definition, are unconscious patterns of behavior. For the most part we don’t even realize when we are operating in a habit – we’re on automatic. It’s not that habits are bad. It’s just that we are unaware of them when they are in play, particularly those habits that limit our effectiveness and performance.
If you’ve been reading these newsletters or postings you may recall that I wrote about changing habits several months ago. Given the primacy of what we do and don’t do when it comes to performance, I have continued my inquiry into what it takes to change habits.
In preparation for our upcoming webinar regarding habits, a couple colleagues and I took on altering one habit each. Rather than start by doing what we all know to do to change the habit, we started examining the impediments that have the existing habit persist and get in the way of developing a new habit. As a structure we spoke briefly three times a week about what was happening in establishing the new habit and what we noticed about what got in the way.
For me, I took on exercising on a regular basis, even in the midst of traveling. As my colleagues and I spoke over the ensuing weeks, a few patterns emerged in terms of what limited our effectiveness in altering a habit.
A first obstacle was not allowing sufficient time for the new habit. So, I began to put more time in my calendar. This provided the opportunity for more impediments to surface!
One of the impediments we found was living in the fantasy that it was possible to get it all done. As in, “Well, I won’t exercise this morning, I’ll get to it at the end of the workday.” And, by the end of the workday, something else to do intervenes and, lo and behold, exercising gets bumped! If you’ve done a program with Mission Control, you will recognize this as one of the habits that impact productivity.
Another major impediment we noticed was distractions and incompletions. What I mean by “incompletions” are all the things we have to do that are hanging around on post-its, random scraps of paper, piles on our desk (and floor, and cabinets, and chairs, etc), and, most of all, swimming around in our thoughts. We found that many distractions seemed to be caused by incompletions. How this plays out is that, during the course of the day, my attention would go to some incompletion and I would find myself drawn into handling that incompletion rather than scheduling time to deal with it, or choosing that I am not going to do anything about it. And, exercising goes out the window!
One of my colleagues noticed an impediment of relating to the items in his calendar as suggestions of what he might do rather than something he said he wanted to do and something that was important to him. This left him bumping what he had scheduled several times.
In addition to noticing what the impediments were for each of us, we examined what about the new habit was important to us. In asking that question iteratively, each of us ended up with a new clarity about what the new habit would provide in terms of what is important to us.
I am happy to report that, after a few weeks of failing at establishing the new habit, I have been exercising regularly, even getting up some mornings at 5:15 am to fit it in. In a little more than a month I have only missed two or three days. My colleagues have had similar success, as well. And, I am taking on other habits now!
Before wrapping up, there are two things I want to point to that I consider critical to any success I had in changing the habit.
The first was the structure of the regular conversation with my colleagues. This kept me engaged in the attempt to adopt a new habit. I feel the biggest benefit was that I confronted my failures, rather than just getting resigned and giving up.
The other aspect was that we held the adoption of a new habit in the context of learning. What this provided was that, when I failed in my attempts, it was a valid part of the learning rather than my concluding I was a loser and I should just give up.
I invite you to do your own investigation of what it takes to adopt a new habit. Pick one thing and see what gets in the way. Hold it in the context of learning. As a support to adopting the new habit and to share what you have learned, please join us on our free online webinar Access to New Levels of Effectiveness – The Harsh Truth about Habits coming up on May 12, 2010.
As always, we would love to hear what you are noticing!
