Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Linch Pin Habits

I think a lot about my habits (of course thinking about them and doing them are not always the same).  When I get a good Success Habit, I work hard to make it into a habit.  It got me thinking on why some habits stick and others fall by the wayside.

I have found I have certain linch pin habits.  If I do them, then I do the rest of the habits or if I do them, I fail or do things that do not help my productivity.

I know one thing that helps my productivity is sleep.  At one time, I preached "sleep is for wimps" but I now believe it is vital for health and productivity.   Interesting that now I believe that when I am sleeping worse than I did when I was young(er) (I still refuse to be old).

I try to get 6 hours per night or sometimes even a luxurious 7 1/2 hours (they say sleep cycles are 90 minutes so multiple of that).  For me, that means getting to bed early.

The linch pin for me to get to bed early is to not be on my computer.  Even though I do dim the blue light with f.lux software, I still sit at the computer too long.  Ironically when I am too tired, I will often sit at the computer instead of going to bed.

I also know being on the computer often makes my mind race or makes me think so I am too engaged to go to bed or to fall asleep.  Email particularly can raise issues that need dealing with or worse - cannot be dealt with until day so simply cause stress.

A similar "don't do" linch pin is exercise.  If I exercise less than an hour before I go to bed, I cannot get to sleep.

The simplest linch pin for working out for me is going to the gym.  If I simply get there - I work out.

So think of your habits and your linch pins to doing or not doing them.  Work on the linch pins and the habits follow.
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And I declare today as "National Steal a Habit Day".   The habit I am going to steal comes from the owner of Sweet Kyla.  Each day do just 1 thing new to move the business forward.

And since it is Steal a Habit Day - the nuns better lock their laundry up.

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I am thinking of running the Stirling Marathon although I am not doing enough running these days to even complete one.

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No blog is complete without kid pics.  I wonder when they are going to grow hair.


3 Comments:

At 8:41 PM, Blogger Lynda said...

Great advice as always. Love the concept of "National Steal an Idea Day" -- lots of LinkedIn invitations went out from me today!! Goal is 10 a day -- thanks for the "idea". I have also added Great by Choice to my list of reading.

 
At 9:38 AM, Anonymous Jim Courtney said...

You are not old but rather joining the rest of us as "young seniors". Thinking of you as " old" is very stressful on my psyche!

 
At 10:00 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing , very inspiring article and advice. Live long and prosper Mr. Jim Estill. my sincere best wishes for good health, safety, security, happiness, love, laughter, longevity, success and prosperity in life and all your chosen endeavors. Hopefully i can work for you at your amazing company. Greetings from, East Java, Indonesia.
Regards
Oky
soundcloud.com/okybastian

 

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