How to Use Habits as a Business Tool

"We first make our habits and then our habits make us."  ~ John Dryden

          Our daily lives are just a jumble of habits, things we do without thinking about them.  Some of them are good habits like brushing our teeth, or buckling our seat belt.  Some of them are bad habits like skipping breakfast, or arriving at meetings late.  
          One of the keys to successfully running a business is using the habit behavior as a tool.  Habits can be programmed to run daily tasks in the background to create a more effective business day.  The programming process takes a few steps to set up and diligence to maintain, but is overall relatively simple.


Awareness:  The first step in programming a habit is to define the problem.  Often, the problem is a bad habit.  For example, an overwhelming number of daily emails is the problem.  The habit is reading emails as they come in with plans to "deal with it later."


Replacement:  Since removing a bad habit would lead to a behavior void, it is always preferable to replace a bad habit with a good one.  In our example, we would assign our emails appropriately as we read them to replace our bad habit of putting them off.  We would put follow-up emails on a task list; emails with a request on the calendar; and delete unnecessary or informational emails.


Accountability:  To provide external motivation for our behavior change, we would choose one or two individuals to check in with.  The check in should be more frequent at the front with increasing time between until the habit is established and they are phased out.  An excellent habit-supporting website is www.habitforge.com.  In a few simple (free) steps you can enter your new habit and Habit Forge will contact you regularly to check in.  If your bad habit is particularly sticky, there are even Habit Forge support groups that you can join.


Revisit/Restore:  The check-in should be used to revisit the habit programming.  If we have reverted to the bad habit consistently, we should start the process over with Awareness.  Often, the barrier to adopting the new habit is in not defining the bad habit properly, or in the barriers to implementing the new habit.  Perhaps the email software is not intuitive for assigning to action items.  Perhaps the time we have given for processing the emails is either during high interruptions, too early or too late in the day, or just not long enough.


          The break-in period for a new habit is like most learning curves; difficult at first, involving a focused thought process and dedication, then phasing into automaticity.  Once we have mastered the habit, we may have periods where we slack off, but regaining the skill comes much faster when we rededicate ourselves to it.
          One final note:  take on one bad habit at a time.  The initial process involves dedication and concerted effort, and too much at one time can lead to frustration.  Everyone will fall off and revert to the bad habit on occasion, the key is not a high standard, instead use forgiveness and a re-dedication.


Do you have a habit that you couldn't seem to break?