We’ve discussed the importance of ritualizing the activities or creating habits associated with moving you toward your goals. Now let’s examine the process of how you could begin your routine.
Let’s assume you wake up one day and decide that you would like your weight to be 15 pounds less then it is today. Since you are not exercising currently, you decide to join a gym and work out 5 days a week in order to lose the weight. The first day your alarm goes off at 5am, you get up and go straight to the gym. The next day your alarm goes off at 5am and you hit the snooze bar, but you do manage to go over lunch.…
Now that you have taken the action required to move you toward your goals, the next step is to repeat the action with regularity (daily, weekly, monthly etc). You do this by creating habits to ritualize the activities you need to do, in order to reach your goals. As humans we are all creatures of habit. Think about those things you do every morning to get ready for your day: Brushing your teeth, taking a shower, getting dressed, etc. Most of us even have an order to which we do each activity.
If you do these things every day you have made a commitment to the goal of good hygiene.If…
You have put forth the work to identify what you want to bring into your life. You have planned the steps to bring these desires into reality. There is one thing left to do–Execute! Intention and planning are great, but nothing happens without taking action.
At this point you should have already decided where you want to go. Now it’s time to create action steps. You must figure out the most direct route to get you where you want to be, do, or have. In this case, getting where you want to go is the fulfillment of the committed desire you outlined earlier. What would have to happen in 5 years to get you there? What could you do in the next 12 months, 1 month, 1 week, and what action could you take today to move you 1 step closer? Write those action items down in your planner or to do list.…
You’ve now created a list of what you want in your life and narrowed that list to those items to which you are truly committed.
If you’re like most people I’ve worked with, once you have narrowed your wish list to a commitment list, you’re probably left with 3-5 entries. Make the commitment to do whatever is necessary to bring these 3-5 things to be. It begins with planning.
Write them down somewhere will you will see them every day. My suggestion would be a calendar or planner. Realize that certain things will take time. The key is to take incremental steps every day, week, or month to bring you closer. …
Now that you have compiled your list of desires, begin to ask yourself what is most important to you. Which of the items on your list are you truly committed to? This means making changes in your daily life in order to bring them to be? This is where the “nice to have items” fall away. So assume one of the items on your list is to own a 40 foot fishing boat, while another is to be a better parent to your 12 year old son. After careful consideration, you decide that the boat would be nice, but since you live in the Northeastern United States you would only be able to use it for part of the year.…
...the exploration of life lived large not small. It simply states universal principles that allow us to thrive as human beings. This manual of life should be read by all wishing to truly live."
