Back Scratching Vouchers

Posted on December 15, 2012 by btsandwich

At the moment I’m in Australia. I’ve been bang up for coming here for a long time but never got around to doing it until now. Finally I can strike that bad boy off the bucket list! And since I’m gathering momentum, I might as well see what else I can stamp out while I’m here. Watch this space!

I landed in Brisbane a couple of weeks ago and had a mince around with the missus. I couldn’t believe the prices of stuff! I was pretty outraged and was getting more and more angry at the world every time I had to hand over my hard earned cash. Well, I say “hard earned”… not quite, but they don’t know that. I must remember to share my recent ventures with you… and how I managed to earn a fair decent whack doing something I really enjoyed for only a few hours a week. Next post?

Anyway, after allowing dollar signs to peck my head into submission for two days, I took a minute to have a word with myself. Before long, I was back to feeling like myself again. I’d been blatantly ignoring a lesson, which I myself have bored people with, countless times before. And that is seeing money for what it is…

I don’t mean what it’s made out of and it’s actual value and all that rubbish, that’s irrelevant. I mean what actually is it?

1. What’s money?

Without money, how would things get done? We wouldn’t all just run around doing stuff for nothing, would we? Some of us would I suppose, but loads would just sit back and watch the favours come pouring in while never actually lifting one of their own selfish little fingers. Instead, we’d trade favours:

Eric: “Brenda, d’you fancy comin’ over to mine tonight ‘n’ ironin’ my pyjamas?”

Brenda: “Not really, but I suppose I might if you fix my door handle”

Eric: “No problem!”

All well and good until the following happens:

Eric: “Brenda, d’you fancy comin’ over to mine tonight ‘n’ ironin’ my pyjamas?”

Brenda: “Not really, but I suppose I might if you don a leotard and ballet dance to Swan Lake for me at the theatre”

Eric: “You’ve changed.”

Sometimes you just don’t have what Brenda wants. So what happens now? You hand the weird old lady a blank voucher, which she can then choose to hand over to the theatre in return for that dance she was after. Both your backs are now suitably scratched.

2. Gratitude

Secondly and most importantly, be grateful. You are essentially doing one another a favour. Brenda (or shopkeeper or whoever) is adding value to your life. They are providing you with something you want or need. Be thankful. When the transaction takes place, say “thank you” and mean it. A long drawn out soppy version might go:

Eric: “Brenda, d’you fancy comin’ over to mine tonight ‘n’ ironin’ my pyjamas?”

Brenda: “Not really, but I suppose I might if you don a leotard and ballet dance to Swan Lake for me at the theatre”

Eric: “I’ll tell you what, since I look horrific in lycra, you can have this voucher and go see the real thing instead. You deserve it for ironing my pyjamas. I really don’t like ironing and I’d much rather be watching Attenborough waffling on about birds of paradise. You’ve really made my evening better. I can relax now in the knowledge that when I go to bed, my pyjamas will be all straight and starchy. Aaaah, what a nice warm feeling. Here, take these vouchers and have a really nice night at the theatre. Thank you for making my life sweeter.”

Brenda: “No problem, it’s a deal. I’m really happy that you’re happy. I’m really gonna enjoy the theatre as well, Thank you. In fact, I’ll even iron your pyjamas again in future if you can get my poodle shaved.”

3. Imagine the alternative

What does life smell like without ever having that thing you want/need? Does it absolutely stink? Or is it still quite nice? This is where you normally realise that the amount you’re paying is really not that bad. How crap would it be to not have a phone to call people and be called? To not have any form of transport? To not travel? To not have clean drinking water? To have to sleep on the street? Bills and fares start to look a bit kinder now.

4. What choice do you have?

Realise that a lot of work goes into most products and services and the price is nearly always fair based on what it would take for you to think up/invent/design/make/ship a product yourself or to study/craft/hone/perfect a service and carry it out for yourself. It’s not feasible, thus, the price is fair and everyone’s a winner.

Am I gonna begrudge paying for any of this amazing life experience? Travelling the world and fulfilling a life-long dream. Meeting loads of interesting people and pushing myself in directions that will leave lasting positive effects on me, making me stronger, wiser and deeply, thoroughly satisfied with what I’ve done with my life? Doubt it pal.

Now who needs their pyjamas ironing?

Finally, An End to Loose Ends!

Posted on July 30, 2012 by btsandwich

Clear Up Loose Ends to Move Forwards…

If you’re on a special quest to find out exactly how to be properly held back in your pursuit of happiness, look no further! There’s something you can do to guarantee first class results for your efforts.

