Here are three habits I’ve personally used to help me align with my purpose and create success. I also recommend them to nearly every client I work with.
1. Don’t get caught in “perfectionism” or “having to know”
In another lifetime, I worked as a highly underpaid yet top employee at an early-stage tech startup. The number one lesson I learned from the startup world was the motto: “Fail and fail, fast.” We had to take actions fast because if we didn’t, we’d be out of business. So we took action fast, failed, iterated and learned through good ol’ trial and error. This also applies to similar perfectionistic thoughts like: “I want to know how things will look and how it will all turn out”. Unfortunately, even with a Ph.D. in failure, I’m still a hardcore perfectionist.
So to combat my inherent perfectionism, I take time to pause, go inward, and remember:
My perfectionism is merely my ego screaming for attention…
My “wanting to know” is merely my craving for control (i.e., ego) screaming for attention…
And I know that my ego gets my attention by creating illusions…
In this case, it’s the illusion of perfectionism.
Takeaway?? Perfectionism is just an illusion. Feeling you must know how things will go in the future is just an illusion. Keep taking fast actions, learn from your mistakes, let go of your attachments, evolve, and you’ll be fine. Moving on…
2. Pick up a daily meditation practice
I know, I know… it’s a little cliche. I’m sure you already meditate. But if one of my clients doesn’t already have a consistent meditation practice, it’s the first thing I recommend. Why? Because meditation actually works.
It’s the best tool I’ve found to alleviate all the common problems of entrepreneurism (no, that’s not a real word. I just made it up). Such as… The fear of being seen. Fear of asking for money. Or not knowing where to start. Feeling stuck. Not knowing what to do or not trusting yourself. All the things that plague new entrepreneurs can be resolved through mental awareness (i.e., meditation). It’s actually more effective to do 20 minutes of meditation than 20 minutes of work. So if you’re feeling scattered or scared, don’t write that email. Don’t post on Facebook. Go meditate instead.
3. “Calendarize” your life.
Yeah, it’s not as sexy as meditation, but planning and calendarizing my life has been vital to my success. The key here is to create a step-by-step P L A N. Planning helps you get in front of your upcoming tasks, and stay in the current step you need to be in. And it gives you more time to do what you love. The problem I see with most people is they say they don’t have enough time to plan. What “not enough time” really means is they aren’t effectively planning, they don’t know the right steps to take in their plan, and not even just writing things down.
But remember to keep it simple. You don’t need fancy productivity apps.
You just need a $1 pad of paper and a pen. (I recommend buying a pen you like to write with!) Then you can get all those beautiful ideas out of your head and onto paper… or track what’s on your plate for the day. You never know what magic will spill out.
Alright, this list is nowhere near exhaustive. I have plenty more habits that I use every day to improve myself spiritually and financially! If you’re wondering where to start? Start with one of these three.
And if you’re ready to go deeper and learn how to get past your blocks and start aligning with your true purpose, then…
