Tag: good habits

How do you score points every day?

Rapper Ice Cube is known for his hardcore gangster rap. As a member of NWA, he was the lyricist behind such classic hits as Fuck The Police, Gangsta Gangsta and Straight Outta Compton. As a soloist, Ice Cube penned more angry songs like, Natural Born Killaz, AmerciKKKa’s Most Wanted and We Had To Tear This MothaFucka Up. It seems Ice Cube could use a hug.

But Ice Cube’s biggest hit was the smooth groove It Was A Good Day. In the song, Cube recounts the events of a good day. In fact, the whole song is simply a long list of good things that happened to him in a single, ordinary day. In this positive recounting of a good day in South Central L.A., with no barkin from the dog and no smog, we can all learn a valuable lesson about good days.

Creating Good Days

To enjoy good days you need to know what a good day looks like to you. Because once you know what success looks like you can set up a routine to rack up good day points from the moment you wake up until you go to sleep at night. That’s what I try to do every day, like everyday people.

My Good Day

My day starts like Yung Gravy with a strong morning routine. (Floss 3 times baby I’m so clean.) When I wake up, the first thing I do is put a big smile on my face. When I do, I not only feel good right away, but I also give myself a point for day.

Then, if I get out of bed within one or two minutes of my alarm I give myself another point. I make my half of the bed and get more points. I walk to my bathroom and I do a little bit of light stretching. I weigh myself. And I take a long drink from the water bottle I set next to my sink the night before. For each of these activities, I give myself points. If my weight is good I get bonus points. Bing Bing Bing.

The rest of my day works the same way. If I am sitting at my computer by 6:10 am writing I am racking up points. When I publish a blog post, I earn more points. Then I make breakfast and pack my lunch at the same time. I give myself points for both eating well and saving myself money for not going out to eat. Cha-Ching-Ching

I give myself points for leaving for the office by a certain time each morning. When I sit down at my desk at my office I earn more points for creating my Daily Success List. Then I rack up more points for crossing things off that list, like Listerine.

In the evening I earn parenting points for things like coaching my daughter Ava’s track and field team, or my son Magnus’ football team. I rack up points helping with homework and driving my son Johann to piano or saxophone lessons. And for having a good conversation in the car along the way home.

I earn spouse points by spending meaningful quality time with my wife Dawn. That could be as simple as having a good conversation, watching a movie or a TV show together, taking a walk, or planning an upcoming adventure. You have to earn the spouse points every day. It’s fundamental. Like hitting your free throws, sinking your 2-foot putts or wearing deodorant.

I rack up points by eating well, exercising and reading. I earn points when I reach out to a friend or family member. And when I spend quality time with my 2-year-old Border Collie, Lola. I earn points when I laugh or make other people laugh. I earn extra points if milk sprays out of someone’s nose.

Finally, I earn points by wrapping up my day with brushing and flossing. And by filling my water bottle for the next morning so I can do it all over again. And if I get to bed by my predetermined time I get bonus points. Not only because I met my own expectations for the day, but because I put myself in a position to have a great day again tomorrow.

Key Takeaway

A good day is not about extraordinary events. It is simply a day spent doing the things you value. It is a day when you execute your habits and routines. A day when you live the way the ideal you lives. Give yourself points all day long for living up to your own expectations. You will find great rewards in keeping your commitments to yourself and others. You will enjoy the process of improving yourself and your relationships with your family and friends. You will score career points through your productivity and steady accumulation of results. And by keeping a mental tally of all the positive actions you take throughout the day when you lay down to sleep at night you can take great comfort in knowing that today was a good day. And you made it happen.

If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

How to create your powerful habit train.

It was either Aristotle or The 7 Dwarfs who said ‘We are what we repeatedly do.’ Which means that just as your DNA creates your body, your habits create your identity. So while you may feel as if your identity was written in the stars, in reality, it is written on your calendar.

When you do something every day it transforms you.

