Category Archives: Experiments

Experiments conducted

100 Day Challenge Update – Day 99

Experiments, Goal Achievement

Goals

100 Day Challenge Update – Day 99 of 100

As I write this I am on day 99 of my 100 Day Challenge.  Please see back to my post nearly 100 days ago and see what I wrote then: https://lifeisalaboratory.com/goal-achievement/100-day-challenge

How did it go? I had five goals and I have not achieved one in full!  I have partially achieved some of my goals however which is good progress.  For example one of my goals was to run a marathon.  Well I managed to run half a marathon.  Another was to publish a book that I am working on.  I did not publish the book but I did make great progress in writing the book (Experiments in Personal Change – eventually completed in October 2015).  Another goal was related to purchasing a property – that did not happen but was beyond my control.  How do I feel now? I feel overall that I learned much from the 100 Day Challenge and I have gained far more value than I paid.  I feel that I will carry the skills learned into improving my next quarter and setting new goals for my next 100 Day Challenge which I will complete on my own.

Two key lessons come to mind when I reflect on the 100 Day Challenge I am now completing:

1.  My un-achieved goals should not make me feel down.

“Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so?  Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live.  Before they know it, time runs out.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes

An email from Steve Chandler arrived in my inbox just now and prompted me to write this post (I recommend signing up for regular emails from Steve Chandler .  Steve is a life coach, author and speaker and a rock of good sense – www.stevechandler.com)

In reference to the above quote from Oliver Wendell Holmes Steve says:

“I love waking up to those two choices I have. I can get ready to live, or I can live.  This getting ready to live is often a misinterpretation of the goal-setting process…………. It’s beautiful to have goals, it’s wonderful to have projects; but I don’t want them to be an excuse for me to try to live in the future.”

My partially completed goals should not make me feel like a failure.  I still can live fully today.  I am complete today even if I failed to complete all my goals in the 100 Day Challenge.  As Wendell Holmes said I just need to live today to the fullest and stop getting ready to live when I have achieved some goal or other.

Carpe_diem

2.  I had set too many goals!

I had set 5 goals at the beginning of the 100 Day Challenge.  Listen to what Tim Cook, CEO of Apple Computers said to his company shareholders:

‘We are the most focused company that I know of. We say no to good ideas everyday. We say no to great ideas in order to keep the amount of things we focus on very small in number so that we can put enormous energy behind the ones we do choose. The table that each of you is sitting at today, you could probably put every product on it that Apple makes, yet Apple’s revenue last year was $40 billion.’

In hindsight I should have set one to two goals for my 100 Day Challenge and really focused all my energy on achieving those goals .  I feel that I was trying to achieve too many disparate goals and my energy dissipated between them.

If you would like to try out the 100 Day Challenge for yourself please see: www.goalsguy.com . The 100 Day Challenge programme will guide you on how to set focused goals for the next 100 days.  You will also be guided on how to conduct a weekly review and planning process which is a very valuable skill.  Each day of the 100 day challenge you will be emailed a thought provoking and inspirational message.  One huge benefit of the 100 Day Challenge is that you will be focused on goal achievement over the next 100 days and you will likely make progress towards achieving your goals even if you don’t achieve them fully. Keep in mind my experience – focus, focus, focus and set 1-2 key goals.  In fact set 1 to 2 WIGs (wildly important goals).  WIGS have the power to transform you life.

Also remember to live each day to the fullest – you are complete today even without achieving your goal.  Don’t let your goals be an excuse for living in the future.  

Tiny Habits

Experiments, Habits,

“Sow a thought, and you reap an act;
Sow an act, and you reap a habit;
Sow a habit, and you reap a character;
Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.”
― Samuel Smiles

habitsI am really interested in the role of habits, how we develop them and the effect they have on our results in life.   If we can develop good habits then these habits will propel us in a positive direction in life.  A bad habit such as smoking will damage your health and may eventually kill you.

This week I came across the a useful website by Stanford University lecturer Dr. BJ Fogg http://www.bjfogg.com/

BJ teaches about how to develop tiny habits.  A tiny habit is:

  • something you do at least once per day
  • that takes you less than 30 seconds
  • that requires little effort

BJ says that simplicity changes behaviour so make sure your habit is easy to do.

You can go to BJ’s site and try out his Tiny Habits® program to create new behaviors in your life.  I have decided to give it a go and my tiny habits for the week will be as follows:

  • “AFTER my feet touch the floor in the morning, I will say “It’s going to be a great day.”
  • “AFTER I hear any phone ring, I will exhale and relax for 2 seconds.”
  • “After I put my head on the pillow I will think of one good thing from my day”

A tiny habit is designed to come after an existing habit.  In one of the above examples putting my head on the pillow is the trigger for the new tiny habit to occur.  Linking your new habit to an existing habit is key to doing the new habit.

The idea is to take a very simple habit you want to create for starters.  Once you get practice on creating simple habits then you can take on the creation of bigger habits.

I will post an update on how it goes and of course you are free to join me on the tiny habit challenge – just go to BJ’s site for more details.

If you would like to learn more about habits I recommend the books below.  There is also an app below (called the Habit Factor) which you can use on your smartphone or tablet which is an excellent way to track your positive habits.  I used this app and found it to be very useful.