Six Habits That Help Me Achieve My Goals
Don’t have time to read the entire post now? Watch this video with the summary.
2021 was an unusual year for me. Two substantial changes in my life happened and with them the start of an inevitable transformation that is still ongoing.
In my career, I welcomed the change of pace with open arms. I did not realize how much I needed it until it happened. And even though I wanted that change of pace and I could afford it, I struggled the first couple of weeks as I adapted to my new reality.
Like any other change, I went through a readjustment period. Suddenly, I did not have to be connected at a specific time ready to lead a conference call or a team. The decisions I made were only for me. I did not have an endless ‘to do’ list anymore.
Thankfully, I already had some routines in place that I decided to continue and were key in keeping some needed structure while I rested and recovered. I also incorporated other habits throughout the year that have proven to be levers I use to move my ‘big rocks’.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” Will Durant based on Aristotle’s teachings
Exercise
I was never an athlete growing up, my school did not have a strong Physical Education program – we only had one or two hours per week. As I became an adult, it was clear to me that I needed to incorporate time to exercise if I wanted to keep my overall well-being in balance.
Like many of you, I have been on and off exercise for most of my adult life. At this moment, I have kept at it constantly for the last three years. The key has been to do something I enjoy and to do it early in the morning before ‘real life’ happens.
First thing in the morning, I exercise thirty to forty minutes four times per week. Twice a week I do yoga – each sequence takes approximately twenty minutes. And most days, I walk for at least twenty minutes twice per day – one after lunch and one at the end of the working day.
In addition to supporting a healthy weight, which is important to me, physical activity helps me manage my emotions and mood, sleep better, and gives me energy to start the day.
Meditation and Journaling
I have been a writer all my life, so journaling comes naturally to me. Unfortunately, it was not until 2020 when I started to journal regularly every day.
Meditation, like exercise, has been on and off for several years. As part of keeping my sanity during the lockdown in 2020, I started to meditate daily.
I now combine these two activities: the first part is meditation, and the second part is journaling. During the workweek I dedicate twenty minutes (usually ten for meditation, ten for journaling), and during the weekend I take thirty minutes.
Many changes took place in my life in 2020 and 2021. Having the time to calm and focus my mind through meditation as well as having the space to write down my thoughts and feelings were some of the tools I used to help me through everything.
If you are new to journaling, you may be wondering what you would write about. I include three elements: I start with three things I am thankful for, followed by how I am feeling at that moment, and a summary of the previous day, a dream I had, or topics or people I wonder about.
Thinking Hour
One of the most useful concepts I learned in 2021 was that of the thinking hour. It is simple and straightforward – you take one hour per week and think… without electronics. To a certain extent, it is the opposite of meditation since you want the thoughts to run freely.
Some of you may be thinking, ‘an hour? I can barely get ten minutes to myself!’ I appreciate this can be challenging but the nuggets of ideas you will get are worth the effort. Also, you may decide to do two sessions of thirty minutes each, or three of twenty minutes. And, of course, you can start with what you have and build from there.
It is important, especially at the beginning, to have some topics in mind you want to think about. For example, you may ponder on what you want to accomplish in 2022. Or how you envision your life twenty years from now. You can think about your role at work and what you want to delegate vs. handling personally. Somedays, there will be a lot to write down. Others not so much. Keep at it!
Have a dedicated notebook or journal for this exercise or keep the papers in one place. I have used multiple journals and notebooks so now I will dedicate extra time to compile the info from all my thinking hours in one place. Live and learn!
Weekly Summary
Every week, usually Saturday morning, I have a 1:1 with myself where I review key accomplishments, challenges, lessons learned, and the priorities for the upcoming week.
I have experimented with bullet points and essay type of summaries, and I have arrived at a hybrid approach. I use bullet points for the accomplishments and the challenges and short paragraphs for lessons learned and week overview.
A key component of this summary is to look at the week ahead and set the priorities for that week. I usually set a maximum of seven priorities between work and personal. The experts recommend a maximum of three but frankly I have not been able to bring it down to the top three yet.
This weekly summary serves three important objectives. To:
- Keep my motivation up by clearly seeing and articulating my accomplishments as well as what I learned
- Set the priorities for the following week
- Leverage it for the monthly summary
Monthly Summary
Every month, usually the first weekend of the month, I used to prepare a summary for my manager. During my break, I paused this practice. Now that I have a manager again, I have resumed it and it has proved to be especially useful even in the short amount of time I have been back in the financial industry.
The categories will vary depending on what your manager wants to see. There are four that will be part of it no matter what. Like the weekly summary, we want to include key achievements and challenges. For the challenges we also want to add what we are doing about them and/or how we solved them. In addition, I have a section for ‘what is on the radar’ and one for recognition my team received during the month.
There are two reasons why I do this summary. To:
1) Have the information in one place for when performance review time comes.
2) Make it easier for my manager to write his or her part of the performance evaluation.
Food Planning and Preparation
Losing the extra weight I was carrying took me blood, sweat, and tears. It is something I have struggled with on and off for most of my adult life.
At this moment, I have managed to stay at my healthy weight for three years and counting. Besides exercising, the other crucial element to keep a healthy weight is food.
I try to do most of my grocery shopping online. Also, I am fortunate to have multiple supermarkets close to my apartment where I buy fresh fruits and vegetables. This saves time and stops me from buying certain things I do not want to have handy at home.
To be better prepared for the week, I cook during the weekend – usually Sundays afternoon – for the entire week. I appreciate that this may be an enormous task for large households or for families with different dietary or food requirements. If this is the case for you, you may want to try to cook twice or thrice per week instead of every day. This saves time and helps you avoid unhealthy choices when you are hungry and unprepared.
“Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.” Lao Tzu
Our achievements boil down to the routines and habits we do every day, every week, every month based on what is important to us. We all have 24 hours per day, nothing more, nothing less.
Time will go by no matter what we do or do not do. So let’s use it in a way that is meaningful and that creates impact.
What are your key habits or routines that help you achieve your goals? Please, let us know in the comments.
As a leadership coach, I enable talent to achieve bold goals with high standards. My mission is to help underrepresented women in the financial industry transition from mid to senior level leadership positions by creating awareness, increasing emotional intelligence, and unveiling the tools and choices available to them.