How Founders Can Harness The Power of Habits
In 10 days time a lot of us are going to announce the big changes we’ll make in 2019. We’ll eat healthier, be more productive, start that new project… all while knowing in our heart that the changes are never going to last.
However rather than trying to re-invent ourselves as vegan ultra-endurance athlete monks perhaps we can make very small changes, which cumulatively, will mean that the next 12 months are significantly more productive and healthier.
Think of these little habit changes like the interest on your bank account. Day to day you won’t notice the difference but the compounded effect over weeks, months and years can be life-changing.
So as a founder what changes can you make that will not only benefit you, but the business as well?
Becoming More Productive
Mentoring an early-stage founder this week reminded me how difficult it is to juggle all the different priorities that are competing for your attention when there’s just one or two of you starting a company.
Between getting the designs finished, building out the community, creating an engaging social media presence and making your first sales it can be hard to keep on top of all your tasks. Suddenly you realise that you’ve not engaged with your customers for a week or you’re behind on the number of sales calls you were going to make.
And as you start to scale the issue compounds. When you’re overloaded with tasks, deadlines are looming and the company bank balance is running low then it’s easy to sink into bad habits. An unhealthy lunch, too much caffeine, too many beers at the end of the day and not enough sleep. After a few weeks of this you’ve successfully ingrained negative habits that will stick with you for the rest of the year.
Founders are, by nature, strong-willed so try to solve this by forcing themselves to get up earlier, schedule their time better and work longer hours. This requires them to use their willpower and it usually works for a few days or weeks until they’re so mentally exhausted that they have to take a break, and then they’re back to their old ways.
Remember, the best time to start looking after yourself is when everything else is going to shit.
So how do you make positive change that lasts?
Think about the tasks you complete every day without having to force yourself; have a shower, check your email, eat lunch, brush your teeth. You don’t have to make yourself do any of these because they’re habits — actions that have been repeated enough to be second nature. Once an action has become a habit then it no longer requires willpower, which means it’s no long exhausting, and so you have more energy and can sustain the behaviour indefinitely.
That’s the theory — how do you put it into practice?
First you need to identify what you want to achieve.
For example:
- Be more organised
- Blog more
- Close more sales.
Then break each of those down into the behaviours that lead to them:
- Be more organised — Plan more
- Blog more - Write more posts
- Making sales - Call more customers
For each of those actions you need to choose an achievable daily target. The rule of thumb is to make it something you can accomplish even on your busiest day, or when you’re travelling.
- Plan More — Spend 10 minutes every day updating your todo list
- Write more blog posts — write 100 words of a post every day
- Call more customers — ring one new potential customer every day
Making New Behaviours Stick
Habits only form when there’s a reward for your behaviour (remember Pavlovs dog?), and the rewards when you’re building a startup can take a long time in coming. So what you need is a short-term sense of accomplishment, something that gives you that dopamine hit right here and now.
I’m a big fan of using an app to help you do this. Using the same incentives that Instagram exploit to keep you scrolling, apps like Streaks (link) can help you get that sense of accomplishment from ticking off your goals for the day. Not only do they give you the cue each day for the tasks that you need to need to tick off, but also help you keep track of the progress you’ve made.
What about when you (inevitably) miss a day? Don’t beat yourself up about it, but try to make sure you don’t miss a second day in a row.
Where to Start
Everyone will have their own priorities, but I think there’s some fundamental habits which have a positive multiplier effect across all areas of life:
Exercise
Get some exercise, however little, in every single day. A run, a swim, a session in the gym are all great, they’ll clear your mind and make sure you sleep well at night — but what about the days when you don’t have time? Do 10 press ups or 20 jumping jacks before you get in the shower.
Eat healthily
Choose one thing to change in your diet and focus on that — don’t try to change everything at once. Swap your lunchtime sandwich and crisps for a salad. Do that every day, and don’t worry if you end up having a pizza at home — the effects of that one change will still compound and you’ll quickly notice the difference.
Be Mindful
I’ve heard lots of founders talking about how useful they’ve found meditation, but I’ve really struggled to find 10 mins to myself each day to do it. Instead I keep a gratitude journal on my phone — 3 things every day I’m grateful for. It takes less than 2 minutes to do and has had a huge impact on my overall well-being, plus it has the benefit of keeping me looking for things to be grateful for every day.
Be Organised
Taking the time at the end of each day to review what you accomplished, what’s in the calendar for tomorrow, and what you want to achieve will not only see you sleep better at night, but also mean you start each day with a clear purpose in mind.
Make The Change
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” — Chinese Proverb
Don’t wait until the 1st Jan to start changing your habits, choose one thing that you can start on today and don’t worry about becoming perfect (spoiler alert — it’s not going to happen!).
So choose to make one small step in the right direction, do it again tomorrow, and in 12 months time you’ll have made an incredible amount of progress. Bon Voyage.
