3 bad habits that are holding us back

The beginning of the year is an exciting time for me. A time when I can plan and dream about the goals I’m going to achieve in the next 12 months.

However, like you, I have some bad habits that are getting in my way of reaching my dreams. Do you have the same bad habits as me? Are these holding you back - being a perfectionist, getting distracted & doing things the same way?

Here’s some help for overcoming these three habits so that you can achieve your goals this year:

1. Being a perfectionist – I call myself a “recovering perfectionist” because I have been purposefully working on becoming less of a perfectionist. The trick to being less of a perfectionist is becoming comfortable with the 80% solution. Once the result is “good enough” STOP. I know, it is difficult. We know we could create a better product with “just a little more work.” However, the “little more work” turns into hours that are not worth the slight improvement in the solution. If you are a perfectionist, temper your expectations a little with every project. It gets easier over time.
2. Doing things the same way – We all get comfortable with the way we did things in the past. They worked before, shouldn’t they continue to be successful? Well, actually NO! You need to learn new skills, and update your abilities so that they are relevant to today’s environment. In the past, I did most of my work in person – coaching, facilitating & training. I am updating my training to include eLearning because I think it will be more popular as time goes along. We can’t be satisfied with doing things the way we have always done it, we need to keep our skills and abilities fresh and current.
3. Getting distracted – I have great hopes each morning of getting high-priority work done, but sometimes I get caught checking my email or some other activity that isn’t very important in the big picture. The next things I know is an hour has flown by! How to keep yourself from distractions is to have a good plan for the significant actions you want to accomplish in the day. If you know where you want to go each day, then you’re more likely to get there – this is Systems Thinking! AND start on these actions before you do anything else. This way you can manage your time more effectively and the little things won’t get you off track as much.

At the Haines Centre for Strategic Management, we use our Systems Thinking Approach to help us plan for our day, week and month, as well as execute those ideas. Thinking strategically about your life and work can help you overcome your bad habits.

Want to talk more about being strategic? Valerie.MacLeod@HainesCentre.com