  • Exercise every day and you become fit.
  • Read every day and you become intelligent.
  • Write every day and you become an author.
  • Save money every day and you become rich.
  • Meet new people every day and you become popular.
  • Refuse to wear clothes every day and you become a nudist. And tan.

Personal Revelation

Most of the great things that have happened to me are because I first established strong habits.

  • I have exercised regularly since I was a freshman in high school. Several decades later I am still as strong as I was when I was 18. And although I am slower, my complexion is better.
  • I have a strong reading habit. I read physical books at home. And I listen to audiobooks while I drive. As a result I arrive at work smarter than I was when I left home. And I arrive home smarter than I was when I left work. If you do that every day for decades you will end up a lot smarter than you look.
  • I make a point of developing and maintaining relationships. I make a habit of reaching out to people regularly by phone, text, email or through social media. I invite people to get together and add another chapter to our friendship or familyship. One of the common regrets in life is not creating or maintaining your relationships. I will not have that regret.

The Habit Train

If you want to establish a strong new habit it is easier than you think. Because your day is already packed with habits. And the best way to establish a strong new habit is to attach it to an existing one, like cars on a freight train.

Example:

1. When your alarm clock sounds you turn it off (Habit)

2. You get up. (Habit)

3. Unless you have a bionic bladder you go to the bathroom. (Habit)

Now you have a 3-Habit Train headed down the track every morning. The key is to add more cars to your habit train.

Here’s how:

After you get up, and before you go to the bathroom, make your bed. This new habit is pretty easy to establish because you simply declare that before you go to the bathroom you will make you bed. You already know you are going to perform the habits directly before and after making the bed. Linking your new habits to your established and automatic habits quickly makes the new habit automatic too.

But Don’t Stop There.

After you go to the bathroom (and wash your hands, please), attach another habit.

My next habit is to drink a large glass of water to jumpstart a healthy day. This is where you might have coffee or tea. (Habit)

Then add another positive habit it your train.

Make this one a power habit. Think of it like adding another engine to your train. Power habits could be exercise, reading, or meditation. Something that adds real power to you as a human.

After my initial power habit (getting up at 6 am), my next power habit it is writing.  By 6:10 am I am either writing a blog post or a chapter for a new book.

I write for at least an hour at least 5 days every week. By the time I close my laptop to move on to the next habit in my morning routine my habit train is flying down the track, and I am making progress towards larger life goals.

You can create several habit trains that run at different times of day. Or you can make your entire day a nonstop habit train for maximum impact. They say that if you want something done give it to a busy person. It’s because their habit train is already rolling. And any task that gets added to the train will naturally head down the track with them. It’s a powerful way to progress through life. Choo Choo.

Key Takeaway

Habits have a transformational power. Like interest on a financial investment, repeated postive actions create compounding rewards that create massive personal and professional advantages. Link your habits into habit trains. Feel them build momentum every day. They will take you farther than you can even imagine.

*If you know somone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+If you like this lesson you’ll enjoy my new book What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

To see me on TV talking about habits check out this fun clip from the Morning Blend morning show.

It’s never too late to start doing what successful people do.

There is a great way of doing everything.

  • Work
  • Exercise
  • Sleep
  • Cleaning
  • Whoopeeing
  • Saving
  • Eating
  • Volunteering
  • Tax preparation
  • Brushing your teeth
  • Investing
  • Treating your spouse well
  • Etc. (That simply means there is a lot more stuff on this list. Not that there is a great way to et cetera.)

There is also a far-from-ideal way to do everything. In fact, there are many far-from-ideal options. They make for good reality TV, bad dental hygiene and something we now call comorbidities.

What Successful People Do

Successful people do things the right way. They develop strong habits. They create great processes and systems that ensure that things are done the right way.

Join The Club

But success is not a private club. The doors are always unlocked. And we all have an open invitation.

To join The Successful People Club just start doing things the right way. The way you know they should be done.

Take the actions you know you should take.

That builds momentum.

Success is a result of momentum.

Momentum is a result of executing good habits.

