The countdown is on. Just 10 weeks to go until we kick off the new working year on Monday 4th January 2022!
I guess you have some exciting and challenging business goals to achieve before 2021 passes into history though. My goal in these blogs is to make it easier for you to turn your goals into reality.
Over the next few blogs, I’m going to share with you some tips and tools that will make it easier for you to achieve your results. They’re going to make it easier for your team to achieve their results too. In fact, let’s set the bar high. Let’s aim for peak performance for you and your team.
I’m going to offer you tips and techniques that focus on keystone habits.
What’s A Keystone Habit?
Keystone habits are small habits that have a positive impact on many other habits. When you focus on that one keystone habit it starts a chain reaction which becomes magnified and you get big results. And all with minimum effort on your part.
I didn’t create the idea of keystone habits. It comes from one of my favourite books about getting better results – “The Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg.
Let’s make it real. Here are a couple of examples of keystone habits. Duhigg explains the unique power of one easy keystone habit: making your bed.
Making your bed every morning starts a positive chain reaction of good habits . These result in increased productivity, a greater sense of well-being, and – somewhat randomly – stronger skills at sticking within a budget.
Duhigg emphasises: It’s not that…a tidy bed causes better grades or less frivolous spending. But somehow those initial shifts start chain reactions that help other good habits take hold.
Duhigg emphasises: It’s not that…a tidy bed causes better grades or less frivolous spending. But somehow those initial shifts start chain reactions that help other good habits take hold.
Now, I’m already a daily bed-maker anyway (how good am I ;-?) but I have been following the underlying principle for some time now. Most recently, I added another keystone habit which has really had an impact: I’ve added the daily habit of making a short plan for the day. My previous tendency was to jump in and just get on with whatever was top of my mind. Now, I feel far more focussed as a result, am less easily distracted and can be specific about what I have achieved at the end of the day.
What’s Your Keystone Habit?
It might be that neither of these is a keystone habit that will work for you. But apply the principle and identify your own. It could be getting out of bed as soon as the alarm goes off. Maybe it’s five minutes meditation, or a 5-minute brisk walk. The key is to get an easy positive start to your day to trigger other positive habits.
Looking ahead, I’m thinking big with this. The keystone habits I’m going to share over the next few weeks will be turbo-charged in contributing to your success. That’s because each one I share will not only start a positive chain reaction in its own right. The impact will be turbo-charged because each habit will impact an overall big, chunky, life-changing superpower habit. More next time.