Have you ever stopped to think about how much of reaching your goals in life has to do with a talent you were somehow born with, and how much needs no talent at all – just an understanding of the process and determination.

Well, habits for me, are one of those things that isn’t about talent. Habits are behaviours that get created within our subconscious mind whether they are good or bad. And as they are learned, they are changeable. You all know people who have given up smoking or trained to do a triathlon or learnt a new language. These aren’t talents. They are desire and process combined.

I’ve been asked in my FB Group to talk about habits and it got me thinking about some of the things that make a difference in how people show up in life – and practicing good habits is definitely one of those things.

In the early 90’s it was Steven Covey’s work – The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People who introduced the concept of intrinsic motivators to millions of people in the form of habits. Today I have connected more closely with the work being done by Brendon Burchard and the High-Performance Institute.

The work of the HPI has identified 6 high performance habits and the three I want to talk about today strike me as a modern-day upgrade of the first three of Covey’s principles. Brendon describes his 6 habits as ‘meta habits’ that help all the other good habits that you can develop fall into place. For example, by seeking clarity you develop a habit of asking questions, by generating energy you will seek better ways of living a healthier life.

Today we are going to talk about the three personal HPI habits.

Seek Clarity

This one aligns very much with the work I do and in Covey’s words, you ‘begin with the end in mind’. It’s a rather circular concept – to achieve goals you need to know what you want to achieve and when know what you want to achieve you need good habits to get you there.

So, do you know who you want to be, how you want to interact with others, what you want and what will give you meaning in life? This is the absolute starting point for life success and one of the foundations of my 6-month program.

One of the interesting things about seeking clarity though is it is evolving in nature. That means that you don’t just come to it once but will tweak it over time for both your life goals and more specific interim ones.

If you want to know more about getting clarity – then pop into my calendar and book a free Purpose Clarity Breakthrough Session with me from the link below.

Create Energy

All successful endeavours in life need energy to make them happen. You need to be on you A-game. If you are feeling tired and mentally exhausted you cannot hope to maintain focus let alone be consistent with the new habits you need to succeed. This one habit goes back to your wellness. It is vitally important to determine what a healthy life means for you and the habits you need to develop to have the energy to achieve your goals. On a scale of 1 – 10 if you are starting anywhere lower than a 5 in energy then I suggest it’s the healthy habits you need to start with first.

Raise Necessity

This is an interesting one because it’s a combination of knowing your why or your purpose and your internal standards and ‘the habits’ that they perpetuate. I like to separate purpose into big ‘P’ and little ‘p’ because for me it’s important to know your big dreams as well as setting goals for all the little achievements you want to make along the way.  Your big ‘P’ is an extension of seeking clarity – what is it you want out of life and little ‘p’s are all the reasons why you need to take the steps you need to take.

Your internal standards are things like your beliefs, values and personal expectations. For example, I am strongly driven by an internal desire to be the best role model I can be.

Together your purpose and your internal motivators help you tap into reasons why you must achieve your goals and help raise necessity.

Making A Start

Realistically – these three habits are a good place to start. You master these habits and you can get a lot more done in your life.

Oh, and I hear you asking, what about those bad habits that stop me from….

Yes, they are bad habits and yes you can be rid of them. We can talk about them more in a Purpose Clarity Breakthrough Session. You can book your free session if you click on the link below…

To help you, I’ve created a little exercise to help you map out a place to start. You’ll notice they are linked to the things you want to succeed at, because without knowing that, what does wanting a new habit by itself really achieve?

The instructions are below or if you If you want a copy of the worksheet consider joining my Facebook Group – Future Facing Women Who Want Success At Work and Impact In Life.

Exercise

• Write down five goals that are important for you to achieve and why
  • Beside each one, write down the habits you need to develop to help you achieve them
• Write down five activities you can do to build your energy to achieve those goals
  • Beside each one, write down the habits you need to develop to help you achieve them

And there you have it a list of ten new habits you can create that will help you achieve your goals and that you need no special talent for. With this list, you can start to practice those habits. And the secret is practice, practice, practice.