Habits are simply doing the right things the right way regularly.

But it all starts by doing the right things once.

You can do that today.

Then do it again tomorrow.

It’s easier than you think.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+If you like this type of message, you will like my new book What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media. It shares 80 life lessons the universe is trying to share with you.

How highly successful people win even when they are tired.

Sunday was the first day of Daylight Saving Time in America. We all gained an hour of sunshine but lost an hour of sleep. Which is a pretty good trade, unless you are a vampire.

Late Sunday afternoon I told my 14-year old son Johann that it was time for us to go to the gym. Not surprisingly, he told me he didn’t want to go. He said he was tired. I told him that I was too. But that we were going to go lift weights anyway.

When we got into the Jeep I knew it was time for a Father-Son talk. Thankfully, it wasn’t going to be one of those Father-Son talks where you have to use all the anatomically correct language and try not to giggle.

Me and Johann the moment I first held my book.

As we pulled out of our neighborhood and headed towards the gym I told Johann that I was about to share one of the most important lessons I would ever share with him. And I wanted him to listen closely. Here is what I said:

The Daylight Saving Day Lesson

You will always be tired. For the rest of your life, you will be tired every frick’n day. And being tired will always be an excuse you can use to get out of doing anything.

But if you use the ‘I’m tired’ excuse you will never accomplish great things. You will never have big successes. You will never break away from the massive pack of average.

When you are tired, you have to go anyway. Work anyway. Compete anyway. Exercise anyway. Maintain your best habits anyway.

Become the type of person who does things despite being tired. And you will build momentum. You will separate yourself from others who use being tired as an excuse to not do what they know they should do.

You will do special things. You will make something great of yourself. You will make your parents proud. You will make yourself proud. And you will know that you are a badass. A badass who gets tired, like everyone else. But when you are tired and don’t feel like doing hard work you do it anyway. That’s how you win at life.

-Dad

Key Takeaway

You will always be tired. Don’t use it as an excuse. Go anyway. And use it as proof that you are a tough mofo who does the necessary work, even when you are tired. Because that’s what great people do.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+If we are on the same frequency, you’ll also enjoy my new book What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

How my mom influences me every day.

As I prepared for Mother’s Day this year I wrote not 1, but 2 different blog posts about my Mom. On Mother’s Day I decided to publish The most important gift my mother gave me. Which meant I had to figure out what to do with my bonus post.

This week is also special for my Mama. Somehow she managed to birth all 4 of her kids in the 4 days between May 22nd and May 25th. You can read about that little bit of Motherly Wizardry in the post: What makes these siblings freakishly unique. So to kick off my Mom’s Giving Birth Week, here is the Non-Mother’s Day Mother’s Day post.

Happy Mother’s Day! A great Mom is like a subscription to the Jelly Of The Month Club, because it is the gift that keeps on giving. I have an amazing Mom. Which is total luck. Because I simply inherited her. But my Mom, Jill Albrecht, has given me an unfair advantage in life.

Mom-ing Runs In The Family

My Mom started off life with an unfair advantage too, because she had a great Mom. My Grammy, Lillian (Anderson) Sprau was a saintly Norwegian American woman. She had 9 children and lived to be 100 years old. When you have 9 kids to practice on, you get to really hone your mothering skills. My Grammy taught my Mom those skills. My mom then taught her children, including me and my sisters Heather, Alison and Donielle.

Big Stuff

My Mama taught us all the big stuff. The importance of a good education. How to advocate for ourselves and for others. To value time with family. And the value of humor.

Little Stuff

My Mom taught us countless little lessons too. In fact, one of the lessons she taught me probably seemed so small to her that it wasn’t much of a lesson at all. But I still use it every day.

Make Your Own Lunch.

My my mom wisely delegated lunch making responsibilities to me and my sisters at an early age. After all, we had a vested interest in eating. By the time I was 12 years old I was packing my own lunch every day before school. It quickly became a habit.

I packed my own lunch every day in junior high and high school. After I moved out of the dorms in college I made my own lunch every day. When I started my first real job after college I made my own lunch too.

