Who Needs Goals When You Can Develop New, Good Habits
The startup world is
an endless sea of strategies, goals, objectives and to-do’s that relentlessly grows the deeper you delve
into it.
Maybe it’s the “entrepreneurial
way,” but the grand-slam approach of
setting a single, massive goal for the year poses more hardship than ease for
the simple fact that too much is oftentimes just that -- too much.
After all, putting forth
an all-out effort towards achieving one large goal can be overwhelming for
myriad reasons: the distance in time and space to goal attainment, the massive
amounts of (underdeveloped) resources and contacts to build and cultivate, the
lack of funding with no investors in site.
So, instead of
establishing a new goal, try this instead: set a new habit.
That’s right. Don’t focus on achieving any goals. Instead, aim to
develop the behavior that creates long-lasting habits and wields the
results you want as a byproduct.
Habits -- the right ones
-- wield positive results because certain laws in human nature are reciprocal:
being trustworthy builds trust, keeping promises builds
integrity, selflessness builds service, kindness builds decency. You
get the idea.
To spark your creativity
for building better habits, here are five habits to pioneer your habitual
success (in no particular order):
1. Think in terms of three
When faced with a
decision, consider three options -- unlikely, likely and most likely
-- and drill down into each one by forming contingency plans for if/when the
anticipated course of action goes awry. Stick with three, though. More than
three and you enter the realm of analysis paralysis.
2. Adapt small and win big
One reason why new habits
don’t stick is because they
seem overwhelming. Setting out to have your business up and running in six
months from scratch isn’t exactly
realistic (although I commend the ambition), so instead break down the steps
that lead to achieving your goal into smaller bites so its attainment feels
more palatable.
Ideally, you’re doing something every day to further your
progress, so break down your strategy into a weekly rhythm of to-do’s. This way, you also make smaller course
corrections along the way rather than massive breakdowns only to be realized
months later.
3. Say thank you
It may be small, but a
dozen tiny opportunities to demonstrate appreciation add up to a single
perception about you. Moreover, telling your brain to
habitually look for praise trains it to constantly look for the positive side
of things. If you’re unsure of when
to say thank you, start the habit of identifying opportunities for praise.
Chances are you’ll find them.
4. Question constantly
This is something my
3-year-old son does well. In fact, it’s
something most kids do naturally -- they ask “why?”
incessantly -- because they’re
curious and they don’t know any
better. In other words, as we mature we learn not to ask questions.
Inquisitiveness may connote a negative label such as being nosy, interfering or
troublesome. However, the deeper you drill down into the why of
circumstance, the more granular details you’ll see and the more understanding you’ll gain.
5. Seek feedback
Staying curious is
important, but doing so alone without conferring with others or accepting
outside perspectives limits you to personal bias. The most knowledgeable
authorities in the world aren’t a
one-person show. Rather, they got there through a rocky road of learn, unlearn,
re-learn -- an iterative process that is just as much a skill as it is a habit.
No matter what habit you’re trying to form, its attainment is immediately
within reach. Start now, right now, to
get the behavior ball rolling towards newfound success.
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