Ready? Here goes…

Leave a ton of stuff undone! Do this and be sure you’ll remain firmly attached to that extra thick, extra strong length of elastic fixing you securely to the past and successfully and efficiently keeping you from any form of future success. Quiet mind? Forget it!

Stuff like what?

Stuff like… anything that’ll greedily gnaw away at your mind and mentality. Those things that pop into your mind each day and remind you that you’re slack, lazy and inept. Those little thoughts and internal murmurs that follow and cause that sudden, random sinking feeling we all sometimes get. It’s like a tiny bird, relentlessly pecking at your head, over and over again in the exact same place. It doesn’t hurt loads at first, it’s the sheer repetitiveness and persistence with which it slowly but surely takes you down. It’s a brilliant and subtle form of repetitive torture treatment which leaves you inevitably tearing out your hair… and no one likes a bald neurotic!

These delightful little nightmares come in loads of different forms as well. Think small and big. Think internal and external. Think physical and mental. They all work cleverly together to rob you of your focus and motivation. Some examples are:

A faulty doorknob in your home you keep meaning to fix
An apology you know you want to make
Someone you’re putting off calling
A goal you set yourself that you’re not working on
That thing you promised yourself you’d see the doctor about
The weight loss target you set that’s spitefully choosing not to meet you halfway
The email that requires a response
A form you need to fill in
Resentment you’re holding onto
Old thought patterns that need attending to
Bad debt hanging over you

I could go on and on… but you get it, so I won’t.

Once you’ve wrapped up all these crappy, attention stealing, energy draining tasks… and only then, you can start to properly build on what you have in the present and sculpt a better future for yourself – one that involves more fun for a start, and a significant reduction in stress and boredom. And you can now do so with laser-like focus.

Disregarding this wonderful (and might I add, free) advice will help you to

lack focus
feel you can’t take on anything new
think less of yourself
convince yourself that you’re not a ‘do-er’
lose mental clarity and become scatty in your thinking
acquire short term memory problems
witness your temper thinning like your torn out hair
earn an embarrassingly shortened attention span similar to that of a thick fish

Which lead to incidents and issues such as:

unnecessary arguments
problems at work
problems with relationships
(dangerously) low self-esteem
serious lack of motivation

… and so on.

Physically, you’ll no doubt be the proud owner of a depleted immune system as well! Result!

So…

Grab a sheet of paper or the electronic equivalent, write at the top ‘loose ends to clear up’ then, well… write, do and enjoy having done.

What will you do with your new found motivation? I feel another list coming on!

Russell up a Brand New Team

Posted on May 4, 2012 by btsandwich

“My dad’s philosophy was (and I think still is) that life is a malevolent force, which seeks to destroy you, and you have to struggle with it. Only those who are hard enough will succeed. Most people get crushed, but if you fight, in the end life will go, “Fucking hell. This one’s serious. Let him through.” – Russell Brand

Shagger of the year, three years running...

The hugely controversial character he is, Russell Brand doesn’t half know how to stir it up, but the man can write. Two of the most cleverly written books I’ve ever read are My Booky Wook and Booky Wook 2… his autobiographies. Both are laced with genius metaphors and thoughts on life that are so well crafted they could influence the view of the masses.

Brand had issues with addiction, to drugs, alcohol and sex… you know, the good stuff! (you know I’m kidding, chill). Anyway, his outstanding talents and life-long dreams were relentlessly held back by the force of misery that is dependence, until he slowly but surely sculpted himself a decent, loving group of friends and colleagues who would help him through his issues and help keep him facing the right way (which at that time was probably any which wasn’t face down in the gutter).

Long story short, he took that obsessive, destructive personality of his and with the help of the people he’d chosen to spend time with, set off on a spectacular trajectory which in a ridiculously short space of time, saw him achieving that life-long dream of starring in Hollywood movies and more. Love him or hate him… he’s not boring… and I’ve made my mind up.

Also, he rightly mentions on several occasions throughout the gripping tale of the minefield which was his life, the importance of strategically injecting spells of laughter when life strives to make you feel sore. Mind you… he is a comedian. Anything to get the viewers in eh?! Good man.

A Dirty Movie Metaphor – Pulling Through Little Challenges

Posted on March 9, 2012 by btsandwich

Last night I was sulking like a bitch. I was in a foul mood and was telling myself all the things I didn’t want to hear. If someone else would have spoken to me that way they’d have earned themselves a right good arse kicking, fact.

