The Hability of Success!
Have you ever measured your HABILITY to succeed? Yes, that’s right, I just did a word mash
with two very key important words for successful business people. Ability and Habit! The ability isn’t usually the issue for most
people, although they often try to scapegoat their skill level or knowledge to
justify failure. We are all very capable
of being successful when we put our minds to it. With hard work, dedication, practice and
diligence a person can become skilled at something that he really wants to
do. Once it has been learned, honed and
perfected… the game has just begun. Now it is time to build the habit. Putting the skill to use on a regular basis,
sometimes even at the prompt of a schedule.
In order to succeed, a person must hold themselves
accountable in the practice of that skill.
If you are an excellent trumpet player, if you want to be successful at
playing the trumpet, then you must create a habit of playing the trumpet. The same goes for business, if you are an
excellent manager because you listen to your employees and reward them for high
sales numbers, then you must make it a habit to do this on a regularly
scheduled basis. Implement a system that
allows you to make the time and put forth the effort each day, week or month.
There are many myths to how a “habit” is formed; twenty-one
days, a month, hypnosis… But what research1 has found, is that
habits are repeated actions and behaviors that form neural pathways in the
brain. These pathways are likely to be
repeated and thus the pathways become stronger2. Each person is different so those myths on
how a habit is formed are different depending on several individual aspects.
Steps that a person can take to “strengthen” the formation
of a habit include:
1)
Evaluate
your desire – Before embarking on the challenge of creating a behavior that
will become a habit, be sure that it is something you really want to do. If you subconsciously don’t like what it is
you are trying to do, it will become an internal struggle. You will not feel good about it and it won’t
stick. Be sure you think about how you
will feel once you create the habit and the real reason(s) of why you are doing
it.
2)
Make it
the same time each day – We are tied to our schedules, so when we actually
carve out time and dedicate it on a regular basis; we are more likely to
complete that task.
3)
Couple it
with another positive – Add something to the mix that you enjoy. I have the habit of making my bed each
morning. I play the same song each day
when I wake up and now before the song is over, my bed is made. I like the song
and it is my trigger for performing the task.
4)
Visualize
– This one is big. Picture yourself
doing what it is and imagine the results.
This puts you in that scenario and makes it less uncertain. Speculate on the response from others. Your
comfort level has just increased because visualizing the task and becoming
comfortable is a big part of creating those pathways.
5)
Start small
– It is very important to make the behavior change manageable. If we are overwhelmed, we are more likely to
abandon the action. Imagine the goal is
to balance your bank account each day, start with simply checking your online
balance. Then add steps as you progress;
record the balance, record transactions, and document expenses. By nature we expand on things we are
successful at. We continue to challenge
ourselves so we aren’t bored.
6)
Reward
Yourself – Set goals for your habits.
For instance, maybe you want to get into the habit of knowing more customers
by name. When you have addressed 25
customers by name in one week, reward yourself with a new book or something
that you would appreciate. Make the
reward a positive enforcer of the habit and one that promotes the continuation
of the habit.
You can have great ideas and once in a while you can do
something special and value-added in your business, but if you don’t continue
to act on the ideas and execute on a regular basis, you won’t see continued
success. Ask yourself what has worked
well in the last year and figure out how to transform that action into a habit. We all have the Ability to be productive and
by making it a Habit… well there you have the Hability of Success!
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