We last spoke about when training sessions work and when they don’t. I ended “When Made to Stick Will” with three questions you could talk story about, either here with me and the rest of the Say “Alaka‘i” community, or in your own workplace. Two of those questions had the word ‘habit’ in them:
- What simple practices can help you make something stick in your habit-building?
- If your manager offered to give you some help in grooming a new habit within your organizational culture, would you know what to ask for?
Cryptic Graffiti by Rosa Say
I have attended dozens of workshops over the years, and when I narrow down their take-aways to those impact-full bits which have truly stayed with me, a now-yellowed handout is the first thing which pops into very clear focus in my mind’s eye. Yes, even more than all the handouts I give people for Managing with Aloha.
I make sure this lesson is a part of every single class I do which specifically targets improving workplace productivity. If the lesson resonates with my students —and it always does— and if they choose to proactively believe in its magic, they will make it work in their favor. Everything else we set our sights on achieving will become so much easier.
It’s a riddle I received when getting my certification as a 7 Habits trainer with the Stephen R. Covey Leadership Center back in 1995:
Who do you suppose this is?
“I am your constant companion.
I will push you forward to success or I will drag you down to failure.
I am completely at your command.
80% of what you do, you might as well hand over to me and I will do it promptly and I will do it correctly.
I am easily managed; you must merely be firm with me.
Show me what you’d like to have done, and after a couple of lessons, I will do it automatically.
I am the servant of all great people.
Alas, I am the servant of all failures as well.
All who are great, I have made great.
All who are failures, I have made failures.
I am not a machine; but I do work with the precision of a machine and the intellect of a human.
Take me, train me, be firm with me, and I’ll lay the world at your feet.
Be easy with me, and I will destroy you!”
“Who am I?”
Postscript: I would love to give credit where credit is due for this, but it was on a plain white sheet of paper to keep us guessing until the great reveal of the answer. I am not sure if it came from Covey (not then Franklin-Covey), The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, where I was employed at the time, or Julie, the very smart Covey coach who gave it to me.
The answer, as you can more easily guess from the framing of my posting today, is “I am your habits.”
Habits are powerful magic. Problem is that we tend to mostly think about bad ones ”“ like smoking, and biting our fingernails, or twirling our hair ”“ and not about the fact that there are exceptionally good ones too. Some are simple, but they make a profound difference in our lives, like biting your lip each time you are tempted to blurt out a negative statement, so you can catch yourself and say something more encouraging or nothing at all.
The best productivity tip I can give you, is to proactively create good habits that put you on automatic pilot in a good way, in an advantageous way. For instance”
- Take just two full minutes to stand at the side of your bed and stretch every morning before you head off toward the bathroom to brush your teeth ”“ do it consciously for the next two weeks, and you will find you do it from now on. Stretching your muscles to wake up every limb in your body and gain more energy for the day will become the automatic pilot of how you wake up. You will be more alert.
- Simply put your blackberry or iPhone down on a surface in front of you every time someone speaks to you (your pocket or on your lap works too), and you will focus on them, listen better, and never be thought of as a rude crackberry addict again. More on this one here: Send that Blackberry to Solitary Confinement.
- Choose a morning or afternoon where a Weekly Review is done with your calendar as sacred, non-negotiable planning time, and you will never miss an important appointment or trace date again. You will begin to make time for all those nagging projects that never get scheduled, and you’ll begin to say “no” to the clutter and procrastination which has now become so visible week after week.
As we wind up this ‘taxing’ week of April, I encourage you to read over this Habit Riddle one more time. Take inventory of your habits, and choose to create some good ones which can replace the not-so-good ones.
Better yet, enroll someone else in your goals and ask them to coach you. Scroll back up to those two questions at the top and get a good friend or team member to partner up with you in answering them; you may find that you both want to work on the same thing.
Then, let’s talk story! Let me know how it goes, will you?
- Which of your own personal habits are the ones which ‘push you forward to success’ and which ones ‘drag you down to failure’?
- Which of your own personal habits are you ‘firm’ with, and which do you ‘go easy on’?
Any thoughts to share?
From the Talking Story Archives: We recently talked about another habit here, one connected to reading and learning which is sequential and consequential:
Has ALAWB09 got you into the RTTS Habit yet?
~ Originally published on Say “Alaka‘i” April 2009 ~
You are Your Habits, so Make ‘em Good!
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
That’s a wonderful riddle, Rosa, thank you for sharing it and for your great tips! I am definitely going to try some stretching as the way to start my day. (I’ll let you know how long it takes before I stop having to remind myself and just do it as a habit!)
But you have also inspired me to think of some more good habits I can create … makes a lovely change from trying to get rid of bad habits, thank you, Rosa! :o)
The stretching will amaze you Dianne; such a simple thing with huge benefits! One of those many blessings I have learned from my employees over the years: I began the habit at the urging of my massage therapists when I worked at the Hualalai Resort. Instant pick-me-up that is good during breaks in our MWA workshops too ”“ especially after the lunch hour!
And I heartily concur with what you ended your comment with: Much easier to replace one habit with a better one as opposed to working on ‘breaking’ one” the not-so-good ones can simply get eased out of the picture since they no longer have our attention —and thus our intention.
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