How to Get Started on Improving Your Habits

We all have habits we want to improve.

Often our habits overlap too. We may have eating habits, exercise habits, cleaning and organizing habits that we want to start. Gretchen Rubin calls this list of common habits the "essential seven" because so many people want to work on them.

But how do we get started on changing our behavior?

That's the topic of this week's video. Check it out below.

I'm excited to talk to you today about how to get started to improve your habits and this is a really common technique, but something that gets overlooked too often and something I even forget to do myself sometimes.

Monitor what you’re doing now

When you want to improve a habit you want to change your behavior, one of the first things we want to know is what are you currently doing? And that means, are you tracking or monitoring your current behavior? I see this a lot with clients when they say, “I want to take control of my time” or “I want to change my schedule.” And I say, “Well, what does today look like?” “What did yesterday look like?” “What are you doing tomorrow?” And all of those moments seemed to be lost. They're not sure and maybe they can get a little bit of it, but without tracking, writing it down or putting it in their phone, they struggle to see where the time has really gone. It's such a powerful step to see all this in person when you can see it on paper, see it on your phone, in a document.

Change your behavior based on what you see

Some ways that this – this has really helped me two ways specifically even here in 2017, one would be that I knew I wanted to know where my extra money was going, that extra income of things I could spend whatever I want on.

But I resisted apps on my phone about it like, “I'm not gonna use that app. I'm just not feeling it out.” But my planner, my paper planner this year actually has a spot to track that extra money. And so, I was just able to write down every day here's what I spent and I get into that routine. Sure enough, all of that financial advice they say about lattes add up, yeah, they really do. And so, I was able to see not only do they add up, I can see exactly where they add up for me specifically, so things like that. That's one way I use the power of tracking in the past couple of months.

Watch good habits snowball

The other way would be from trying to brush my dog's teeth. I have two dogs, Calvin and Rosie, and the vet of course recommends brushing their teeth every day and I thought I probably only brush their teeth maybe once a month when I think about it, which is pretty bad I suppose. But I hadn't thought about this and I said, “Okay. I'm going to track when I brush their teeth.” And I have something on the side of my fridge where I can use a little dry erase marker. And I said, “Okay, I'm going to track.”

And I got excited to get the momentum going of wanting to check off all seven days of the week and then it snowballed of course, right? Because I want all seven days, I want the gold star so to speak – gold star junkie if we haven't met – literally, I give them out to my students – so, I wanted to check it off and then I could start to see the benefits. After a couple of weeks of brushing my dog's teeth every day, I could see that this really is helpful to them and I could make it part of my routine. But it was only through tracking and monitoring that I was able to enact those two behaviors.

So I want to ask you today, what is something that you want to work on in your life – a habit and how can you track it?

Is it on paper? Is it on your phone? Is it a recommitment to tracking that you've tried to track before but haven't been able to do it? What might it be?

I look forward to hearing from you about what you're tracking or monitoring and this new thing that you want to change.

Share your thoughts in the comments!

How to be Productive When Planning Your Next Trip

Do you ever find yourself frazzled and frantic when getting ready to travel?

I used to feel that way until I started taking control of my plans and being productive about it. This week I wanted to share a quick video where I share three tips you can use as you plan your next trip.

I just came back from a trip, but I'm getting ready to go on another trip, and so I realized that trips can be a big time suck for a lot of people and get people off their usual schedule. Some of the things I do to stay productive and when I asked people on Instagram what they would do, these were some of the suggestions.

1. Create a regular packing list

First would be to make sure you have a regular packing list because often we start to decide what we have to pack and we're not sure of the list of items that we need.How many clothes should I pack and what's the weather going to be like at this new place? Do I have that item and buying items last minute for packing. But, having your go-to list in a document on Evernote or Google Drive to be able to say, “Here's my list of what I need to pack and I'm going to stick to it.” It limits having to overthink about it or having to always repack and decide again for the next trip depending on how much time you have, so consider packing list as the first thing.

2. Make a to-do list for before and after your trip

The second thing is to then think about your to-do list before you go on your trip. There are lots of things I want to do all of the time, right? But as the trip approaches, I start to think about what's realistic for me to complete before I go on this trip. I do a front and back piece of paper. I like my paper lists and I say, “Here is everything that has to happen before I go on this trip and it has to be truly must happen.”

