Debra Kasowski

EPISODE 170 – Change Your Routines Change Your Habits

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“Motivation is what gets you started.

Habit is what keeps you going.” 

Jim Rohn

Our habits are foundational to our success. I have been studying personal development for decades and it always fascinates me to learn the success habits of powerful people in life, leadership, and business. I love learning about how people grow and transform their lives. Success leaves clues so it is important to pay attention. Over the years, I have adapted and adjusted my routines to find out work best for me. If I made you pause over the last statement – great! I changed my routines to create new habits.

There is a difference between habits and routines.

Routine

When you have a routine, you have a set of habits. You have a regular way of doing things. A routine requires that you think about you are doing and can take a lot of energy in the beginning. Don’t worry you won’t expend too much energy once it is established. Once you build the routine it will eventually become unconscious.

Habits

Habits are those continual set of behaviors; a repeated way in which you do things. You often do not even think about it.

They are very important to adding structure too often a chaotic schedule of needing to do many things or be several places. You will notice that as children we thrived on structure and routines. As we became adults, we were exposed to new things – some serving us and some not.

When you get into the habit of doing things a certain way it is easy to become comfortable. Staying in this place can get people stuck and dissatisfied with the way things are. There is no challenge. Even the greatest athletes have learned to change things up – to fine-tune their skills. Tiger Woods would change up his swing. Wayne Gretzky would change up the way he skated on the ice. You only grow on the outside of your comfort zone. Growth comes from new experiences and lessons. If everything stays the same, how will you grow? Create a 21-day challenge for yourself to do one thing every day that will challenge you.

Stepping out of your comfort zone exposes you to a new experience in which you see things from a different perspective, challenge assumptions, and stretch into your potential. You may take bigger calculated risks.

According to researchers, it takes 21- 66 days to change or create a new habit. It all starts with your routines. Examine how your day looks. What do you do each day to set up you day for success? I know some of you are shouting coffee – “I can’t start the day without coffee?” Take some time to think about routines you have in place.

What do you do without even thinking about it? For example, some people have a smoke after every meal. They may have been doing this for years. It is something they “just do” after eating. It became a routine. Change up the routine and you can then change the habit. Stop smoking after meals; change the activity. Maybe you go for a short walk instead. If you have a habit of retail therapy and the mall is your trigger to spend. Go with a list or a free-standing store instead if hitting the store up in the mall. Go with a shopping with a specific list or a certain amount of money. Do not take your credit cards with you. Change the association, change the routine, and change the habit.

How you start your day is often how you end it. Start by creating a morning routine and schedule that serves you.

Spend time in silence and clear your head. You may decide to meditate or pray. You are open and ready when you are in a state of calmness.

Repeat powerful affirmations, watch an empowering video or listen to a podcast to get your head in the game.

Write down 3 things you are grateful for? Why not send out a gratitude card? Journal your thoughts, trials, and tribulations to gain a clear perspective of the supportive and non-supportive stories you may be telling yourself. Let your mind wonder over possibilities and look for solutions.

Visualize and focus on the outcomes you want to achieve. Feel what it will feel like to achieve those things. What do you need to do to become, do, or have those things you visualize?

Ensure you are getting regular exercise – get the blood flowing throughout your body.

Read or listen to a book in your industry or personal development.

Create new routines establishes habits that serve you.

Set yourself up for success. Become self-aware of what habits are serving you and which ones are not serving you. Where do these habits show up? Which routines? Change up the routine. Suppose you are an entrepreneur and you put all you receipts in a shoebox and year end you gather and organize them and give them to the accountant. How do you know how much money you have on a regular basis? You make better decisions when you know the flow of money coming in and the flow of money going out. To change routine, you could keep a spreadsheet and set aside part of a day or a day to focus on working with your numbers every week. You could hire a bookkeeper and set aside time to scan over or turn in your receipts. Break the habit, swap the habit, create a new habit by changing up your routine.

We would love to have you subscribe to the Success Secrets newsletter on my website at www.debrakasowski.com where you’re going to get my just release FREE e-book about the 21 Habits High Achievers Kick to Achieve Success. I would love to hear about this podcast has impacted your life. E-mail me at Debra@DebraKasowski.com. Thank you for listening to The Millionaire Woman Show where we talk about leadership, business, and human potential to help you live rich from the inside out. Subscribe to The Millionaire Woman Show. Share it with Your Friends. Give us a 5-star rating!

DEBRA KASOWSKI, BScN CEC is an award-winning best-selling author, transformational speaker, blogger, and Certified Executive Coach. She has a heart of a teacher and is certified in Appreciative Inquiry and Emotional Intelligence. Her writing has been published in a variety of print and online magazines. Debra Kasowski International helps executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations boost their productivity, performance, and profits. It all starts with people and passion. Sign up the Success Secrets Newsletter and get your free e-book download today! www.debrakasowski.com

How Does Hindsight Help You GPS Your Best Life?

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written by Debra Kasowski & Charmaine Hammond

Do wish you could turn back time so you could have the results you wanted the first time?