Luckily I know how to deal with that infantile, cry baby in there that makes an appearance from time to time. I watch something funny and drown the little shit right out. Moohahaha!!

Imagine my “disappointment” when my funny, ‘cheer me up’ DVD turned out to be damaged. It started pausing, jumping, skipping and generally became unwatchable. Eek, basically. The DVD was a hired one as well so I was already drafting up my angry complaint email in my head. Meanwhile, the button that ejects the DVD from my laptop decided to stop working. Smart.

Deep breath… okay, I can eject the DVD from the ‘My Computer’ folder. That’s that problem solved.

Quick inspection of the DVD reveals no scratches or marking. Hmmm.

Might as well grab a cloth and scrub the living daylights out of the damn thing anyway, just in case… it’s just the ‘done thing’. Back in the laptop and…. MAGIC! It worked.

Big deal, you had a dirty DVD. (true)

What I noticed though, is that when I was stressing out over God-knows-what and was giving it the old ‘why me?!’ I automatically assumed the worst… that the DVD was actually damaged. And even though it was really obvious, it seriously didn’t cross my mind at first to eject the disk internally. That inner tantrum-thrower was too busy getting all worked up!

It was only when I took a second or two to gather my thoughts that I realised there was a different (and really simple) method of approach to work around my restriction. Then even though at face value the underlying problem was completely invisible (no markings on the disk), just trying the thing that normally clears away the problem, did just that… allowing me to spend the remainder of the evening laughing my arse off. Result.

The daft little metaphor

When you’re feeling restricted and life’s not playing out properly, stop and think a minute, because:

There’s always a way around the restriction.
Any apparent damage probably isn’t actually damage and certainly isn’t permanent.
You might not be able to see at first glance why life isn’t running smoothly, but if you do a few things that you know normally make you feel good and make life a bit sweeter, the elusive little specks of grime that are holding you back will generally disappear, setting you back on track.

I’m talking about things like:

Showering away the negative energy, literally scrubbing yourself clean in the shower
Doing some exercise to get the old endorphins flowing
Watching/reading/doing something that inspires you, motivates you or makes you laugh
Getting hydrated
Getting some good healthy food down your neck
Having a chat with someone who makes you feel good about yourself
Letting out any aggression on a pillow or punch bag. Yeah that’s right, slap the stupid thing
Tart yourself up so you look good

Doing stuff like this cleans out the cobwebs and freshens you up. It relieves stress and gets you thinking straight again. It’s kind of like recalibrating yourself.

Just thought I’d share that with you.

[photo sources: crying baby: Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos, idea: Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos]

Bribe Your Way to Success – For Free

Posted on March 9, 2012 by btsandwich

If you bribe a naughty child enough times in the right way, they will learn to behave.

Questions about bribing

A nice bribe here and there, from time to time, is an excellent method for getting a foot up in life. Bear in mind a bribe doesn’t have to cost anything, either. So if I could tell you the exact way to be more focused on your tasks and goals from now on, involving the age old game of bribery, would you use it? What if I told you the bribe would benefit you in more ways than one, as the goods you dish out in return for your foot up are yours to keep as well?

Developing the habit

It sounds awesome, I know, but it will take a bit of work from you to start off with. As with everything you do in life, the only effort you need to put in is at the beginning, before the habit is developed. I cannot stress enough how important and powerful the force of habit is and what you can achieve if you work it properly. Once a habit has been developed and the pattern is etched deeply into the old brain, breaking the habit becomes much more difficult than keeping it. Unfortunately, the force of habit is infamously indiscriminate when it comes to being a good one or a bad one. Ever tried to quit smoking or change your eating habits? It’s not easy is it? Well the good news is that it’s just as difficult to break a good habit too.

Understood… Who are we bribing here?

You may have noticed before that there appears to be three of you in that head of yours. They rarely all agree and they can sometimes make a lot of noise. These three ‘inner yous’ each serve a different purpose.

Parent - One of them acts as a parent and makes sure you look after your personal hygiene, tells you “do this” and “don’t do that” etc.
Adult - One is your inner adult and makes grown up decisions based on the facts involved in the decision making. Adults are sensible and generally responsible.
Child – The third is your inner child. The little voice that says “I don’t want to do work, I want to go out and have fun” and “I know I’m supposed to be on a diet but I just want chocolate!” Kids are kids. They need attention.

The trick here is to consciously separate these three inner voices and use them to your advantage. So with that in mind, here’s the exact method for creating better self discipline, thus becoming more focused, productive and successful.

