#147: 10 Life-Changing Habits To Adopt Now [Podcast]

A young woman has quit smoking, been promoted at work, and run a marathon. An untested CEO takes over one of America's biggest companies and focuses on just one behavior pattern in the company, and very soon Alcoa is at the top of the Dow Jones. A marketer at Procter & Gamble notices a seemingly insignificant pattern while studying videos of how people make their beds. As a result, the company makes a small shift in advertising and Febreze goes from being one of the company's biggest flops to earning a billion dollars a year. What do all three cases have in common?

Reporter and best-selling author Charles Duhigg believes that in each case, the success came from a shift in the patterns that shape our very lives – our habits. Habits do form our destiny, but we can consciously choose our habits. That shift – a change in your key habits – can help you transform your relationships, your finances, your health, your business, and your life.

In today's episode, I'll suggest 10 life-changing habits to adopt now. And I'll give you the tools, tactics, and battle plan to help make those habits stick.

Other Reasons To Keep Listening

  • You'll discover the best book I know of on the subject of habits, why they are so powerful, and how to change them.
  • I'll attempt an answer to the question: “Is it right for Christians to choose to ‘upgrade' their peer group in order to be more successful, or is that a selfish, sinful pursuit?”
  • You'll get a direct link to the best $10 training on Omnifocus you'll find anywhere.

That's all coming up in today's episode…

Announcements:

Next week, we'll release the first in a series of free video trainings on how to write powerful sales copy that sells your products and services… without feeling like a sleazy salesperson.

Our Regency Mastermind Round One Membership filled up almost instantly. News about Round Two is coming soon.

We're also working on a plan for a group mentoring plan for newbies… this will be a community that should be affordable for almost anyone. We will unveil our plans in the very near future.

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Tip(s) of the Week:

“In The Power of Habitaward-winning New York Times business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed.”habit-book-cover

So reads the copy on Duhigg's website. He goes on to describe his book this way:

“Along the way we learn why some people and companies struggle to change, despite years of trying, while others seem to remake themselves overnight. We visit laboratories where neuroscientists explore how habits work and where, exactly, they reside in our brains. We discover how the right habits were crucial to the success of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and civil-rights hero Martin Luther King, Jr. We go inside Procter & Gamble, Target superstores, Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church, NFL locker rooms, and the nation’s largest hospitals and see how implementing so-called keystone habits can earn billions and mean the difference between failure and success, life and death.”

“At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, raising exceptional children, becoming more productive, building revolutionary companies and social movements, and achieving success is understanding how habits work.”

Click here to buy this book from Amazon.

Omnifocus Video Field Guideomni-field-guide

Are you an Omnifocus user and GTD practitioner? Then you're going to love David Sparks's new Omnifocus Video Field Guide.

David says: “The OmniFocus Video Field Guide is a screencast, not a book. A lot of people have asked me to write a book about OmniFocus but instead I made this 2.5 hour video that takes you, soup to nuts, through the Omni Group's supremely bad-ass task manager. The screencast can turn an OmniFocus novice into a task-managing ninja.”

Spiritual Foundations: Is it right for Christians to ‘upgrade' their peer group in order to be more successful?

When we talk about being “intentional about your peer group”, seeking out relationships with people more successful than you, and eliminating  or limiting the access to you that negative people have, are we being selfish or sinful?

Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”
Proverbs [13:20]

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lordand on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.”
Psalm 1:1-3

Minister to everyone, but take care who you give access to your heart.

Feature Presentation: 10 Life-Changing Habits To Adopt Now

Habits are the tiny hinges that swing the big doors of your life – either opening or shutting them. Habits control the tiny, incremental behaviors that shape our lives.

“Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.”
– Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

It's the small things we do every day that have the big effect down the road.

“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.”
– Darren Hardy, The Compound Effect

10 Life-Changing Habits To Adopt Now

  1. Rituals.
  2. Gratitude.
  3. Forgiveness.
  4. Exercise.
  5. Food.
  6. Responsibility.
  7. Journal.
  8. Generosity.
  9. Overdeliver.
  10. Notes.

I use The Habit List app to track my daily habit practice.

Resources Mentioned In The Show

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Question: What habits will you adopt to uplevel your life?  Click here to leave your comments.

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Ray Edwards is a world-renowned copywriter and communications strategist, writing for some of the most powerful voices in leadership and business including New York Times bestselling authors Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen (Chicken Soup for the Soul) and Tony Robbins. Ray is a sought-after speaker and author, hosts a popular weekly podcast, and blogs at RayEdwards.com.