Balancing Discipline with Creativity

Building new habits is tough. It takes motivation, discipline, and grit to get there. Starting something new can be fun and inspiring. But the most challenging part is to keep going once you have started.

I aim to incorporate new habits into my regular routines so they become a natural part of my daily life. If you don't have to think too much about the when, what, and how, routines become easy to execute in the long run. Just like Scrum events are held at the same time and place to reduce complexity.

And so, I get up at 7 AM every weekday and go downstairs for a 30-minute workout, either yoga or fitness. And every Sunday morning before getting out of bed, I conduct my personal retrospective to review last week, scribbling away in the notebook I keep on my nightstand. And once every month, I review the whole month, taking a more significant step back and planning longer-term improvements. That exercise takes place in our storage room, where I have two large panel doors to cover with sticky notes.

However, I noticed that sticking too long to the identical routine bores me. I like a bit of variation within the routine. For my retrospectives, I regularly change working formats to challenge myself. It often also produces new insights because I take a different perspective.

Let's experiment

Last month, I decided to develop and experiment with a new format (see drawing). It is some kind of cross-over between the Circle technique from Solution Focused Coaching and the Improvement Kata of Toyota.

With the Circle technique, you draw two concentric circles. You list everything going well in the inner circle, like your competencies and successes. In the outer circle, you list what you want to improve or achieve. The constructive idea here is to leverage your already available competencies to accomplish those goals.

The Improvement Kata is a four-step model of scientific thinking with practice routines. First, understand the direction or goal you are aiming for. Secondly, grasp the current situation: where are you now? Third, establish the next target condition, moving you toward the intended direction. Fourth, take small steps to reach that next target condition. Repeat.

I made the drawing to explain the format I worked with. The real-life version was much messier, as seen from the evidence below.

Here's what I did:

1. I listed my personal qualities and competencies in the center—all the good stuff I enjoy and appreciate about myself.
2. On the outside I put my goals for this year. Many of my goals are role-based, like being the best spouse to my partner and the best dad to my kids.
3. For each of my goals, I came up with practical next steps that could bring me closer to that goal, taking my qualities as the inspiring starting point.

Lessons

I found this working format very effective and practical. These role-based goals are longer-term personal missions, so it's very encouraging to focus on practical next steps for the near future (next month).

You may have noticed that I omitted step 3 from the Improvement Kata, specifying the next target condition. That was partially due to a lack of time and space. However, because the subsequent actions came quite quickly to me, I didn't feel the need to take this step explicitly. It could be something to try out next time.

Overall, I found this exercise to be a very positive experience. Taking your personal qualities as your starting point feels empowering, and you get into a positive, creative mindset. Last, I made good progress in many of these actions. So yes, a very positive outcome.

If you'd like to try this format, please go ahead. I'm curious to hear and learn from your experience. Do you have other formats that you want to share? I'm always open to learning new stuff and sharing ideas...so thank you for your response!

Take care and till next time!

Kind regards,

Herman / Scrumpy Dad

I inspire people to create more happiness in their lives and improve the world around them.??

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