The How-to

When you need to get work done, meet a deadline or get motivated for a task, be the parent. Speak to your inner child, as the parent, and speak as a parent would to a child. Here is where the bribery comes in. It might go something like this:

: Baby a bit overdue??

The convo

Inner Child: I don’t want to shuffle papers, it’s Saturday morning. I want to sit with my feet up and watch TV!

Inner Parent: Yes but the paperwork needs to be done by Monday and I want it out of the way. It’ll only take four hours or so.

Inner Child: But I can do it tomorrow morning. I just want to chill out and eat some junk food for now.

Inner Parent: Listen. I’ll cut you a deal. You sit quietly and behave while I get this paperwork out of the way and then when it’s done, I’ll treat you to a trip out with friends/family, OK?

Inner Child: Hmmm, only if you promise.

Inner Parent: Consider it a done deal. Oh… and we only eat junk food one day a week, Sunday. You’ve behaved all week, one more day to go and I’ll knock us up a massive feast! How does that sound?

Inner Child: Perfect

Finally

And that’s how it works. Bribe the living daylights out of that inner child because we know that children respond to a nice prize. The more you do this, the more promptly that inner child will react. Develop the habit relentlessly. Be sure to keep your promises though… a bribe is a two way street!

Soon you will find that you are focused and motivated to succeed in everything you do. This is not just a good idea, it works.

No tools needed. Getting leverage on yourself has never been easier!

[picture source: http://heartsighttherapy.com/]

Everything You Need to Know to Wake Up Early, Every Morning

Posted on February 27, 2012 by btsandwich

Sleeping / Waking Up Issues – Experiment Results, Exact How-to and Some Helpful Suggestions

As you might already know, over the past few months I’ve been experimenting with techniques to help rid me of a life-long problem… not being able to rip my sorry arse away from my soft, comfy bed sheets each morning (did I just make that sound as though I shit the bed??).

I’ve had the ups and downs and off days and hectic party weekends throwing me out of sync as I’ve gone along, but I’ve noted every single thing I’ve found out along the way… and it’s all here.

The plan was to learn to rise early every single day (which is what I did for the first six weeks)… and what you’ll learn here will make it possible for you to do that… but for me, getting up at the crack of dawn every single day is just not realistic with my lifestyle. On a weekend, I sometimes like to party until around the same time I’d get up during the week. Obviously I knew this from the word go, but I wanted to know the exact method to get up every morning at the same time… on demand. So I figured it out.

: Don’t be alarmed!

Whether you want to be an early riser every single day or just some, like I did, you need to make a few weeks commitment to do it every day. This is to teach your mind and body that they can do it. Once you have it down, you’ll be able to enjoy the benefits of getting up early whenever you want/need to. So…

First, do these:

Don’t go to bed until you’re tired… v. Important.
Aim to wake up (set the alarm) at the same time every day.
Have a reason to get up. Whether it’s something to do, a nice cereal, a nice coffee, a schedule, a magazine to read etc.
For productivity purposes, have a list of things to do, pre-written the night before. Try to make the first thing on the list something good, as per above, for extra persuasion.
Keep well hydrated and eat reasonably well during the day so you’re body isn’t suffering physically when you wake up.
Keep your alarm (and that damn snooze button) out of arms reach.
As soon as you wake up, whilst still laying in bed, have a huge stretch. Stand up and treat yourself to another.
If you live somewhere not very warm, have a dressing gown or something similar at the side of the bed, or maybe set your heating to come on when you get up… it’s far too easy to stay in bed where it’s nice and warm and comfy. You won’t be glad you did… believe.
Be careful of what you eat for the four hours before you turn in. I’d say scrap crap stodgy, carby and fatty type foods like pasta, bread, rice, chips, and anything that tends to leave your stomach feeling like an over-inflated basketball. Instead, opt for fruit, veg and salad type stuff.

Then these:

Notice which methods work best for you after first trying them all.
Make sure you are able to use those every morning, to make the best progress.
If possible, share the commitment with someone you live with. Put a bit of pressure on yourself to keep it up.

This might seem like a lot of work at first (and it does) but you won’t regret it in the morning when you wake up feeling strong, motivated, inspired and healthy. Beats waking up feeling like swollen, asthmatic road kill with dry, puffed up eyes that you can’t open properly and breath that could take the paint off a picture!

