3 Ways You Can Track Your Habits to Make Significant Improvements in Life

Do you feel sick and tired of all the generic advice on success out there? It’s always the same things. Read more, write more, believe in yourself, eat healthy, go to the gym, love your life and your wife. From time to time, all of the articles seemed like they were written by someone who has never experienced real life or any of the struggles they tend to write about.

It’s like getting advice from an alien. But nobody ever writes on the details of the struggle. Because they don’t know it. To be able to know and understand the struggle, you need to experience it. To live something day in and day out and experience it viscerally means to know something and have a grasp of it.

It is as Walt Whitman said it: “I do not ask the wounded person how he feels. . . . I myself become the wounded person.” I went through years of pain to learn how to build habits. I didn’t only read books about it (and yes, books are important), but I lived through it.

Because I know that theory and practice are the same in theory, but they are not the same in practice. I had to live it through to be able to give any advice on it.

I did go through the pain and created my habit building system. What I noticed during the process of building my habits was that it can be challenging to track them. Nobody was telling us how to do it, because that’s something you learn when you go through the process.

Here are the three different ways you can track your habits:

1. Task done

The way you track this type of habit is by marking if you did your task. By that, I mean “I am going to vacuum the room” and you mark it done/not done or 1/0 in your habit tracker. This way of tracking works the best when you don’t know how much time a task will take and you just track if you did or didn’t do the task.

I have the same for my writing habit. My daily habit is “Write 500 words.” So when I do the task, I immediately open my habit tracker and mark it done. I do this by writing in the tracker the number of words I wrote that day (I don’t count social media or texting or things like this- only writing as in pure writing).

This is one of the easiest ways you can track your habit. But if you have a tight schedule, a different way of tracking might be better and this is what I mean.

“It is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.” – Benjamin Franklin

2. Time Allocated

Let’s say that you have only 30 minutes for yourself in the morning before the kids wake up. What you do in those 30 minutes counts and that is the second way of tracking your habits.

A great question to ask yourself is “How much time did I spend today on a certain habit?”

For example, let’s take the habit I’m developing of the writing 500 words daily. I try to make “write for 20 minutes” a daily habit. This way of tracking your habit works the best if you have a tight schedule or you run your life on “manager time,” as Paul Graham would say it.

I use this way of tracking for my daily walking habit where I “walk for 30 minutes” a day, trying to get my 10,000 steps a day count. From July 2018 up to March 2019, my average number of steps per day was 9429 and I did 2,178,120 steps. One kilometer is around 1,250 steps which means I walked 1,742 kilometers in 8 months which is the equivalent of walking from Miami, Florida, to Washington D.C.

There is one more way of tracking your habits, and this one is the best for tasks which are hard to accurately measure.

3. Did I do my best?

How do you measure your habit of being a great dad, husband, boyfriend, or friend? You can’t just say “Phone my girlfriend every day and talk to her for 15 minutes” and call it a day. It doesn’t work like that. You can talk to your girlfriend for 2 hours straight and it won’t make you a great boyfriend. Time isn’t the issue here. It’s how we use that time.

And that’s where the third way of tracking your habits comes into play. “Did I do my best to be an awesome boyfriend, husband, father, or friend today?” And you rank yourself from 1 to 10, 1 meaning that today, you were really lousy, and 10 meaning you were an amazing boyfriend, husband, father, or friend in the world.

“You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” – John C. Maxwell

This makes a massive difference in the lives of not just you, but people around you. It’s what Brendon Burchard would call social habits. You can’t count love, but sure as hell can you count the effort for love.

You don’t have to pick just one way or another. You can combine these different ways of tracking your habits. And yes, even though some habits work better with a particular type of tracking, that doesn’t mean that you need to adapt to it.

Experiment and try and see which one works the best for you. Use all three tracking methods if you want to. Just remember to track your habits. Because the Walt Whitman quotes, which I modified a little bit, tells us “I don’t ask a successful person how he did it…. I myself become a successful person.”

How do you track your habits to make sure you’re on the path towards succeeding? Share your advice below!

