When Would Now Be A Great Time To Check In On What ‘Is’ Working And What ‘Is Not’

Yep.

It is check-in time.

And what a great time of the year to be doing it.

When you make a course correction at the start of the year, it can mean you are in an entirely new place, space and version of yourself, by the end of the year.

High ROI!!

Apparently prior preparation and planning prevents piss-poor performance, so let’s see if we can take some relatively easy steps NOW, to create an even better experience over the course of this year.

The area we are going to target is “HABITS“.

And what better way to start off this inner reflection, than with a quote by James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits.

“New goals don’t deliver new results. New lifestyles do. And a lifestyle is a process, not an outcome. For this reason, all of your energy should go into building better HABITS, not chasing better results.”

He’s talking my lingo.

The importance of creating a ‘lifestyle’, and that lifestyle being created, and greatly influenced by, the HABITS we adopt in our lives.

There are 2 Parts, to this process

I want to keep this practical, and as best as I can, straight to the point.

And before I do, I might challenge James Clear’s statement a bit.

I think you can actually get very clear of what your greatest goals / desires / vision are, and then ask yourself:

“What habits to I need to add or subtract in my life to achieve the (meaningful) Goal I most desire?”

Sort of like, reverse engineering.

So then the two important questions to ask yourself are:

1. “What habits are BEST serving me, in order to achieve my meaningful Goals?”
2. “What habits are NOT serving me, and will make it much harder to achieve my meaningful Goals?”

And don’t just ask yourself the questions, actually practice some self-love, by writing your responses down.

Your ‘self’, will love you for taking the time to clarify things.

Making it easier at a conscious and even a subconscious level.

What is working and what is not working?

Do MORE of the stuff that is working, and CROWD OUT (remove / replace / recycle / delegate) the stuff that isn’t.

A personal example (which only takes about 15-20 mins)

Best Serving Habits (some):

• Daily Rituals (e.g. meditation and movement)
• Weekly Meeting with Me Inc. (Monday morning at 9am and non-negotiable)
• Regular (2 day) GETAWAYS in solitude to get clarity and perspective (every 4-8 weeks).
• Reading Non-Fiction books on health and well-being.
• Spending time in the sun every day.
• Doing regular fasts (intermittent fasting, plus 1-5 day water-only fasts)

Worst Serving Habits (some):

• Being too judgemental of myself and others (this definitely needs to a primary focus in 2024 and is a bit embarrassing to admit to).
• Doing things too intensely (rather than with more ease and grace).
• Over-thinking the future (thinking is good, but too much and it becomes a distraction from living in the ‘now’).
• Impatience (this has become noticeable with our house sale and Farm project).

ACTIONS to take:

• Continue to do even more of my Best Serving Habits.
• IF I notice myself being judgemental (to me or others) THEN aim to get back to acceptance or neutrality as quickly as possible.
• SLOW THE F*CK DOWN and ask myself: “How can I do X more gracefully?” (in order to interrupt my pattern).
• IF I notice myself ‘over-thinking’ THEN change my focus or physiology, to bring myself back into the now.
• IF I notice myself being ‘impatient’ THEN ask myself: “How do I know the timeline is not just right, for me, for now?” (this question is coming from my higher mind, as opposed to the impatient lower mind)

So…

What are your BEST and WORST HABITS, and what ACTIONS can you take to do more of the good stuff, and switch out the stuff that is not serving you?

My Parting word

In order to become the fullest expression of YOU, to your highest potential, it is of high value to check in.

To figure out what is working.

And to figure out what is not working (if you are being brutally honest).

Then take some ACTION to change this.

And perhaps just focus on one thing at a time.

But do acknowledge that HABITS shape our Lifestyle, experience and results.

Do this (simple) activity and create a life-changing, course-correcting, and compounding effect on the rest of this year and beyond.

Have a reflective and self-aware day, and a course-correcting week which changes everything.

Take care,

Carl