Habits Rule The World

ByMatthew

“Successful people are simply those with successful habits.” – Brian Tracy

And – conversely – unsuccessful people are those with unsuccessful habits.

It is truly staggering how much of our lives are automatic.

On the one hand, it is this “automation” that makes a great deal of progress and ease possible. If we had to consider and navigate every task anew we would get bogged down and accomplish precious little.

The coin of habit has another side though: those routines we continually run that don’t serve us (and in some cases harm us).

We often repeat non-resourceful patterns because they feel safe and/or when we are forced to take action in a particular moment, in the rush of necessity, we choose the known.

A well-lived life consists of understanding the dual-edged nature of habits: that they can cut in a direction that serves us, making production and achievement possible through cleverness and efficiency and slice in the opposite direction allowing us to make the same mistakes again and again.

Similar Posts

What Do You Believe, For You?

ByMatthew

Our aspirations are our possibilities. – Robert Browning I can’t guarantee that you will achieve everything you attempt. In fact, I’m sure you (and I) won’t succeed 100% of the time. But, we almost guarantee that we won’t achieve something, if we don’t believe we can. When we have ideas about what we want and…

Start With The Result

ByMatthew

Focus your messages on the results you expect, not on the methods for doing the job. – Marty Brounstein Whether it’s a goal you have, or something you want from others, it’s always better to focus on being clear about what the outcome looks like (than try to prescribe the methods). This way methods can be…

The Real Mistake

ByMatthew

A failure is not always a mistake. It may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying. – B. F. Skinner Where do you think you’ve “failed?” Have you given up on “that?” What if you took what you learned and began again, more intelligently? What if…

Ignorance Is No Solution

ByMatthew

“Just because you don’t take an interest in politics, doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you.” – Pericles Ignorance of the law is no defense. A police officer and/or judge doesn’t doesn’t care if you were aware of a law or not if you get caught breaking it. For example, when you get…

How To Be Successful

ByMatthew

“Don’t aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally.” – David Frost I’m writing this post because I needed to hear it. Sometimes I wonder if I am walking the right path, as a coach. I wonder if the challenges of self-employment are worth…

2 Comments

  1. Habits are like a coin – great metaphor. Some serve us and other’s don’t but when we’re stuck in a rut we miss out on ever knowing if there is another way… or a better way. Thanks for starting my day with something to ponder more!

Comments are closed.