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https://addicted2success.com/life/3-ways-you-can-track-your-habits-to-make-significant-improvements-in-life/

5 Surprising Ways Your Posture Impacts Your Success

What makes some people successful while others flop, even with the same education, background, and job position? There is no one size fits all formula, but one thing that always stands out is a person’s posture and body language. The way in which you sit, stand, and even walk, tells people so much about you, and you don’t have to utter a word.

I’m a big movie buff, so if I reference a few scenes, you will understand why. Your posture not only tells people about you, but it can make you feel more powerful and confident in your own abilities. Wouldn’t you like to know what your posture is saying to others and how you can change it?

Here are 5 ways your posture impacts your success:

1. Posture is a Nonverbal Sign of Who You Are

Remember in Titanic, when Jack is waiting to have dinner with Rose. When he’s leaning against the staircase, what does his posture say to you? Gangster? Thief? Then Jack sees the distinguished (banker?) walk by. He’s impressed with his posture and manner of walking, which he tries to emulate.

This is a perfect example of the image you are projecting to others. What do you want your image to say to others? When you are in a business setting, you should always be aware of your posture, so you don’t end up leaning on the staircase like Jack.

2. Good Posture Empowers You

Your posture and other body language makes you feel more powerful and boosts confidence.  A study from Ohio State University found that those who sat up straight had more confidence in their own abilities and believed more strongly in positive statements they had written about themselves.

“A strong confident person can rule the room with knowledge, personal style, attitude and great posture.” – Cindy Ann Peterson

3. Your Posture is Vital to Your Health

Anyone who has spent time sitting in front of a computer screen will tell you that it can wreak havoc on your neck, back and shoulders. It’s true that our bodies were not designed to sit for the majority of the day, but when you add poor posture to the mix, you are asking for some serious pain.

You can only imagine what people will think if you take time off work because of back pain or neck pain. Of course, the alternative is to spend your time rubbing your neck, which won’t do much for your image or authority presence. Avoid these issues by practicing good posture!

4. Good Posture Helps You Perform Better

When your body is out of balance, that is to say, when you are hunched over that keyboard or your head is pushed forward when you are standing or walking, you can’t perform to your true potential. This is especially true if you end up with neck or back aches later on in your day because you are slouching. When you feel good, you look good, and you can perform like a champion!

5. Your Posture Affects How People See You

This should be fairly obvious to everyone. Have you ever seen a CEO slumped over their computer? Think of the movie Shawshank Redemption, when escaped prisoner Andy Dufresne sits in front of the bank executive to cash out his account. His posture screams confidence and authority in that scene. Imagine if he had been a quiet mouse, staring at his feet, with slumped over posture. Your posture can make a huge difference in how you are perceived.

“I listen better with earplugs in, so I can see what your body is really saying.” – Jarod Kintz

The Good Posture Problem

Whenever I counsel new employees, I always stress good posture and how important it is to every area of their lives. I see them sit up straight, pull back their shoulders, and sit back in their chair, only to find them slouched over their keyboard or phone a few minutes later.

Let’s face it, keeping good posture after years of neglect can seem like a lot of work and you’re right, it is. However, it only seems that way because we are unaccustomed to how it feels. We are also creatures of habit and slouching at your desk is probably a bad habit you learned many years ago. Habits were meant to be broken, friends, and it’s not as hard as you might think.

Tips for Practicing Good Posture

If you want to come across as Meryl Streep does in every scene where she is walking in The Devil Wears Prada (minus the arrogant attitude, of course), you should think about your posture every day.

You can try setting an alarm on a daily basis to check your posture at work or at home. Try to be mindful of the way you’re sitting, standing and sleeping, and avoid any unnatural positions. Ask friends and family to remind you to stop slouching, too!

Also, check your workstation and make sure nothing is triggering bad posture there. Is your computer screen at eye level? Is your chair comfortable? Make sure your office equipment isn’t negatively affecting your posture.

Finally, some people have great success with a yoga or Tai Chi class, which focus on building strength and flexibility in your postural muscles. If you’re interested, you might sign up to maximize your posture. Otherwise, you can also try a home morning posture routine with different stretches.

In the end, you have the power to change your posture! As your mother might say: sit up straight!