Fast forward 2 decades. I have had a successful career in advertising. I have had fancy pants sounding titles, including Executive Vice President, Chief Creative Officer and CEO. Today, I own my own business, an advertising and idea agency called The Weaponry. Yet every day before I leave for the office I still make my own lunch.

Why

  • It saves me a lot of money.
  • I have portion control.
  • I can eat wherever I am.
  • I can eat whenever I get hungry.
  • Nobody can spit in my lunch.
  • It creates a predictable routine.
  • I don’t have to think about where to go for lunch.
  • It teaches my children a good habit.

Key Takeaway

Our mothers create good habits and values that last a lifetime. In fact, you may be surprised how many of your daily habits, your brand preferences and your techniques were created by your Mom. After all, before you met your Mom you were pretty clueless.

Thanks Mom for all the big things you gave me. But today, I am also thankful for the little things. The things I do automatically because you taught me to. They benefit me at home, at work, with friends and amongst strangers. You did a wonderful job teaching me to do things your way. I don’t know what happened with my sisters. They must be Dad’s fault.

The best way to start the New Year right.

Tonight is the big night! It’s New Year’s Eve! Like the Lexus December to Remember, it’s time to put a big red bow on 2018. Or, if your 2018 was a lemon, it’s time to put on some Del Amitri and kiss this thing goodbye. Either way, this is the biggest party night of the year. Because we always save the best for last. Or do we always start off with a bang? (I always forget.)

New Year. New You.

With the new year comes new expectations. We set goals and resolutions for the next 365 days. It’s exciting to think that, like a new iPhone or Fast & Furious release, the new and improved version of ourselves hit the shelves tomorrow!

Most of us think our lives, habits and body fat will all get better, starting tomorrow morning. But there is one simple thing you can do tonight, on New Year’s Eve, to give yourself the best possible start to a great 2019.

Don’t stay up until midnight.

Go to bed at a decent hour tonight. Going to sleep early on New Year’s Eve is a wonderfully rebellious move that sets you up for success in the new year. I went to bed before midnight on New Year’s Eve last year. And I loved it.

No Bonus Points

You don’t get any credit, in either the old year or the new, for staying up to witness the clock tick to midnight. There will be very little productive work that happens between 10pm and midnight. If you haven’t made your goals in the first 364 days and 22 hours, you’re not likely to achieve them in the last 120 minutes. And Auld Lang Syne is a dumb song, which I presume is about Mr. Syne, who lived next door to me when I was growing up in Vermont. He wasn’t worth singing about at any hour.

The fact is that you don’t get a jumpstart on your goals, hopes, dreams or resolutions by staying up past midnight tonight. You get tired. And maybe you’ll start the new year with a hangover. Neither of which you really want.

The Downside To Staying Up Late

If you stay up until midnight tonight, one of 2 things will happen:

  1. You won’t get an early start tomorrow morning. Getting an early start to your day is the best way to be productive. So if you are motivated to achieve more in the year ahead, get up early and get going.
  2. You won’t get a good night of sleep. Let’s say that you stayed up late, but also get up early tomorrow. That means that you are not fully recharged, fully energized, and ready to make January 1st an outstanding start to the new year. If you are serious about making positive changes, you should seriously get serious about creating good sleep habits, starting tonight.

flight sky earth space
This could totally be you tomorrow.

Let’s get it started

Aim for getting a good 8 hours of sleep tonight. Try getting to bed by 10:30pm and waking up by 6:30am. As we all know, the end is determined by how we begin. One great step leads to another. And one great day leads to another. Remember, the longer you wait to get into a new, positive habit, the less likely it is to happen.

Key Takeaway

Consider being a rebel tonight and turning in early. Get a great night sleep. Start 2019 early, well-rested, recharged and re-energized. It’s the best way to start your best year yet. Have a fun and safe New Year’s Eve! Oh, and if it is already 2019 when you are reading this, there is no need to read any further.