In this article, I’m going to talk about how initiating consistent habits can lead to good results in your business. I also give examples of great habits that are practiced in some very dynamic companies.
How many of you started your new year with the same behavior – writing down all the things you want to do this year, verbalizing new year’s resolutions and setting goals for your business that might be just a stretch i.e. too big, unattainable and unrealistic? Many of us have a habit or a ritual for when the calendar flips from one year to the next. Has this worked for you each year or are you trying something different?
I sat down on January 4th to review my 2019 planner and transfer to do’s to my 2020 planner. I don’t have an annual ritual but amazingly, it was this same day a year ago when I sat down with my Passion Planner and completed my Passion Roadmap for 2019. What fun to look back on the year! Did I accomplish everything I laid out? Nope, not even close. In retrospect, it was as good year. And here’s the interesting thing – somethings are still very relevant and other things I thought were important are no longer on my radar. Have you found this to be true? How have you changed in the last year and what direction are you taking in 2020?
I decided to make a Passion Planner Roadmap for 2020. I like how it creates a mind map of the vision in your head. If you do well with spatial relations and visual cues, you may want to try it. I wrote about the Passion Planner in this blog article if you want more information.
Planners aside, what I’ve been fascinated by these last few weeks is the concept of habits. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines habit as a settled tendency or usual manner of behavior; or an acquired mode of behavior that has become nearly or completely involuntary.
One of the leaders on the subject of habits is James Clear. He defines habits as the small decisions you make and actions you perform every day. James Clear is passionate about studying habits and he believes it is our habits that are responsible for all that we are. He states, “The quality of our lives depends on the quality of our habits.”
Think about that. Your success or lack of success is due to your habits. Your relationships are a result of your habits. It is a really different way of thinking about what we do, what consistent behaviors we have and how these become our habits and therefore, our life defined. It’s easy to correlate a morning walk to helping us keep the weight off. We have a more difficult time thinking that an employee is failing at their job because it is our habit of allowing their performance to go without correction or review. Notice the pattern. Good habits produce good results and bad habits create bad results.
I highly recommend you put James Clear’s book Atomic Habits on your January reading list. There are many strong and simple points that will help you approach what you do differently. Here are a few concepts from the book that can frame the practice of habits and help you begin 2020 with good habits.
Remarkable results
The concept is that small changes can compound into remarkable results. We read about examples such as, if a person simply quits their daily habit of drinking one regular can of soda every day and all else stays the same, the person could lose as much as 15 pounds of weight in a year. That would be noticeable. One small change and noticeable results. Now think about this for your business. What small changes can you make today that can have remarkable results in the future?
Compound interest
The benefit of a consistent habit will produce compounded interest. For instance, I recently met with a professional in town who has the habit of scheduling coffee with a new contact each week. Her compounded interest on this weekly investment – by the end of the year she has made 52 direct contacts plus other new contacts that are created through those contacts. Our meeting alone lead to two new contacts for her. That one contact compounded into a total of three contacts. What new habit can you start in your business for compounding interest?
Process
James Clear advises that we should fall in love with the process and not the happiness tied to the goal. The idea is that if you wait to find happiness at the end, you will be discouraged, frustrated and not fulfilled along the way or ever if you never reach the goal. This why people fail at weight loss because they focus on the number reported by the scale rather than enjoying their new habit of healthy eating. Think about processes in your business. Is it really necessary to require long reports or is there a more enjoyable and easier way to gather data and feedback? How can you make the process more enjoyable?
Makes a lot of sense right? Ready to focus on creating more good habits in your business? Let’s take a look at some common business goals and examples of new habits that can make the goal attainable. But how do you know if the habit will work? James Clear says when creating good habits, keep these four points in mind: 1) make it obvious 2) make it attractive 3) make it easy and 4) make it satisfying.
Big Result: Improve corporate culture
Small habit: Shout outs to employees or volunteers. Student Maid has a WOW wall where employees post shout outs to fellow team members. They use a really simple sheet of paper that asks for the employees name, the person being recognized and the recognition message. So simple and yet so powerful. How would this small habit change the culture of your employees or your team when compounded over a year?
Big Result: Have a five star customer service rating
Small habit: Adopt a corporate value and new habit focusing on customer service. Create one new habit – perhaps it’s asking every customer, every time at checkout “what can we do to serve you better?” What would you learn by the habit of asking each customer this simple question?
Big Result: Develop a cohesive team of employees
Small habit: Weekly jam. Adam Braun founder of Pencils of Promise wanted his company to have a dynamic environment in which all could express themselves and make others better. What habit did they commit to? Every person is required to create a quarterly playlist of their favorite songs and include it in their email signature. Do something similar; have one employee select the feature song for the weekly staff meeting. How would that change the culture surrounding your staff and the energy in the room?
Big Result: Improve sales performance
Small habit: Give out a weekly Oats & Honey Award. When I was in media sales, we had a weekly sales meeting during which two awards were given out: highest sales for the week and single most notable action – could be closing a difficult client or coming up with a new promotional idea. The prize was usually an Oats & Honey granola bar that the manager grabbed at the Country Fair on her way into work. But you know what, those two granola bars that probably cost about $4 did a lot to motivate the staff and remind us all about the work we were doing. Sometimes the rewards were enjoyed right away; other times they lived on our desk as a constant reminder of the recognition and what’s expected. What habit would help motivate your staff to excellence?
Coaching advice:
If you’ve been struggling with achieving your goals for your business, now may be a good time to look to creating good habits that will produce consistent small changes towards incremental improvements. Here’s a plan for getting started.
Take some time this week to look at your business goals for 2020.
Under each goal, review the objectives and tasks to be accomplished.
Change your mindset and approach the task list as habits. With this new perspective, ask yourself, what good habit can we practice as a small step towards making a big result?
Use the following sentences as prompts for writing your new habits.
Our big goal is to ________________________. We will work towards this goal by adopting this habit. Each ___________, we will ___________________________________.
Hope this is helpful in making you think differently about 2020 and helping you refine your work and get better results. If your company could benefit from guided decision making and planning, I am happy to meet with you for a free consultation on how coaching can help you make better decisions and achieve your goals. You can reach out to me here.
I look forward to hearing from you.