Habits

" First we make our habits and then our habits make us" - John Dryden

“The secret of every man who has ever been successful lies in the fact that he has formed the habit of doing the things that failures do not like to do.” - Albert E N Gray

"If you really want to get something done, give it to a busy person" - anonymous


One of the most powerful human forces is the unconscious mind - the part that runs your body, the millions of processes that happen every second to keep you alive and your body functioning, while you go about your business. This all happens without your conscious control, no decisions, no choices - it just happens. So, thankfully, you don't have to think about pumping the blood around your body, or dilating your pupils, or mobilising antibodies etc You can instead focus on the important decisions you have to make - like what to eat for lunch :-).

The key principle here is that of automation or outsourcing, as I prefer to view it. Outsourcing is when you hand over activities to another to run on your behalf in order to free yourself up to focus on your core priorities. We have a phenomenally powerful outsourcing company inside us that performs more tasks than we could possible comprehend - these tasks are performed efficiently, effectively and consistently. The old adage above, " if you really want to get something done, give it to a busy person", really applies here.

So what does this have to do with habits? Well, a habit is basically an outsourced activity. It is something you do repeatedly without thinking about it - no conscious decisions or choices. Brushing your teeth in the morning could be a habit. So could be going for a brisk walk or carrying out some other exercise. Your conscious mind does not worry about it, your unconscious mind just gets it done and it adds value to your life. Is this not an exciting possibility? What stops us defining what it is we want to achieve, and hence what it is we need to do repeatedly; and then outsourcing it?

Well, nothing really, except our procrastination and possible laziness. When the activity is passed over, it runs like clockwork. So the resistance point is actually before the activity is transitioned. But will that make us dull? Like robots? This is a common objection to the concept of habits. In essence, it is quite similar to the resistance that employees put up in companies that want to outsource certain business functions or processes. They cite all manner of problems with the outsourcing proposals but there is an underlying fear of redundancy. Do we feel a need to consciously control all the minutiae of our lives? Does our conscious mind fear redundancy if all these tasks are taken over by a far greater force? Or is the fear rather of greatness? Is our conscious mind shrinking away from the gravity of responsibility that would exert its pull once the trivia had been removed? Is this the root of procrastination? An occupation with the minor things to avoid dealing with the major - "getting into the thick of thin things"?

The powerful truth here, and one that most successful outsourcing arrangements elicit, is that letting go of the context tasks allows us to focus on the core, allows us to harness far more energy than we previously had, and develop far more momentum than we thought we could. Creating powerful habits frees us up to live our lives powerfully, while supporting this living consistently. The key is to discover what our core is, by discovering the neighbourhood of our gifts and passions. This is one of the most important quests in life, to discover and embody the best of you. And habits are the tools to help you on that journey.