Jason Womack

How do habits form?

How do you take what you want, and turn it in to what you have?

Habits and routines...they are the things that create experiences. The experiences you have that you want, those are the habits to magnify. The others...well, you wanna stop doing those.

Last week I raced in the USA Triathlon National Championships in Omaha, NE.

I had a great time. It was my poorest triathlon performance of my career.

SO, for kicks I reviewed the last 6 weeks of:

Life
Travel
Training
Relationships

And, I found that I'd fallen in to some pretty deep (and not all that positive) habits. Every time I repeated something from the day before that didn't get me closer to ready, that activity only became easier to do again.

Stay up late, watching a tv show one day made it easier to do the next night.

Put off eating dinner until 8pm because I was working one day, made it easier to do the next night.

Skip the "hard part" of a workout because of ....oh, isn't it easy to find a reason! Well, it was easier to skip that part of the workout later that week.

How do habits form? It's what we're going to teach you in October at www.GetMomentum.com

I've found that this whole thing about doing what we need to do based on knowing what we know isn't so much about "creating good habits."

It's much more about making a choice about the best thing that I need to do. Not all of them, not tomorrow's things. The NEXT thing.

So, what are you going to do next that'll get you closer to that result you want?

Ready?

Every Time I Faced the Water

Raced a triathlon & finished 2nd (age group).

While swimming, I had an interesting experience. You see, I scheduled a root canal for next Wednesday.

Today, when some Pacific Ocean got into my mouth, instant pain.

#SwimFaster

When they ask, "Are you ready?"

I call it, "At my best when."

I approach each stage with a blend of excitement & fear.

Excitement: I've prepared all my life for this.

Fear: Humble authority. Reflect years of study it took to get here.

The importance and impact of "motivation" when it comes to building new routines...

Ready to rock your world? Write the word “motivation” as three words in a notebook like this:

Motive
For
Action

As you study the psychology of change and as you implement the changes you come up with that would be best for you to make, you’re going to come against what I call “The Motivation Complex.” You’ve been there before. Maybe it was when you set a personal “New Year’s Resolution” that only lasted a couple of months (or weeks). Perhaps it was a promise you made a boss - or a partner - that you couldn’t keep.

The first time I “unpacked” that word motivation was way back when I was a high school teacher. After school one evening, I was working on a way to get the students to understand their “WHY.” (This was LONG before Simon Sinek gave his famous TEDx Talk, and wrote the best selling book, “Start With Why.”) Just a couple of years before that I’d earned my Master’s Degree in Education (from the University of California) and I studied the impact of personal connection to new information.

My question to you is:

“Are you personally connected to what you’re doing?”

It’s a big, important question. And, the more you answer it using SPECIFIC examples, the better off you’re going to be. And, the more able you will be able to practice a new routine.

Look, if you’re going to build a new routine it means you’re going to change WHAT you do, HOW you do it, and probably even WHEN it gets done. And, as you already probably know, “Change is HARD!” So, identify and then tap in to your Motive For Action (or, in this case Motive For Change).

I’ve got two questions to ask yourself about the experiment you run as you start that new task/action/practice:

Is this an INTRINSIC move?
When people are intrinsically motivated, they hear a voice, they have a feeling, they “just know” it’s time to do something. (If you want an example, interview Jodi, the founder of www.NoMoreNylons.com about her journey.) When you’re motivated from the inside, you’ll find it impossible to NOT think about what you could be doing. But, you might find it challenging to get started.

Is this an EXTRINSIC one?
Is the world outside - or, just one person - pushing on you to get something done? Are you being “encouraged” by an outside event or circumstance? When you’re motivated from the outside, you’ll continue finding examples AND reasons to get started.

No, you might not need any motivation. But, when you clarify your motive for action you’re that much closer to building everything up to another level.

Ready?

Since January 1st about 4,968 hours have passed.

Where were you about 4,968 hours ago?

And, what will YOU be doing in about 3,768 hours!

To this day, people are asking me how to be “better” time managers. I continue to tell them, there are more questions to be asking… 4 questions in fact.

I dare you to ask yourself the four questions below.

1. Do you lead challenging discussions at work?
2. Are you balancing large work projects and big life goals?
3. Do you influence the leadership track of others?

And, to read the 4th question, click here…

Success... 3 "not-so-secret" steps to achieving more!

In 2011, a mentor of mine said:

“You’ve got to find a problem you can fall in love with. A problem that draws you in, teases you, and brings out the best in you."

Since then, I’ve been thinking, dreaming, wondering, and building with that prompt in mind. It was something he said over a #CoffeeChat in #Ventura, CA and I’ve used it to create workshops, write speeches, write books, and advise clients worldwide. When it’s time to create something and bring it to the planet, you (no doubt in my mind) want to experience success.