How do you practice having proper posture throughout your day? Share your thoughts below!

from
https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/5-surprising-ways-your-posture-impacts-your-success/

Why Breaking Out of Your Comfort Zone May Be a Bad Idea

Donald Trump famously said, “Avoid your comfort zone – it’s probably outdated anyway.” It is very good advice for people who are exceptional, but what if you are not exceptional? You probably learned in college that no matter how good you are at something, there are always other people who are better than you.

Are you humble enough to say you are not exceptional? And if so, isn’t it possible that your comfort zone is where you belong? Just because you are in your comfort zone, it doesn’t mean you don’t crave success. Champion boxers never leave their comfort zone to take part-time jobs as a typist. Consider the fact that your comfort zone is the place where you will enjoy the most success.

Why “Comfort Zone” Advice Seems So Correct

Once again, breaking out of your comfort zone may be the right thing to do if you are exceptional. It is especially true for exceptional people because breaking out of their comfort zone is often the only place where they can grow. Yet, that is not the only reason why breaking out of your comfort zone seems like good advice.

The truth is that most people confuse being in a rut with being in their comfort zone. For example, the middle-aged executive who stays in his dead-end job because it is safe, rather than starting a new business selling parachute lessons, is not staying in his comfort zone, he is sticking with his rut. If people tell the middle-aged executive to get out of his comfort zone, they actually mean he should get out of his rut.

However, take the same middle-aged executive who is well respected at work, whose job is not a dead-end one, whose social life thrives because of his job, who’s bringing up children, investing, and who is healthy because of his job. If this same person were to leave his job to start a parachute training company, he would be leaving his comfort zone and most probably be making a great mistake.

Isn’t the Grass Always Greener On The Other Side?

Taking the previous example, what if the middle-aged executive left his job and his parachute training company offered him all the same things his old job offered him except better? Isn’t it always a good idea to try and fail rather than to never try at all?

The question and sentiment is fine, but it is not real life. Ask a person who has tried everything and ask a person who tried a bunch of stuff and then found something he/she enjoyed, and ask which person is happiest. Just because you “Didn’t” try something doesn’t mean you are missing out.

“The grass isn’t always greener on the other side!” – Ricky Gervais

What About People Who Broke Out of Their Comfort Zone?

There is an old “Will & Grace” episode from 2002 called, “Went to a Garden Potty.” In it an old man says a line that goes, “I’m Stan’s old partner. We started the mattress store together, then he wanted to branch out into other businesses but I said, no I’ll just not take any chances, so now I’ve got the one little store and he’s worth hundreds of millions of dollars.”

The mattress store story sounds familiar doesn’t it? You have read about similar stories in motivational books, but what you rarely read about are people who didn’t take risks and still became successful millionaires. A book called, “The Millionaire Next Door” addresses this discrepancy by featuring people who became millionaires by selling caravans and by being dentists. It shows how people who work the same job their entire lives are not schmucks, and that their unexciting success stories are still success stories.

Do not confuse taking risks with being outside of your comfort zone. In the “Will & Grace” example, the character Stan felt outside of his comfort zone with just one store. Stan’s comfort zone was taking risks. Stan didn’t leave his comfort zone when he went off making millions of dollars, he entered his comfort zone in order to do it.

The people who risk it all on a penny-share company are not doing it to break out of their comfort zone, they are doing it because they feel uncomfortable if they are not taking risks.

“Unexceptional” People Can Be “Exceptionally” Successful in Their Comfort Zone

“I don’t like to be out of my comfort zone, which is about a half an inch wide.” That line is a quote from Larry David, the guy who wrote “Curb your Enthusiasm” and “Seinfeld” and he is worth $400 million.

Stephen King was 27 when he sold his first book, and he was writing long before that. King hasn’t left his comfort zone since he was out of college, and he is worth $400 million. One could even say that Stephen King rarely leaves his comfort zone creatively since his stories almost always feature a middle aged man, and many times the middle-aged man has a creative career such as being a writer, painter, etc.

Danica Patrick, when asked how she became the best female racer in the world responded with, “I never do anything out of my comfort zone.” Does that mean this woman, who is worth $60 million, never takes risks? You would know the answer if you had ever watched her race.

