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New Month, New Habits
Well, we’ve crossed one of those almost imperceptible turning points of the year. Yesterday was Groundhog Day and the little bounder saw his shadow. I already knew before they announced it because I walked outside to a fresh blanket of snow.
That’s fine by me. It makes it easier to see at night when I take the dog out to do his business. I’ll need to start taking longer walks as the snow tapers off. I’ve been sitting here cranking away at my project as well as some administrative matters and the pounds are starting to pack back on.
New Month
While we’re only in the second month of the new year, we have crossed the invisible boundary that marks the halfway point to the Vernal Equinox. Already the sun is staying up a bit longer all the time. Time flies when you’re getting old, that’s for sure.
So, what have I managed to get done in January? Well, all the setup steps are done and recorded. All I need to do is start my demo channel and stuff it with crazy awesome niche-specific content. My inner perfectionist wants to do three videos a day, but my inner realist knows that is an unreasonable expectation. I’ve got errands to run and matters to attend to on any given day. I cannot keep my nose to the grindstone the way I have been. That’s going the right way for a downward slide.
New Habits
So, to keep myself on a manageable schedule and off of the perilous path back to burnout, I’ve got to set some new habits. Getting out in the sunshine long enough to get around the block or farther is going to become a priority. Governing my appetites will be another. My son mentioned something about getting out to a gym. That’s actually pretty appealing. I need to replace the exercise I was getting at the factory.
I cannot be blown willy-nilly like some snowflake upon the wind. I’ve spent the last couple of years letting randomness run the show and the results have been less than appealing. I do need to remain flexible in schedule, but I can’t just ride the current of wasted time anymore. I’ve got money to make, folks!
Yes, you’re rolling your eyes at my idiocy but I dare you to do any better when your brain has been on a slow reboot. It’s a significant task just getting up and functioning like a human being sometimes. I’m not back to full steam, but I’m much better than I’ve been in quite some time.
I have been using a scheduling tool called Remember The Milk to help keep me on target and to give me some perspective on what I need to accomplish in any given day. I also keep a pocket calendar with me most of the time so that I have a copy of appointments that I need to remember to add into my online scheduler.
I also have an exercise program that I picked up from YouTube, but doing burpees in the house isn’t advisable. I need to find one that works as well without needing the space I have available in the back yard when there’s no snow, ice or mud from the melting of winter decor. I’ll let you know what I come up with.
Some More Rules
Rule #191: Not yet cited in Star Trek episodes, movies or novels
Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Every day is a new opportunity to be better than you were before. You have countless possibilities. Many people get into a rut but even if you have a set schedule, that doesn’t mean you have to be locked into autopilot.
Seeing the world with fresh eyes is a great way to offset the sense of being in a rut. Pick a couple of key tasks to accomplish in a given day and set yourself a couple of personal tasks to allow yourself to appreciate your surroundings, your family and friends and your relationship with God.
Rule #192: Never cheat a Klingon… unless you’re sure you can get away with it
That’s really sketchy advice. Klingons have generational memory. They bear blood feuds for centuries against the descendents of people who have crossed them. Trying to pull one over on someone who neither forgives nor forgets is not sound business.
Actually, trying to pull one over on anyone is not sound business unless it is for the sole purpose of demonstrating why they need your safety training. If you’re a person who teaches people how not to get scammed, it’s definitely a good idea to demonstrate how people can get scammed by pulling a stunt and then immediately pointing out what you’ve done and why you’re doing it.
If your business is providing merchandise or knowledge that isn’t centered around self-protection, you don’t want to try to get away with anything. You want to provide the best value you can and delight your customers so that they’ll want to do business with you again and again.
Rule #193: Trouble comes in threes
Y’know that’s right! Anybody who was brought up Irish Catholic knows this old saw.
It’s a shame the Ferengi never picked up a sense of Catholic Guilt. They’re absolutely shameless. It’s amazing that you can actually attempt to base an entire culture on bad business practices, but that’s what the writers at Star Trek were going for.
Rule #194: It’s always good business to know about new customers before they walk in your door
Wow, the Ferengi are really on point with this one. Unfortunately, from their perspective it means that they should research their actual individual customers so they know how to milk them for maximum profit.
From a real world perspective, this is really good advice in an abstract kind of way. There is a concept of having a customer “avatar”. By defining your ideal customer in painstaking detail, you can clearly identify who you are uniquely suited to help and who will be a bad fit for you. As much as any of us want to be personable and sell anything to anyone, there are just some people who will rub us the wrong way or we’ll turn them off just by being ourselves.
Shockingly, this is actually okay. There’s a lid for every pot, as they say. It seems a shame to lose a sale, but if you’ve done your preparation work identifying your ideal customer then you won’t be upset by losing sales from people with whom you have nothing in common.
You can’t sell steaks to vegetarians and you can’t sell ice to penguins.
If you’re running a sporting goods store, you don’t need to be downcast by all the couch potatoes who are not coming in to buy stuff. It’s better to provide excellent service and products to the jocks who come in than it is to try to unload a bunch of whatever on people who are never going to use it.
Rule #195: Not yet cited in Star Trek episodes, movies or novels
Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going. ~Jim Ryun
That’s what kills people’s New Years Resolutions annually. We come off of a holiday high with big dreams and ambitions, but they fizzle quickly when we find they don’t all fit into our already crowded schedules. It’s an all too common lament, but it need not be.
By breaking your resolution into easily executable and repeatable tasks, you can start to do the things that will form a habit. We tend to go after our goals haphazardly or even just try to skip directly to the end. You might want to skip to the end, but even if you could it would cheapen the experience. You need to build your habits a step at a time or they won’t stick with you and you won’t stick to them in the long term.
Another hazard is how you react to setbacks and obstacles. I know this has always been a killer for me. I meet with some resistance and instead of persevering, I lean back on “ah well, didn’t really want to anyway”. You have to train yourself to stick to your plans and push through the opposition. Again, this is done by picking small, easily accomplished and repeatable tasks. Make it easy on yourself at first. Build up some momentum and before long, you’ve formed a habit that will serve you in the years to come.
So, that’s that for the nonce. I’m cracking on with video editing and content creation for traffic’s sake. What tools do you use to help keep you on the straight and narrow?