Have you discovered YOUR question yet??? I have…”How do I continue to get better, do less, and experience more in this short time I have on the planet?"

My grandpa passed away recently. For all 42.5 years I’ve been on the planet, I’ve known him as a man of integrity, someone who could guide me to change my mind by simply “looking my way,” and a grandpa who gave me my name (we both have Wayne as our middle name…). I learned a LOT from my grandpa. A LOT. As I prepare for the new year, and look forward to getting “teased” by the problem I’ve fallen in love with, I’m putting together a series of discussions - in person AND on line - to share ideas of problem solving and engagement with the communities I’m a part of.

Will I see at an upcoming #CoffeeChat (click here) or during an online Town Hall at Get Momentum (and, click HERE). Over the next few months, here are the topics we’ll explore. They are what I call the “not so secret steps to success."

Show Up

Recently, a Get Momentum member (and graduate of our past two Leadership Retreat programs in Ojai, CA) invited me to discuss the Get Momentum tenets of “FutureCasting” in to the new year with a small group of her most trusted clients AND advisors. Ranjani Mohana is an extremely successful small business owner in the Silicon Valley, and over the past few years, I’ve worked as her coach as she continues to “Show Up.” She builds her network by looking for ways to be of service. Think about that...

So, here’s the tactic I can recommend: Open your calendar - right now - and block out a MINIMUM of 12 days over the next 12 months. You can do 2-3 days a time, or 1 day a month, whatever you think might work for you. Your goal, find somewhere you can “show up,” at a meeting, a conference, an event, where your question can be “tested.” (You know, the problem you’ve fallen in love with.) 

I’ve got 9 of my 12 mapped out for 2015. Wanna talk about them? Want to meet me there? Let me know!

Do Good Work

"Good"…It’s such a darned relative word. What does “good work” mean to you? Is it work you enjoy doing? Is it work you get paid (well) to do? Is it work that you give away? Is it ALL of that? Or, is it something totally different? I know, I know, that was a long list of questions. But, it’s important that you know - from the get go - what “good work” means to you.

At the end of the day, for the next 5 days or so, do yourself a favor: Write down the times during that day where and when you were WAY engaged. When did time seem to disappear? Where did you notice that your energy was rockin’ at a night level? Where did you feel like you were doing “who” you are, not just what you do? Keep track of this over a week so you can do some kind of Weekly Review at the end. In there will be a lot (and I mean a LOT) of information.

Ok, so I’ve been writing in a daily journal at the end of each day since 1997. I answer the same three prompts at the end of the day, and I’d love to share that with you. Members of Get Momentum will tell you that these discussions around “searching for the good work” are always worth the time. Welcome!

Stay In Touch

Accountability. To the project. To the people. To the process. When you are there, time-and-time again, for the work that needs to be done, for the people you work with, and for all of the activities that need to happen in order to achieve success, you will find more and more opportunities coming your way. The people around you - what I call your “Social Network” - are the ones that are going to look forward to your call. They are the ones who will turn to you for assistance. And, they are the ones who will refer you to others, when the time is right. 

Today, right now in fact, go through your “Sent Items” in email. Look back over the last 30 days, and identify the people you’ve emailed who are “new” to your network. Then, as you think about who they are, what they work on, what keeps them busy, ask yourself this question, “Is there anything I can do to be of service?"

I’ve said it before, and I know I’ll say it again: “The best time to build your network is when you have something to give.”

What did I miss?

As YOU think about the secrets to success, what would you add to that list of four?

Do You Know (Clearly) What You Want?

At the start of each day, you have a choice. You can work on the noise that shows up, as it shows up. Or, work on the signal, gaining momentum toward what you and the team has decided is the next goal.

There’s no secret to being productive. If there was, your search would have uncovered it by now.

No…In order to get things done, you have to sit down and, well, do them. The most important “resource” of them all - more than funding, more than time, and certainly more than the next release of your product/app/service - is focus. 

While I was working at the Los Alamos National Laboratory a while back, one of the engineers I met with explained the term “Signal to Noise” to me over lunch. Immediately, I began to apply this “electronics” term to the field of productivity and workplace performance. Here’s how I’d like you to think of this term:

Signal-to-Noise: a measure of how much useful information there is in a system, such as the Internet, as a proportion of the entire contents.

As you look at your own systems - your to-do lists, your email inboxes, your shared project management lists - can you quicky identify the “useful” information? Focus on the most important aspects of your work, and achieve more success each day.

2 Reasons to Visualize

Use visualization to see what you are working toward as you realize each goal. My top two reasons for visualizing are:

1)      So you can recognize what you want when you see it.

2)      So you are ready for the situation or result when it shows up!

