Leveraging habits to achieve your goals
Christalena Pe?a
Chief Plot Twist Officer | Keynote Speaker | Experienced Program Manager | ATD Master Facilitator | L&D Expert | Inclusive Leader
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What if I told you that setting a goal doesn’t matter??
You might ask why I’ve been talking about goals for weeks if that’s the case. The truth is you can use any goal model you’d like to set your goals, but those achievements will only become increasingly out of reach if you don’t have systems in place that support them. Those systems show up in the form of habits.
Did you know that nearly half of your daily actions are done simply out of habit? Most of those habits go unnoticed; some are effective in helping you reach your goals while others do the opposite.?
"Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate." -Carl Jung, Psychologist ?
It’s time you make the unconscious conscious and I’m here to help you do just that.?In this article, I’ll walk you through the systems I’ve learned and implemented to help me reach one of my 2023 goals.
Leveraging Habits to Achieve Your Goals
Heart & Mind:
First, you must envision yourself as already having achieved the goal. One of my goals is to become a “LinkedInfluencer” (Is this term a thing? Let’s make it a thing).?
My ‘why’ behind this goal is to gain social proof of my learning and development expertise and generate leads for my solopreneur journey (this is a thing—I’ve seen it). I’ll know I achieved my goal once I’ve reached 10k followers on LinkedIn and I’m giving myself until December 15th to do this. I have ~11 months to gain 8,799 more followers. I’m confident that this is achievable.?
Operating with this “I am” mindset says that I must think as though I am already a LinkedInfluencer and must do the things that influencers do that are relevant to my platform and niche. To list a few:
To set goals, you identify your ‘why,’ make the goal SMART, even list out the ‘how’, and envision yourself as having already achieved said goal. Seems pretty achievable, right? The problem is that this is where you probably end your goal-setting session. Fast forward to December 2023 and you didn’t hit it. Why not? That’s because you didn’t give the ‘how’s’ any support through systems or habits.?
Introspection:
??? Make a list of specific actions you must practice to achieve your goal. Reflect on the actions you may be practicing that hurt your ability to reach your goal.
Pick one action at a time to focus on creating an effective habit around or breaking an ineffective habit around. We are now going to break down just one of those actions from my example: post consistently. I commit to posting on LinkedIn at least once every day.?
Be About That Action:?
Using the four laws from Atomic Habits by James Clear, let’s make the act of posting on LinkedIn once per day a habit that will help me achieve my goal.
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The Steps ????
1?? Make it obvious
2?? Make it attractive
3?? Make it easy
4?? Make it satisfying
The Breakdown ????
1?? Implementation intentions will make it obvious rather than leave your habit up to chance or motivation.?
??? Fill in the blanks: I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION].?
??My example for daily LinkedIn posts: While drinking my morning coffee, I will sit in front of the window and make one LinkedIn post.?
2?? Associate your habit with a release of dopamine to make it attractive. You can do this by combining two concepts: habit stacking ? temptation bundling.
??? Fill in the blanks: After I [CURRENT HABIT], I will [HABIT NEEDED]. After [HABIT NEEDED],?I will [HABIT WANTED]
??My example: While drinking coffee, I will post on LinkedIn. Once the content is posted, I can check Instagram.?
3?? When it comes to habit building, there are two practices that you can quickly implement to make it easy: creating an environment conducive to your habit ? using the two-minute rule.?
??? Add things to your environment that help build your habit. You can also remove things that hurt it. Then, spend a max of two minutes on the new habit. With time and repetition, you will have a new habit that may or may not take two minutes.?
??My example: Turning on the do-not-disturb feature on my phone the night before helps eliminate the temptation to check other social media before creating my LinkedIn post. Additionally, adding the coffee grounds to the machine the night before helps me get my cup more quickly, thus cutting down the time I’m tempted to derail from the habit of posting on LinkedIn. Once I do sit in front of the window with my cup of coffee, I will spend no more than two minutes posting on LinkedIn. This will remove any overwhelming feeling I may have about making the “perfect” post.?
4?? Reward yourself to make it satisfying
??? Add an immediate reward to the habit or a reward for not practicing a habit you are trying to break.
??My example: Once I post on LinkedIn, I cannot only scroll through Instagram but also turn off the do-not-disturb feature on my phone and get back in touch with the digital world.
Altogether, this is the support system for my habit of daily LinkedIn posts that will contribute to achieving my goal of reaching 10k followers on LinkedIn this year: I will turn on do-not-disturb on my phone and add the coffee grounds to the machine each night before bed. While drinking my coffee in front of the window each morning, I will spend two minutes posting on LinkedIn. Once the post is complete, I can turn off do-not-disturb and begin checking Instagram.
Now, you have the blueprint for leveraging habits to achieve your goals.
What is one small habit you want to commit to this year that would support one of your goals??I'd love to hear from you in the comments!
Stay tuned for next week’s article as we gear up for performance review season.
In the meantime, find more quick tips and inspiration from me on social: