#356 5 Core Habits

In our last +1, we talked about Matthew Kelly’s encouragement to slow down, step back, and take the decade view on our lives.

Quick check in: What’s YOUR decade view look like?

(And, uh… You do these exercises right?! That’s the only way we’re going to move from theory “Oh! That’s a good idea!” to practice, “Ah. That’s what I want and that’s what I need to Optimize to get it!” 🤠)

So… Here’s another great Idea from Matthew’s equally great book Off Balance.

He tells us that we need to get really clear on what makes a great day and then make those behaviors “core habits.”

Here’s how he puts it: “If you look back on the past ninety days, some days were better than others. There were probably some great days, a lot of fairly average days, and perhaps some bad days. What caused the great days? Was each one just happenstance, completely out of your control, nothing to do with you? Or are there certain things that you did that predisposed that day to being a great day?”

Matthew started asking himself what things he could do in a given day that, barring something super weird, would result in a really good day. (And, as I like to say, make it almost impossible to have a bad day.)

He identified FIVE “core habits.”

Today’s +1. What are yours?

Look back over the last 90 days. Notice the great days, the average days and the bad days.

What were you doing on the really GREAT days?!

And… What were you doing on the really BAD days?

Specifically: What five core habits can you create to make those great days much more likely?

1. _____________________________
2. _____________________________
3. _____________________________
4. _____________________________
5. _____________________________

And, what’s the one core kryptonite that’s leading to the really bad days?

It’s this guy: _____________________________

Install. Delete. Repeat.