Hey what’s going on everybody? Gregg Sugerman here – I help entrepreneurs reprogram their minds and literally shift their identities SO ….they can earn more and feel AWESOME doing it…
and I wanted to make you this quick video on the art and science of habit mastery. Because I believe when you learn to DELIBERATELY form positive habits, it’s one of THE most massive keys to your success there is. Hands down
I mean think about it.
Think about being able to put new habits in place whenever you wanted to. Being able to LOCK a habit down without the frustration of the whole start, slow down, stop, get pissed off about it, try it again it some point cycle.
Habits for your health: exercise and diet, habits for your business – making a habit of those actions you know you should be taking that move the needle in your business – whether that be writing content, paying more attention to your finances, getting on the phone and calling prospects – making your morning routines a habit…the list is endless.
Oh wait up. Before I forget here guys – I’m going to teach you 5 steps to habit mastery here in a sec and if this kind of thing interests you…if you see the value in being able to master habits, the value in learning to master your subconscious mind, if you’re looking for a coach to help you get the hell out of your own way – help you get MORE out of yourself than you’re getting now – so you can get to that next level and beyond –
What I want you to do next is real simple – go to greggcall.com that’s g r e g g call.com and fill out a real simple form I put up. Should take you about 1 minute or so to fill out – hit the submit button – I read everything that comes to me and if I think you and I would be an awesome fit together – if I feel like I can help you attain MASSIVE results in your life and your business then I’ll get back to you within 24 hours and we’ll hop on the phone and see if we can’t do a little business together…
Ok…back to habits.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is NOT an act…but a habit”. That’s a quote from your old buddy Aristotle who I actually met a long time ago at a bar down in the East Village – very solid guy. Great dude. He was a lot of fun.
ANYHOW
When I talk about habit, I’m talking about having something in place where you don’t even have to think about it. Effortless. Easy. Autopilot.
There was a study done in 2006 I think it was from Duke University – where Aristotle went to school by the way…and it concluded that 40% of everything we do in our waking hours has nothing to do with our decisions or intention – it’s all habit. Combine that with the approx 30% of our day when we’re asleep and that means up to SEVENTY PERCENT of everything we do in our lives is happening outside of our control.
We’re all basically mindlessly executing habits 70% of our day.
Now- why is that? Why are we such habit-performing circus monkeys?
And if that’s the case why the HELL do most of us SUCK so badly at INTENTIONALLY putting new habits in place?
Because we ALL have habits in mind that we know we SHOULD have right? Habits we know we NEED. Habits that we KNOW would make us healthier, wealthier, happier…Why is it so hard to get those things to stick?
I’m not gonna get too far into the weeds with the brain science here with you, even though I’d love to nerd out on this stuff with you here –
But a few things that stand in the way of you putting habits in place:
NUMBER ONE: in a certain way, your brain is actually wired AGAINST you putting a new habit in place. At least at first. See, your brains primary function is to keep you alive – keep you safe – and so when you try to introduce something NEW into the equation –
that shiny new good for you / good for your business habit – you’re going to face resistance because to a part of your brain – something new = something unfamiliar. And something unfamiliar = something unsafe, which is a threat to your very survival. So ya got THAT working against you
Now, this actually flips around completely one a habit starts to really take, because once that happens, your brain actually IS wired FOR habits…I know that sounds like contradicting information but it’s not…we can get more into that in another video…
MOVING ALONG –
NUMBER TWO: picture your brain like a dense jungle. And in certain areas, pathways have been cleared to make it through that jungle. Now those clear pathways are habits that you already have in place. Those things you repeat day in and day out. When you’re trying to put something NEW in place, it’s like you need to take a machete and clear brand new pathways.
Your brain uses up to 20% of your entire body’s energy. It’s absolutely masterful at all the ways it looks to conserve that energy. So what’s easier? Clearing a pathway through dense jungle?
Or just continuing to walk on the path that’s already been cleared? Right – exactly. Your brain wants to do what it already does.
NUMBER THREE: is your own mindset. Starting a new habit can be frustrating right? Nobody WANTS to watch what they eat every day for a year and lose a bunch of weight slowly and steadily. No. You want to eat healthily and make good food decisions for 2 days and lose 40 pounds.
No one wants to work on their new business day in and day out maybe without immediate results. No. Everyone wants to make 1 million bucks a year after being in business for 12 days.
So we’re fighting against wanting the quick and easy result. Instant gratification vs delayed gratification – I’ll do a video on that one of these days as well.
The good news – no- the GREAT news for you here is, that despite all of these things working against you – and when I say YOU I mean all of us – I’ve found a way to make locking in new habits honestly……kind of easy.