Do not forget the psychological damage that repeated failure can do to a person. People who say, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” have clearly never gone through a terrible time because terrible times often make you weaker.

Repeatedly trying to break out of your comfort zone, only to be kicked back and stomped into the ground (metaphorically speaking) takes its toll and will often sap your enthusiasm to keep going forwards.

“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” – Dale Carnegie

Conclusion – He Will Be Back

Have you considered that exceptional people do not have a comfort zone? Take Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose last name has found its way into every spell checker program on the planet. He was a world-class bodybuilder, a record breaking actor, married a Kennedy, and became a US governor.

Some people say he was so successful because he never became comfortable being the best at just one thing. Maybe that is the reason for his success, maybe he wasn’t trying to break from his comfort zone…maybe he was trying to find it.

What are your thoughts on being able to succeed while staying your comfort zone? Share your opinions and stories below!

from
https://addicted2success.com/life/why-breaking-out-of-your-comfort-zone-may-be-a-bad-idea/

Do These 3 Things Today to Live in the Moment and Have a Better Tomorrow

People always say that life is short, but they fail to remember that while life is short compared to eternity, living is the longest task that we as humans will ever perform.

Some of us take each day as it comes and some of us carefully plan out what we desire each day to bring us. No matter how you go about it, if you’re not careful, having an unbalanced point of view as it pertains to life and how to make it better for yourself can bring more pain than it will joy.

Life is filled with decisions and the decisions you make today have the power to shift the course of your tomorrow. Life can sometimes move so quickly that it’s hard to think and act while simultaneously balancing all the roles you possess and completing all the tasks you need to complete. Nonetheless, there are ways to navigate the trenches of life so that you’re able to enjoy each day as it comes, embrace the possibilities of tomorrow and be present to experience all the moments that make you smile.

If you have a hard time slowing your mind down long enough to pause and breathe, try these three tips:

1. Before you make a decision, ask yourself “why.”

According to Psychology experts, one of the easiest steps you can take right now on your journey of de-stressing is to ask yourself hard questions. Sometimes you think, act and speak before you have time to process what is happening inside of you and around you. Knowing this. It could be your lack of intention that’s the problem.

As a part of your self-awareness journey, start asking yourself why you are the way you are, why you think the things you think and why you do the things you do before you take action. While an adrenaline rush helps kick you into gear to take action, you want to make sure any action you take aligns with your personal goals.

Self-awareness allows people to recognize what things they do best so they can then go hard on those aspects of their life. It also helps you accept your weaknesses. – Gary Vaynerchuk

2. Instead of planning for the long game, just plan for tomorrow

Worry is the thief of time and joy. If you look at your track record of life events, you may notice that many of the things that caused you the most stress and worry never came to pass. When you think about the direction you want your life to go in, don’t stress yourself out wondering what the next five years will look like. Take a moment to breathe, look around you and relax.

When you focus on taking life one day at a time, you’ll have more energy to think logically and make the decisions that lead to both short and long-term gains. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. How do you live a happy life? One moment at a time.

3. Fight the urge to prove yourself

We live in a society that forces us to try to convince others of our happiness. According to studies, phones are necessary evils. It seems like you can’t live with them and you can’t live without them. And for most of us, our phones play such a large role in our day to day that we start and end the day looking at the small screen.

The last time you enjoyed a moment of peace and tranquility, it’s likely that you snapped a picture of your surroundings so you could show the world just how much you enjoyed that moment.

Here is the good news, you don’t have to prove to anyone that you are happy or that you enjoy your life. Keep some moments to yourself. Protect your peace and your space. Don’t let the urge of sharing your journey cause you to be distracted from living in the moment. Don’t miss a moment in an attempt to capture the moment. Just be.

“It’s the moments that I stopped just to be, rather than do, that have given me true happiness.” – Richard Branson

Life is what you make of it. You have more control than you know. Life gets so much better when you acknowledge the opportunities instead of the obstacles that come your way. Before you feel an ounce of anxiety as a result of a stressor coming your way, ask yourself “why” you feel the way you do, think for the moment and not for your life and remember that you have nothing to prove to anyone but yourself.