Right now, you can practice an effective Focus Technique. Open up your journal or notebook, and on the top of a blank page write: “What will get me closer to my next goal?” As you write down each item, ask yourself, “Is that signal? Or, is it noise?”

Positive Focus

Positive focus is different than positive thinking. Watch what happens when you direct your focus on the positive, the “plus side of things.” An executive of a Fortune 50 company told me that he starts each day with a 5-minute focusing exercise. Before he checks email, before he prints his calendar, before he sits in on a meeting, he mentally prepares for his day. Yes, he will surely have to put out some fires, and handle some crises, but that doesn’t take away from his focus on what he wants.

This kind of visualization process is used by politicians, athletes, public speakers and startup founders. Try it tomorrow morning. Sit, quietly, and set a timer for 5 minutes. In that time, imagine (or, as I say “image-in”) what you’d like to see throughout the day. Then, as things come up throughout the day, reflect back on what you wanted to happen and make real-time decisions that keep you on course.

5 Ways to Practice Focus 

It’s all too easy to get distracted by emergencies or things that look important. (Since the time you’ve been reading this article 

1)      Think of an event you will be attending or participating in soon.

2)      Close your eyes. Picture some of the people you might see there. If possible, imagine their faces. Are they smiling? Serious? Talking? Listening?

3)      Now think about what you will do while there. Will you sit, stand, or walk around? What might you be wearing?

4)      Imagine what you will talk about while there. Consider the other people who will be there with you. What might you discuss? What will you ask them?

5)      Complete the first four steps (which might take only one or two minutes). Stop and write down one thing you would like to do now that you have visualized, before you attend the event.

When you choose to visualize, you move closer to achieving your goal; and when you get there, you’ll experience a feeling of: “This looks kind of familiar; seems like I have seen something like this before.” 

When you redirect your focus, your perspective changes. Clearly state what you want, and increase the “signal” of information to achieve the goal.

Are ya lucky? Are ya good? Or...Is it both?

Do you get to travel much? When you do, where do you go? And…Who do you meet? Recently, I’ve visited several countries and more states, and wherever I go I make a significant effort to “meet the locals.” Writers, artists, business icons, whoever I can meet, I do. And, in our brief discussion, I ask them “How do you Get Momentum to achieve your goals?” You know what’s amazing, is every tells me their stories, their own ways of motivating and acknowledging themselves for the work they do through time...

Here’s a question I’d like you to wonder on for a while. (Think about the successful people you know and meet along the way.)

“Are they really that much better than anyone else in the world? How much did luck/chance play a part in it all?"

Earlier in 2014, this was such a significant question for me, I dedicated an entire month-long Get Momentum module to identifying ways our members could go about “creating more luck” in their personal and professional lives.

Recently, I wrote a blog post (you can read the full version here) where I outlined the FOUR things that I see needing to come together if you're going to make things better. If your life, your work, your community, the way you do things is going to get ANY better this year, you're going to have to do at least one of these. Just imagine if you had a solid plan for enacting all four at one time!

Visualize…Don’t Wish

I quoted Taylor Swift when I wrote about this one. She talks about setting milestones up so that she can make her way successfully and step by step toward where she’s going.

Know When You’re At Your Best…Don’t Hope

I read something Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about this. By organizing life and work so that “good” can happen, she says you might experience more of it!

Build Your Team…Don’t Settle

Since it’s World Cup season, I found a quote by Mia Hamm where she discusses the impact of having a team-work mentality on experience and success.

Measure (the Right) Feedback…Don’t Assume

You know the singer/songwriter Katy Perry? She has an AMAZING quote about seeking out the “right” feedback and ignoring the other stuff…Check it out!

You can read more about these four ideas at the blog post (you can read the full version here). I explain what each of those four things mean, and how you can take full advantage of their effects at your work AND in your life. Oh, and if you’d like to see a bit of Ojai, just press play on the video below...

If you're growing far and fast...and are still in high school!

Some of you may know that I write articles - as regularly as I can - for Entrepreneur Magazine's website. (Link here.)

I will purchase up to 15 subscriptions to the magazine for high school students here in the United States. Just visit this page for all the details.

I remember when I was a high school teacher, many of my students asked, "What is the real point of me going to school?" 

Well, I believe that the purpose of going to school is to surround myself with the people moving in a positive direction! (In fact, I've already registered for more than 15 days of "seminars/conferences" myself, that's a total of "about" 120 hours of education along the topics that I'm interested in. I'm guessing that the "typical" high school class goes through about 120 hours of education per topic...

Look, a way to create MOMENTUM in life and at work is to surround yourself with ideas and activities that make it more likely you'll grow in a positive direction. Check out this link, and pass this opportunity on to someone who might get it!

How do the best get better?