My 5 Habits for Change

Whoever suggested children need a good grounding in the three Rs (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic) had an ironic sense of humour. Nonetheless, they were right. At school, I struggled with reading and writing, but was pretty good at arithmetic. I wanted to study Maths at university and, for that, most required GCSE English Language. I sat my English exam a year late, due to an admin mix up, and failed it. However, I did go on to get a degree in Maths and Computing. In my 30s, I decided to address my communication shortcomings. I started reading books, writing much more and presenting in meetings and other forums. While I did not label it as such, I had established a habit for change.

Kevin Kelly (Wired Founding Editor) suggests that, Good habits ensure we make progress on our bad days. Habits eliminate self‐negotiation. Here are five habits for change proposed by Kevin that I follow:

Spend 15 minutes per day (1%) improving how we do our thing. Study, experiment or refine a process so we are a bit better every day. From an unpromising childhood, I now love reading and write for at least 15 minutes per day.

If we improve 1% daily then we will be 37 times better by the end of the year. Small changes matter little in the near term, but can make a huge difference in the long term.

I work in sprints, some short, e.g. 40 minutes, and others longer, e.g. a few hours. At the end of each sprint I take a break, to rest my eyes and re-energise. At the end of each working day I go for a good walk. I find this mix of focus and relaxation works well for me.

As Kevin Kelly says, Habit is far more dependable than inspiration.

Have fun.

Phil…

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