[picture source: Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos]

Goal Setting vs Goal Achieving – Get Shit Done

Posted on January 30, 2012 by btsandwich

The vast majority of the world is over-setting and under-achieving. Don’t hold it against ‘em though… just show them this post, give them a slap and then send them back on their merry way with a fresh perspective and a new tool in the box… okay? Here goes…

You see blog after blog, website after website and book after book droning on and on and on about setting goals. You’re probably sat there thinking “so do you”. Well you’d be right, except I focus more on goal achieving than on goal setting. Goal setting is easy; you think of a goal then you set it. Breaking down the goal into smaller more manageable goals is the more advanced version of this, but the main objective is obviously to achieve the goal… not just to set it, no matter how meticulously broken down it is.

Let me reiterate that – Setting a goal is good, yes, but achieving the goal is the ultimate result we’re after.

Too many of us set goals, then set more goals… maybe achieve one… then set more… don’t achieve them… set some more and blah blah blah. The term I use to describe this is ‘over-setting’ (generally followed by under-achieving, see the connection?). Before long, not only do over-setters convince themselves that they are not cut out for this ‘goal setting’ thing everyone bangs on about, but they get thoroughly pissed off and they give up trying completely. If this is the case for you, don’t worry, it’d seem you’re pretty good at goal setting to be honest. You’ve been pretty shit at goal achieving though. Sorry.

What I’m getting at is this; thinking about goal setting only, is the same as having the raw ingredients for a cake and no recipe, or at best, having the ingredients and the recipe but no cake. Goal achieving is putting the ingredients and recipe together and carrying out the instructions until you have not only made the cake, but eaten the damn thing as well. The setting of a goal is purely a track to run on and a means to an end. Most people are only focusing on half the job.

How do I know what most people are focusing on?

Go to Google Adwords Keyword Tool and in the Word or phrase field search for keywords on both ‘goal setting’ and ‘goal achieving’. The first row in your results shows the number of global monthly searches for that exact phrase. Right now the results are as follows:

: Ready… set… set… set…

and…

: Ready… set… go!

As you can see from these images:

Goal setting = 201,000 global monthly searches

Goal achieving = 33,100 global monthly searches

Surely this should be the other way around?! Which category would you fall into?

What makes the difference between goal setting and goal achieving?

The difference is the ‘doing’ of the goal, so what makes us ‘do’? What makes the all important difference between action and inaction? The following list will help:

The goal you set must be a goal you want to achieve
The pleasure obtained from achieving the goal must outweigh the ‘pain’ of the process
You must have, or be willing to get, the resources needed to carry out the process
You must have the motivation to act
You must have a reason to act
You must believe it’s feasible
You must believe it’s achievable

The process of goal elimination:

1. Ask yourself if you really want to achieve this goal or if it’s just something you think you should do. If you don’t want it, scrub it off your goals list immediately. The longer it sits there, the more you are convincing yourself that you are not a goal achiever.

2. The pleasure/pain principle. If you hate the process of achieving a goal, from which you get only a mild amount of pleasure, there is simply no point. Scrub it. You won’t do it.

3. Not having the resources to carry out the achieving of a goal will serve only to give you an excuse for not having achieved it. If you don’t have the resources, figure out if/how you can get them immediately or it’ll always be on the back burner, eating away at your goal achieving confidence.

4. The motivation to act is what makes all the difference. Surround yourself with things that motivate you. Remind yourself constantly what’s in it for you. Use videos, pictures, visualisation and whatever else motivates you.

5. Your reasons will vary loads. It might be that your reason is just for fun, or to get promoted and earn more money or to make life easier in the future or to build confidence and self-respect. What is your ultimate reason for wanting to achieve the goal? No reason, no motivation, no achievement.

6. Feasibility is a difficult one. When you look at the world today you see thousands of inventions and creations that would previously have been thought of as not feasible. Whether or not your goal is feasible, the thing that matters is whether you believe it is. It’s the belief which will inspire you to action. Don’t believe it? You won’t achieve it.

7. Is it achievable? It’s true that most people are capable of a hell of a lot more than they think. But it’s certainly not true that anyone can do anything, as so many ‘gurus’ say. If you have no hands, you can’t click your fingers and make things happen, fact. Look for reasons why you can succeed and reasons why you might not. Then take the reasons you might not and try to solve them. If you really can’t see any way of achieving the goal after intensive research, you need to find a similar, achievable alternative with similar benefits.

If you are a serial goal setter, try this:

Have a list of all your goals in front of you.
Run each one through the above seven goal eliminators.
Scrub off any goals you have set which don’t apply to all seven rules.
Don’t set one more single goal until you have achieved at least half of the remaining goals on your list.