How do you relax with so many distractions in the world? Share your ideas with everyone below!

from
https://addicted2success.com/life/do-these-3-things-today-to-live-in-the-moment-and-have-a-better-tomorrow/

How to Work Without Working: 3 Lessons From Three Successful Entrepreneurs

We want to build business empires, amass a huge amount of wealth, and become a worldwide sensation. Yet, we hate to work hard and show up every day to grind. We simply dread working, but we love the results that our work produces.

What if there’s a formula for working without getting bored with doing the work? In other words, you’re working but you’re not feeling the brunt of the process. Drawing from the experience and expertise of three successful entrepreneurs, below, I give you the three tips for working without actually feeling the stress of working.

1. Mark Zuckerberg: Get moving with the easiest tasks

For the average person, working is something huge—like running a marathon or climbing Mount Everest. Most amateur entrepreneurs and career people often spend weeks preparing for a simple task. And when it’s time to do that task, they’ll end up accomplishing only 30 percent of the work. The other 70 percent is buried in “preparation” or procrastination.

But it shouldn’t have to be so. Work should be fun. Mark Zuckerberg never spends 24 hours preparing for work. The young, smart founder of Facebook developed a simple formula for accomplishing any type of work without feeling its impact.

He always begins with the easiest tasks, as opposed to the difficult ones. “I think a simple rule of business is, if you do the things that are easier first, then you can actually make a lot of progress.” That’s a smart philosophy for a Silicon Valley superstar.

If you start with that simple project, you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment. You motivate yourself to get going. You won’t feel the burden of the work.

2. Sean Lourdes: Be generous

Making more money appears to be the first goal of most career and business people. But it shouldn’t be. That’s because “If you’re too much obsessed with amassing wealth, making more profit, selling all your inventories, that will make your entrepreneurial career boring, burdensome, and tedious”, Sean Lourdes, founder of The Lourdes Foundation, observes.

The better way to make your entrepreneurial career fun and exciting is to give more. Struggle to work hard and make more money, but don’t make the money as your end goal. You’re meant to serve your customers. That should be your end goal. And being generous will help you serve them better and, in turn, helps you make more money along the way.

Just begin to give more than you take—whether it’s delivering more value to your customers, giving more discounts than the buyer asks, or simply donating your personal wealth to charity organizations—and notice how you’ll find meaning in your work, career, and life in general.

3. Robin Sharma: See your work as a craft

It amazes me when I visit a hotel and the person at the front desk barely raises their head to look at me. I always ask myself: Why would anyone be in the hospitality industry when it’s obvious that they hate people?

If you’re not fit in an industry but insist on working in it, you’ll not only find peace in your work-life, but you’ll also be at war with your employer’s customers. Unfortunately, most people work at jobs they hate. In other words, they see their work as work, not as a craft—which they’ll passionately harness to satisfy their clients. The productivity guru Robin Sharma argues that “a job is only a job if you see it as a job.”

And if you see your job as a job, you can’t find value and meaning and passion in what you do. If you see your job as a job, you can’t provide that impeccable value to your clients. If you see your job as a job, you can’t deliver top-notch quality service to your customers. You have to shift your thinking.

“See your work as another opportunity to practice your craft,” Robin Sharma says. “That will push you to love your craft and release magical products.”

from
https://addicted2success.com/entrepreneur-profile/how-to-work-without-working-3-lessons-from-three-successful-entrepreneurs/

8 Challenges That Come From Being Married to an Entrepreneur

A life of an entrepreneur’s wife or husband can be a lonely one. This doesn’t mean it will be, but there are certainly plenty of hurdles to overcome before finding that perfect balance between being a passionate worker and a passionate partner.

As many married entrepreneurs know, many times the business will come before all else. This can lead to an upheaval in the household. Bringing stress home, putting the family through consistent financial worry, and giving more time to the business than to their romantic partner are just some of the “joys” of being married to an entrepreneur.

Being married to an entrepreneur isn’t always fun and it isn’t always easy. Here are 8 reasons why it’s hard to be married to someone who works for themselves:

1. Money Becomes an Issue Fast

One of the worst parts about growing up is having to pay the bills. And when one spouse is an entrepreneur, paying the bills every month isn’t always a given. Money is a tricky issue in any relationship. One study published by an investing app, found that 68% of couples polled admitted they would rather reveal how much they weigh than talk about money with each other.

