Be honest, do you talk to yourself? Here are some things to talk to yourself about:

When the mind is thinking it is talking to itself. - Plato

Thinking can be incredibly hard work, which is why most people probably don't spend a lot of time doing it. Yet proper thinking can launch you in all sorts of directions, if you are willing to sit down first and decide which things are the most important things for you to do. So what should you be "talking to yourself" about?

Prioritizing

Most things in life can be properly accomplished if we simply take the time to figure out which stuff is really the most important things to be doing. Normally, we live in a reactive state, and simply react to situations and emergencies around us. But by thinking about priorities, you can line everything up proactively. While this will not completely eliminate unexpected events, you will be surprised at the amount of accomplishments that become attainable.

Goal setting

Yuk, sounds awful, doesn't it? But setting goals are extremely important to achieving anything, otherwise, what is there to achieve? You should have several long term goals (2-5 years), several mid-range goals (6 months-2 years), and several more immediate goals (now to 6 months). By reviewing these goals on a regular basis, you will begin crafting your life in the direction you would like to see it go.

Ways to positively impact others

If you haven't already heard, the things that really matter involve others in your life, whether that's family relationships, friends, co-workers, customers. (But of course you already knew that because you just spent time getting your priorities straight). What are some ways you can positively impact others? If you try to think of ways ahead of time, you're more likely to do it. Can you give advice? Share inspiration? Help around the house? Volunteer a night once a month? Mentor/teach others on specific skills you have? These are things that have lasting value, and lasting impact on those who are most important to you.

So how does it feel to talk to yourself? (Your own voice sounds weird, doesn't it?) Well, I think you'll find that if you take the time to listen to the voice of your thinking, you have the potential to become very good friends with yourself, and be much more productive.

How to plan to succeed in three simple (but not necessarily easy) steps:

If we have a desire to be successful in anything, be it friendships, family, personal budgets, home maintenance, study and learning, or any other objective, we have to realize there is a measure of planning necessary to achieve progress.

One of the adventurebolt insights that I have recently been able to see immediate benefits of, is an increase in intentional planning, even each day. Over the past few weeks, I have been going in to the office early to just look at tasks that need to be accomplished, prioritize them, and then set them up on a simple checklist to be crossed off as they are done. Simple? Yes. Easy? Not really.

For example, take a few moments to think of what projects you may be wanting to do around the house that you have had in mind for awhile, but never really got around to doing.

1) First, write down all the projects or activities you need to do, as many as you can think of in five minutes.

2) Then, prioritize them according to which one should be accomplished first, second and so on. DON'T make the mistake of prioritizing them according to which ones you would PREFER to start on, as opposed to which ones SHOULD be accomplished first. This is a big lesson in disciplining yourself to do things you don't want to do, but that need to be done anyway. To be fair to yourself, if there is no urgency between several items on your list, then allow yourself to put them in an order you would prefer, but then STICK TO THE LIST.

3) Then, DO NOT MOVE ON TO THE NEXT ITEM UNTIL YOU CAN CROSS OFF THE CURRENT ONE. This is critical. It's so simple, but it can be the most difficult aspect to do. Force yourself to follow this principle. Do not allow yourself to get distracted by lesser issues or interruptions. If you do get off track or interrupted, don't continue with anything else until you go back and finish your current item.

This whole process takes time. There is a measure of planning that should go into each day. If time is more valuable than money (as I have mentioned elsewhere), why do we carelessly "spend" it without any planning? What I like about this insight is that the benefits of this process can be realized immediately, and with continued practice, the benefits increase with each success.

True discipline is making yourself do the things you don't want to do until they become unstoppable habits of success.

Who likes to drag themselves out of bed when they can barely comprehend their alarm clock with their conscious mind? Who likes to eat a constant stream of salad when pastries are just as accessible? Who likes to force their body through a repetitive routine of strenuous activity that typically ends up in extended muscle soreness, just to "stay in shape"?

Besides the few sadistic readers that raised your hands to any or all of the foregoing questions, the answer is collectively "no one". However, unfortunate examples like these are what it takes to achieve success in whatever arena you have chosen to master.

It's called self-discipline, and it is the most difficult principle to engage in. After all, who is easier to convince that you need to take a sick day: you or your boss? Admit it, you're a pushover, just like me, and there are times that you are more than willing to talk yourself out of anything that requires any sort of effort.

But self-discipline has a hidden advantage that few find, only because it takes a while to dig around and grab hold of. The secret is this: if you force yourself to repetitively do something you don't want to do (because it is necessary and beneficial for your overall purpose and well-being), you will then begin to leverage that distasteful chore into a habit. And once that habit is established, you now will have an added built-in accountability keeper.

I like to think of (good) habits as being like flywheels of accomplishment. A flywheel is a mechanism for sustaining momentum. It is a heavy object that takes a lot of energy to get moving, but once it is in motion, it continues to rotate practically on its own with little or no added energy. It also becomes very difficult to slow down and stop because of its momentum. This is what habits do for us: they allow us to continue certain practices almost without thinking because they have become ingrained within our pattern of living.

So the good news is that your good habits can keep you on the path to achievement. The bad news is that bad habits can also keep you on the road to destruction, pain, disillusionment, and everything else you don't want in your life. The flywheel principle is the same; only the destination is different.

Be sure you are selecting the proper things to be forcing yourself to do. With the right motivation, you can create a whole new momentum for your life that can bring you into the areas where you want to be.

Filed under: habits