You have probably heard the saying that “Hindsight is 20/20”. You always learn from where you have been if you take the time to consciously look at how your day went and where you may have improved. Foresight is worth its weight in gold.If you plan with intention to learn from your mistakes you can improve your relationships, career, family dynamics and even your health.

Courtesy of Dundee Photographics/freedigitalphotos.net

Where you are right now is all a matter of the daily choices you have made to bring you to where you are right now. In order to change, you need to examine your daily habits and track what you wish to improve. Tracking helps you to identify areas that are working well and even those that are not working so well. You may even notice there are some choices you need to stop making because of the results you are getting. You will continue to get the results you’re getting if your actions do not change.

Lasting change often occurs with small shifts in behaviors, actions, and even habits. Every choice you make should be followed with, “Is this choice supporting my goal?” If the answer is no, replace the behaviour with something that will support your goal – purposeful actions. When you continue to do this, you will always have actions that support your goals.

Take time to reflect on each day to see identify if there was an area that you may have improved or taken action. Do not spend too much time focusing on the past as you cannot move forward while looking back. Why not learn and more forward so you can celebrate your journey?

Charmaine Hammond and Debra Kasowski are the authors of GPS Your Best Life- Charting Your Destination and Getting There in Style.  Jack Canfield, co-author of The Success Principles and Chicken Soup for the Soul says that “Charmaine and Debra show you how to navigate through life’s inevitable roadblocks and obstacles with ease and grace, so you can reach your desired destination”. To find out how to GPS Your Best Life, visit www.gpsyourbestlife.com

 

Change Your Habits by Making The Decision

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Habits are those practices that we put in place that help to serve us in some shape or form. Whether it be smoking cigarettes, overeating, undereating, gambling, or overspending, the habits you and I form are there for emotional support.As Dr. Phil would say, “How is that working for you?” Why not channel the emotions you have into leading a healthy business lifestyle in order to create the life you want. Women have asked me how can they change or transform into the woman they want to be. The answer is simple! You need to make a decision!!!

Making a decision is one of the most powerful things you can do. It is almost as if a road is cleared and opened for you to drive on saying, ” Lead the way”. People, places, and possibilities come into your life because you have made room for them. I know when I have developed clarity in the direction I wanted for areas of my life and business – God and the universe provided me with the tools and resources. “Here you are!”

Change starts with a decision. Decision is where the action begins. If you want to create or make a change in your life, make a decision to do so. The following changes can start the shift to help you make the change.

  • Track the behaviour you want to change. Look for ways you can streamline or improve your progress.
  •  Stop watching television into the wee hours of the night instead read a book or magazine related to your industry or play a board game with your kids.
  • Idenitfy what is currently working and what is not working. What do you need to stop doing?
  • Send  thank you cards to people who have made a difference in your life
  • Stop checking email in the morning and concentrate on revenue generating activities. They give you the biggest bang for your buck!
  • Reflect on your day – are there areas you could have improved your conversations or handled situations or tasks differently.

Every change you make, makes a difference. Some changes you will notice overtime and some you may notice almost immediately. Trust me the people around you will also notice and see your shift. The greatest forms of change are incremetal and the most powerful. When you bring your actions and thoughts into clarity and become more aware of what you are doing, change will occur.

Make a plan to support the change by having an accountability buddy, coach, or both. Write down the action steps you will take to create sustainable change. execution is the key!!! Nothing happens without action!

What is one change you know you need to make to get the results that you want?

How Will Changing Your Habits Change Your Life?

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You have heard the saying, “Old habits die hard.” Habits can be hard to change. Many people fear change. They are quite comfortable and happy with keeping things the way they have always been. When even the slightest change is suggested you  may have heard, “We tried that once it never worked.” or “This is the way things have always been.” That’s all fine and dandy but the question I would say to you or anyone who makes these statements, “Are you happy with the RESULTS or OUTCOME you are currently getting?”

Are you happy with the:

  • state of your relationships?
  • the amount of people you are serving?
  • your marketing methods?
  • your Google analytics of your website?
  • amount of free time you currently have?
  • state of your health?
  • amount of money you are making?

If you answered “no” to any of these questions, what would it mean to you to be happy in those areas? What is one habit you could change to start moving towards the outcome you want? Map out a calendar and track the change over a minimum of 21 days. Experts suggest it takes 21 days to change a habit, however, my theory is the longer you can continue it the more likely you will make it a more permanent part of your daily life. Go for one month! Pick one area of your life and change a habit for one month and watch the results compound!

Do you need to:

  • track your finances
  • eliminate time wasters
  • complete your taxes
  • book a vacation
  • follow-up with a client
  • go the gym
  • mend a relationship
  • carve out some “me”time
  • go for a long afternoon lunch with girlfriends
  • write a business proposal
  • write a press release
  • the list could be endless!

Remember if you continue to do what you have always done, you will continue to get the same results. If you want to change the results, you need to change the one thing you know you must do. In Nike fashion, “Just do it!”