It’s how I managed to lose almost 30 pounds 9 or 10 years ago and keep it off. How I locked in a 4-5 day a week gym habit that’s lasted almost a decade. How I’ve put empowering habits in place around my finances and my business – because yes when you get this right you can absolutely use it to make you more money, my daily routines and rituals – all habituized….habituized…not even sure that’s a word? If its not is should be
and it’s not just me – I teach this to basically all of my clients – I love it, they love it, and you’ll love it. it’s simple and ridiculously effective and you’re going to learn how to do it right now –
Here we go –
First off, THE NUMBER ONE thing most people get wrong about putting habits in place is this: they do way too much way too fast. Let’s use diet and exercise as an example b/c everyone can relate to that right?
How many of you have gotten that FIRE to get in shape? THIS time I’m REALLY gonna do it!
And the plan generally looks like: OK. I’m going to work out 7 days a week. Spend at least 2 hours a day at the gym. I’m going to drink 47 gallons of water a day, and my meals will consist of kale, seaweed, and boiled chicken breast.
And when I want dessert? HA! I know what I’ll do! I’ll just suck on an ice cube.
That’s what I mean by WAY too much WAY too fast. Way too extreme and it’s an almost guaranteed recipe for failure.
By the way, I’m just using exercise as an example. This applies to EVERYTHING. You can easily find examples of things where the right habit or habits in place would really move the needle in your business, or any other area of your life.
ANYHOW – here’s the RIGHT way to lock a habit in place. Try this – COMMIT to this and I promise you’ll be thanking me for it. It’s a 5 step process
I’ll give you the steps first and then I’ll walk you through a real-world example of how crazy effective this all is…
NUMBER ONE: you start out slowly. WAY WAY slower than you want. I’m talking SLOW. If you think you’re going too slow? Slow down some more-
NUMBER TWO: track your progress
-NUMBER THREE: Intentionally hold yourself back. This is KEY. I’m going to get more into detail here in a sec.
-NUMBER FOUR: SLOWLY add pieces to the habit
-NUMBER FIVE: allow yourself to celebrate. Again – key.
-You can use my own exercise journey as an example of how this works:
When I started getting in shape I set myself up to win by making my goals really easy to achieve. I wanted to get a few micro-wins under my belt.
So for the first week, I told myself, look. I’m going to make this easy. This week I’m only going to the gym TWO times. And I’m ONLY going to do cardio, no weights. And ONLY for 10 or 15 minutes.
That’s it.
At the time it was like- OK, even I can do that…and so I did.
And I considered it a huge win.
The following week? Time to start adding in more right? NOPE. Uh uh.
The second week, I did the same exact thing. And I considered it an even bigger win.
Sounds easy right? That’s because it WAS. That’s the entire point.
The third week? I still kept it at two days but added 10 more minutes of cardio to each day.
I also added some stretching and some bodyweight stuff- push-ups, that kind of thing.
Still no weights. By this time I was DYING to start adding weights in. And that was a big key for me. I was INTENTIONALLY holding myself back. Remember that’s step 3
Now by this time I’d gone for three weeks in a row and I really let myself feel good about it.
But the whole time I was intentionally holding myself back, and it was driving me crazy. It was making me hungry for more.
We all want what we can’t have right? Who knows what I’m talking about??? I think you do…
I was denying myself something I wanted…on purpose…because I wanted my desire to build.
By the 4th week, I added an extra day and finally started adding some light weights into my workouts.
And before you knew it, OUILA! I was going to the gym for one month in a row.
Oh – as for the tracking piece – step 2. I started keeping a calendar of my workouts. What I did, and what day I did it. To this day I’m still not sure why I did this but I can’t tell you how powerful it was.
I think it’s because I became accountable to something MORE than just myself. It was the calendar. I didn’t want to screw up my calendar. If my goal that week was 5 workouts, I wanted 5 “X’s” on that calendar.
Years later I read the story of a young comic who approached Jerry Seinfeld in a comedy club. He asked him how it was possible he always had so much material. Seinfeld told him his secret was that he wrote jokes every day. No exceptions. And that he kept a calendar. Sure enough, he’d mark an “X” on his calendar when he wrote jokes, and after a while, those “X’s” formed a chain. And he became committed to never breaking the chain.
It’s exactly what I said about being accountable to something or someone other than yourself.
Let’s review those steps real quick and while I’m doing this think about a habit you’ve wanted to put in place – think about how you’d apply these steps to you specifically. By the way if you need help with this post here or message me and I’ll help you out
NUMBER ONE: start REALLY slowly.
NUMBER TWO: track your progress
NUMBER THREE: Intentionally hold yourself back. –
NUMBER FOUR: SLOWLY add pieces to the habit
NUMBER FIVE: allow yourself to celebrate. Let yourself feel good. Because a win is a win no win is too small to celebrate so feel good about this and about yourself.