Get mad. Get motivated. Get fucking busy. You need to convince yourself exactly what you’re capable of… starting now!

Fresh Off the Press – BTSs Manifesto…

Posted on January 10, 2012 by btsandwich

No further introduction needed.

: Boss The Sandwich’s Manifesto

And that’s all there is to it!

Smart.

At a Cross-Road?

Posted on January 9, 2012 by btsandwich

Goal setting, force of habit and comfort zone stretching can be perfectly summed up and combined by metaphorically learning to cross the road again.

Ok, so imagine you’re a toddler again. You thought you could do anything. Crossing the road wouldn’t have been an issue for you. You might have got squashed in a matter of seconds, redecorating 20 metres of tarmac, but you’d have done it anyway. There was no fear, but no education either. Before long though, your parents taught you to be scared of crossing the road to prevent the blatantly obvious.

The next step to learning was watching and analysing what was going on before ever having to take the risk yourself.

Then came the formula. When I was at school I think they called it the green cross code. We were taught where to stand, where to look, what to look out for and what order to do it all in, along with some other little tips to stop us becoming pitiful pancakes.

Around this time, still just a tot, you nervously brave the roads alone. You start small, still with a little bit of guidance initially and work up towards bigger, busier more intimidating ones until you can safely manage them all alone.

At first, the process was running the formula through your head as you approach. Stop. Recite the formula to yourself and consciously follow it. You’d be worried along the way and probably over cautious, but the formula would see you through safely. The whole process would have taken a hell of a lot longer and a hell of a lot more effort than it does now though.

Then all you did was continue to cross roads until the habit was formed and now you pretty much do it on autopilot unless the road is particularly busy. Even when it is, it takes no effort really to find the right, safest place to cross and get it done.

Now you automatically analyse the situation on approach. You see if traffic is coming, you even judge where it’ll be by the time you reach the kerb if you continue to walk at the same speed. Most of us then, if possible, adjust our walking speed accordingly on approach so that by the time we approach the road we don’t even have to stop at all. And most of this is without consciously thinking at all. Getting to the other side successfully and safely is… erm… childsplay?

Pull the metaphor apart and see the similarities. Then make a decision…

Am I going to want to cross any big roads in my lifetime?

If so, get practicing on the little ones now.

Summary: Either use experts to show you a formula you can use for developing a habit of setting and achieving goals outside your comfort zone, or use different tried and tested strategies and combine them to make your own formula. Once you have the formula, use it on ever increasing projects until the habit is secured and is yours to keep and exploit. Before long it all becomes second nature. It’s a small price to pay in the short term for such decent, permanent gains.

Become Ha-bit Better

Posted on January 3, 2012 by btsandwich

How you do anything is how you do everything. It’s a saying I’ve heard kicking about for a few years now and it’s actually a decent way of finding out what you might be doing wrong… in anything you do. What it basically means is that your traits and idiosyncrasies tend to run through all aspects of your life. Some you notice, others you might not.

Ever leave things half done? Or even worse, nine tenths complete? This isn’t a bad example of where you’d likely find one of these awkward strains of difficulty worming its way through everything you do with your life. You might find you have a tendency to stop reading a book before it’s finished. Or you tidy a room and don’t bother with the finishing touches. Maybe you finish a project, but miss out some of the finer, yet vital details. If this is the case for you, you can guarantee that in some way it is stopping you achieving the goals you’re after.

I chose incompleteness as an example because it is definitely one of the most common, but have a good think about your traits. What could you be doing better? What might you not be doing that you should be? Once you’ve spotted it, change it. Right down to the tiniest version of the problem. Using the example of not getting things finished, go finish something that you know you’ve left, prematurely. Make excuses to develop your new habit as a completer finisher. Take on projects. Small ones, then bigger ones.

I’ve mentioned the importance of developing good habits before. This time I’m referring to getting rid of bad habits and sticking a few good ones in their place. With consistency, you’ll soon convince your brain that you are, by nature, someone who [insert desired attribute here]. Once you’ve reprogrammed your hard drive and have it utterly convinced, it’ll start to work in your favour. Without conscious effort or intervention, you infallibly live up to your self-image. Once you have altered that self-image for the better, you will find it more uncomfortable physically and mentally to not behave in the way you’ve conditioned yourself to. Champion result.

In summary, find what’s not working and how it’s affecting all the different areas of your life. Change the habit at every available opportunity plus create opportunities.