So while everyone in the US is focused on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. today I wanted to continue my focus on leadership, because for all of the many accomplishments that people talk about, he was also a great leader.
PS: I’ve selected a few of my favorites quotes as a bonus at the end of this article.
Today what I wanted to talk to you about though is something that I’ve had to really put into practice this year, scheduling for success.
Since the start of the new year and my very first post, Leadership, habits and resolutions, the idea that the secret to success is in my daily routine and my habits has really been a breakthrough concept for me.
A lot of people talk about and preach breaking bad habits and forming good habits and it’s always been something difficult for me.
I mean I love my video games and movies and playing music and shooting pool and all those are great, but I’m almost addicted to it at times. Some people are addicted to Facebook and Twitter.
The list is endless, so how do you break a bad habit and form a new one?
I don’t know if you know this, but it take A LOT of willpower to break a bad habit. It’s ridiculous how hard I worked at stopping something, then I realized that the secret to breaking a bad habit isn’t in will power.
The secret is, at least for me, you don’t will your way past a bad habit – you replace a bad habit by committing to a new one.
What you do is turn your “should’s” into “must’s” and everything else will fall into place.
Check this out.
This is something I learned from Tony Robbins. Everyone has a set of standards that they will achieve no matter what. Some people for example, their must is to pay the bills, so every month they pay their bills, but that’s it for them. They never go on to have more money than that.
And, some people have their standards set to not only pay their bills, but give to charity, so they do that every month without fail.
In a nutshell, people will always do what they have to do in order to meet the image they have of themselves.
And it’s not just money. It’s relationships, health and everything else.
Everyone has a list of what they should do, right. I should be eating healthier, I should be working out more, I should be doing this and so on.
But we don’t do them…
So if you want to be successful, the first step is to raise your standards and make those “should’s” things, “must’s” things.
And here’s the second important part.
Schedule for Success
Now by scheduling for success, I don’t mean becoming a stickler with your calendar like I’ve been reading a lot about.
In fact it has less to do with your actual calendar, and more to do with the priorities for the day.
From the first step, once you identify what those musts are, you make time during your day to do those things every day.
Today I posted my own personal schedule for success on my Facebook timeline, and it’s not what you think.
1. Wake up
2. Workout
3. Read/audio/review my goals
4. Blog, market posts
5. Work for my clients
6. Marketing again for myself
7. Read/audio
You’ll notice that there are no times set, no set aside hour in the day to do each thing.
For me, (and you too if you’re serious about being successful), personal development is very important. Remember that leadership has a multiplying effect on your results so I start and end my day with personal development.
The three in the middle are the “action” part of my day. That’s when I blog, do my marketing and get any work my clients need done.
On Monday nights #7 is preceded by the Monday night Empower Hour call, and during the week it is marketing training if there are any webinars, etc happening.
I don’t put a time restriction on my personal development time. Sometimes it takes an hour, other times it’s two.
The rest of the day is used to help my team as a priority, then hang with friends or whatever else I want.
Everything else has a schedule to it, so within the 4 to 6 hour period of the day, anything that needs to get done will get done or be left for the next day.
A funny thing happened when I started following that schedule every day…
All of the bad habits I was trying to break, suddenly were no longer a problem. I needed no will power to stop anything. My must’s good habits removed any need to overcome my bad habits.
I didn’t even have to think about them anymore.
Just one more thing before I leave you for the day…
The reason I have myself 4 to 6 hours of “work” time was because of something else I learned from my mentor.
“If you want something done quickly, give it to a busy person.”
This is also coming from experience, a person who has all day and all the time in the world to do something will never get anything done. By nature we’re procrastinators – there’s always time.
That’s how I used to be.
But a busy person, will make time to get what needs to be done in the fastest amount of time possible and get it done right, because their time is valuable.
People who are busy develop systems (more on that in another post), they will outsource, and they will find ways to get their “must’s” done within that time frame.
Plus, the vision I have for my life is never having to work more than 4 to 6 hours a day. That’s a 20 to 30 hours a week.
Right now I work 7 days a week so this is a full time job, and some weeks I work very long hours (my overtime), but I’m training a new habit of working quickly to replace my habit of procrastination.
And as you’ll learn, it takes about 21 days for the mind to BEGIN getting used to a new habit. It’s part of the reason we’re doing a 21 day blogging challenge.
We want to get people used to blogging every day, marketing every day and following the steps that lead to success.
What bad habit do you want to break? And what good habit should take it’s place?
Please like, share and leave a comment below. It’d love to hear your thoughts!
As promised, here are a few of my favorite Martin Luther King Jr. quotes on leadership!
See you tomorrow.
Love you guys!
~ Dexter
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr on Leadership
“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.”
“People are often led to causes and often become committed to great ideas through persons who personify those ideas. They have to find the embodiment of the idea in flesh and blood in order to commit themselves to it.”
“The people are looking to me for leadership – and if I stand before them without strength and courage, they too will falter.”
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
“A man all wrapped up in himself is a mighty small package.“