The study went on to reveal that 42% of those couples reported feeling depressed and anxious regarding their financial future. Being married to an entrepreneur can leave the other partner feeling drained and fraught with financial worry. It takes a lot of money to start a business as an entrepreneur especially if they choose to not rely on investors. This can make money a sore subject around the house.

2. Often Feels Like Living Alone

Being an entrepreneur doesn’t allow for a conventional 9-5 schedule. An entrepreneur may allow themselves to be on call at all times. This can lead to many consistent distractions. With the simple buzz of a cellphone, family time suddenly turns back into work. Partners may be left feeling frustrated with the amount of help they are getting in raising children or providing financially for the household.

3. Taking Risks Stops Being Charming

As previously mentioned, supporting a spouse as they take a dive into the terrifying world of entrepreneurship can be a challenge – to say the least! Being stripped of a regular, reliable paycheck can take away a certain level of security (and sanity) from the relationship.

What at first seemed like a spouse’s brave venture into the unknown has stopped seeming like a charming adventure. Instead, it starts to feel more like an anxious knot in the stomach that just won’t go away.

“Spouses should spend at least one full hour each day talking together about subjects that have nothing to do with their work or business. Children need at least ten minutes of face-to-face contact with their parents each day.” – Brian Tracy

4. Sharing Worries

Just because someone becomes an entrepreneur doesn’t mean they will become a successful entrepreneur. The worry of whether or not the business will fail can creep into an otherwise happy marriage.

On top of the non-entrepreneur’s everyday worries of raising children, working, and maintaining close relationships, the anxiety of their partner’s business can be overwhelming. Worrying about whether the business will take off and how the family will be affected until it does can send stress levels through the roof.

5. Putting Business Before Family

This is one area of married entrepreneurship that hurts the most. When married to an entrepreneur, one may often feel neglected or alone. It may feel like the entrepreneur is so enamored with starting their business that there is little time left for family or socializing with friends. And date night? Forget about it.

A spouse may understand why their partner devotes so much time and energy into building their business. However, it can be painful to realize their spouse may prioritize a business meeting or answering emails over anniversary dinners or their child’s school events.

6. Constant Arguments

In a study on why couples get divorces, conflict and arguing was one of the biggest reasons, right alongside extramarital affairs and growing apart. When one spouse is working an 80-hour work week and the other is feeling like they’re going it alone, it can lead to some intense arguments.

The more drained a partner is, the more irritable they become. One spouse believes they are doing all this work for their marriage, while the other believes the other is looking after their own interests.

7. Lack of Communication

Communication, they say, is the key to happiness in marriage. However, those who are married to an entrepreneur know that it can be difficult to communicate with someone who is always busy.

One of the biggest challenges for couples in a relationship with an entrepreneur is to have frequent and honest conversations about how the marriage is going. Couples need to be completely open with one another about what they need in order for the marriage to survive.

“The relationship between husband and wife should be one of closest friends.” – B. R. Ambedkar

8. When True Colors Come Out to Play

Being married to an entrepreneur is the time when couples will see each other’s true colors. They will see each other at their best and worst, and one may often outshine the other. Anxiety, sexual frustrations, lack of emotional intimacy, money woes, and overall entrepreneur-related terror can truly test a couple’s comfort zone.

Studies show that partners who have sex regularly experience a surge of the “love hormone” oxytocin. This hormone is shown to relieve stress that can be common in entrepreneur relationships. It also acts as a mood elevator and bonds couples closer together.

If a marriage can survive married entrepreneurship, (and it can!) partners must learn to be patient with one another. They must spend time strengthening their emotional and physical connection on a weekly basis.

Being married to an entrepreneur comes with rich blessings and a host of potential problems. Mixing business with pleasure is no easy path for any married entrepreneurs to take. Money becomes a point of contention and work distractions may make one partner feel ignored. Having patience will strengthen a marriage during these trying times.

What is the best piece of advice you have for a married couple to continuously love one another? Share your thoughts below!

from
https://addicted2success.com/entrepreneur-profile/8-challenges-that-come-from-being-married-to-an-entrepreneur/

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