And then there could also be a list of things I would like to get done, but probably may not get done. And then on the back, what will be here are things that absolutely must get done when I return home from this trip.

That helps me balance out the anxiety of feeling, “I didn't get everything done that I wanted to get done before I leave.” Knowing it has to get done for the items on your to-do list, so that's the second thing. So, a packing list and your to-do list before and after your trip.

3. Give yourself time before and after your trip

And then, the third thing I would say is I really make sure now that I protect my time before and after a trip. And so what I mean is, if I'm leaving on Friday for a trip, I make it a point to not do anything the Thursday night before that trip and even though I want to go to my regular social event, hang out with friends, spend time doing a regular activity or going out and about, instead I say, “No. I know I'm going to need this rest time before I drive or before I get on the airplane.” And that helps with those last-minute things especially – even just the rest before getting on a plane or driving in a car. I have extra time to do that and I'm not feeling anxious before my trip.

I've also started playing on the other end of a lot of people do this the day of recovery, so knowing that as soon as I get back, is there anything I could do to make sure I don't have five meetings or extra commitments to take care of right after a trip. It's not always possible, but if you can help it or build in an extra day into your weekend, coming home on Saturday instead of Sunday, that type of thing can help.

Another rule I made for myself which keeps me on track for productivity would be to not travel two weekends in a row if I can help it because I know I need that time to rest and recharge at my own home before I go on to the next trip. That has been a really effective way to help balance out the month, so that I don't end up with four weekends gone in a month and then no time to just be able to rest.

Again, those three things were: Make sure you have an ongoing regular go-to packing list that you use, have a to-do list before and after your trip so it helps keep all the things we want to do manageable, and then protect your time both before and after a trip.

Those are just three tips, but I'd like to hear what else you do to help be productive either while you travel or when you're getting ready to travel. I'll see you next time. Thanks.

So which tip will you use next time you travel? Tell me in the comments or share it on social media!

Why do you Want an Extra Hour in Your Day?

Almost everyone says yes to, "Do you want an extra hour in your day?"

Yes, please. I'll take an extra hour today, tomorrow, and the next day. We can all agree we like the idea of an extra hour in our day. That's why we seek out all the productivity and accountability advice we can stand. We follow people who are talking about productivity and try to learn tricks from the super organized giants out there.

We can also easily dream up what we would do with that extra hour.

Everyone has ideas of what they would do if they had extra time and a lot of them sound like this:

• I would spend more time with my family.

• I would get more sleep (how you can benefit from adjusting your sleep habits).

• I would spend it getting organized for the next day.

• I would watch an episode of my favorite show (This Is Us, anyone?).

• I would spend time on my hobbies again, the ones I keep pushing aside.

But why do you really want to do these things?

One of the big things that is missing from all these productivity conversations is purpose. Most of what I read about productivity says they'll help you find that extra hour...so you can do more work or just MORE, MORE, MORE. Why do we keep saying we need more of everything? (Tweet this thought!)

Let's shift the conversation and talk about WHY we want to be more productive.

When you stop to think about why you want that extra hour, does it get at your core values? For example, if you want to spend more time with family or friends, is it because that's what you value most in your life?

Or is the thought of why you want the extra hour based more on "what you should be doing" or "what others want you to be doing?" These are the types of reasons that make us say we want something - but then we don't follow through. We just flippantly say, "Oh yeah, I wish I had more time," without really thinking about it and delving in. Or we say, "Yeah, I wish I could be like that, all productive and super energized," but we don't really mean it.

Doing the work of figuring out your "why" does take time.

I know, it sounds counterintuitive. And it isn't a magic bullet like some other people talk about when it comes to productivity. But committing yourself to writing down your reasons is important. Having the space to breathe and ponder "why" is one of the first steps to gaining momentum on maximizing productivity. All of those hacks and tricks out there start to fall into place when you get crystal clear on why you want to be more productive. My worksheet on reclaiming your time starts to tap into these issues, so check it out.

So tell me, do you know some of the reasons why you truly want to become more productive?