Good Habits – Steve Scott
MUST HAVE RESOURCES
SUMMARY
On this episode, Steve Scott, author of the book Habits Stacking, talks about how we can change our habits.
It’s easier to shift our behaviors if we focus on creating good habits rather than struggling to get rid of bad habits.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Whenever you have a bad habit, replace it with something positive in your life.
Focus on building good habits rather than struggling to overcome bad habits.
- Figure out exactly what you want to accomplish with your business.
- Identify that one habit that will drive your business forward, and just focus on doing that every single day.
- Set aside an hour every day to concentrate on that one thing that drives your business forward.
A good habit becomes harmful is when there’s no point in doing it.
Have a checklist of good habits you want to build.
Appreciate yourself for changing your habits.
Habits Stacking is taking the things you should be doing and compiling them into a routine.
TRANSCRIPTION: GOOD HABITS – STEVE SCOTT
Luis Congdon
Hey. Thriving launchers, would you like to develop good habits?
On today’s episode, we’re going to talk to author Steve Scott about how to develop good habits in life.
Today, I’m bringing on a prolific author to the show, Steve Scott. He’s written quite a few books. He’s a prolific writer, and more than anything, he’s written an impactful book called Develop Good Habits. He also wrote another one called Habits Stacking.
What excites me about today’s episode with Steve Scott is the conversation around how do you develop good habits? How do you change habits? And what is the importance of having some practice, so you have the good habits? With the good habits, you get to success, and you get the most out of your life, and you can do it in a way that’s systematic.
So on today’s episode, we bring on Steve Scott from Develop Good Habits.
Kamala Chambers
Welcome to the show. Are you ready to launch into it?
Steve Scott
Absolutely. Positively.
Kamala Chambers
All right.
We love your books and the work you’re doing and the depth around getting into good habits and unpacking that big box like developing bad habits in our lives, and how do we develop healthier and good habits.
Where do you even start when you look at changing your habits?
Steve Scott
For me, I’d air on the side of trying to focus on what positive habits I want to build into my life.
Building Good Habits
Steve Scott
I think a lot of times, people view their bad habits and they always worry about “How do I beat them?” Or, “How do I overcome them?”
Whenever I have a bad habit, I just try to replace it with something positive in my life. Instead of trying to worry about saying “I’m trying to procrastinate on something,” I like to say ” Today, I want to build a habit of I’m going to write the three things I want to accomplish today.”
Steve Scott
I can expand that if you have questions beyond that.
Kamala Chambers
Yeah. I think that’s fantastic and essential because we need to fill that void with something. We need to fill that time with something, and if we just make a healthier choice, it’s easier to change what we’re doing.
Steve Scott
Yeah, absolutely.
Kamala Chambers
What are some tips you have on how we can start to shift some of our habits to good habits?
Steve Scott
There are such a few things.
I would say you want to take a look at your life.
Turning That One Thing Into Good Habits
Steve Scott
I know you said this is a podcast for people who want to take a holistic approach to their entrepreneurial career. So I would say first off is you want to figure out exactly what you want to accomplish with your business.
The great habit there is “What is something I could every single day that moves my business forward?” And my suggestion from a habit perspective is to sit down and identify that one thing, and there’s obviously a very famous book, The One Thing by Gary Keller.
Identify that one habit that will drive your business forward and just focus on doing that every single day.
Identify that one habit that will drive your business forward and just focus on doing that every single day.
Instead of waking up in the morning and flipping on your phone, looking at Facebook or social media or checking email, you set aside an hour every single day to focus on that one thing that drives your business forward. Schedule that and just make an absolute certainty that you commit to that every single day.
Beyond that, it’s just a matter of identifying the things you want in life beyond your business and just creating good habits around that.
Scheduling Good Habits
Steve Scott
Let’s say I want to get better at working out. Instead of saying, “All right. I should work out three times a week,” you want to set up yourself for succeeding with that.
As an example, instead of just saying, “I’m going to work out sometime tomorrow,” you want to schedule it to your calendar. You also want to make sure you’re eliminating a lot of obstacles people have when it comes to working out.
A lot of times, people have the excuse “It’s not good weather out,” “I didn’t pack the right clothes,” and just a variety of other reasons.
Identifying Weak Points And Good Habits
Steve Scott
In addition to scheduling say, you would also want to develop a habit where you sit down every single morning, and you check the weather. So if you’re someone who likes to exercise outdoors, you just check the weather and say, “Alright. Is it going to be rainy tomorrow? Is it going to be too hot? Is it going to be too cold?” Then, you also want to create good habits where you pack the right clothes for that particular incident.
It’s identifying your weak points around where you might not necessarily make a habit and just develop certain things to support it.
Luis Congdon
Here’s my question because I have a habit of eating corn chips and eating certain particular food that doesn’t make me feel good, but they’re quite tasty. A lot of people around me will eat them and enjoy them.
So one of the things happen to me is I’m like “Okay. I’m not going to eat corn chips.” This is a micro example, but you could take it to bigger things.
What happens is I get around other people, and they’re like “Oh, we made salsa, and have chips.” Then, I want to eat that stuff. It’s been a very hard habit to curve because socially it’s so acceptable, and no one knows I’m trying to change that habit. They have that habit but don’t want to change it.
Does that make sense?
Steve Scott
Yeah. Absolutely.
That one, to be honest, is quite tough. I like not necessarily corn chips, but I love my Cheez-It.
If-Then Plans And Good Habits
Steve Scott
What’s worked for me and what I do recommend for other people to do is if you know you could be put into that situation, create what’s called “If –Then” Plans. I have a tactical plan in your head, “If I’m pressuring with the corn chips, how am I going to respond to it?” What could also save yourself is knowing that Sage is just one time a week that you’re going to be around this person who enjoys their snacks.
You almost have to give yourself permission to cheat on that day but also make sure the six other days of the week that you will be pretty strict with your diet.
It’s a good example that you gave Luis.
What I like I like to do is if I know my situation where people could be drinking, I’m not necessarily in the mood to drink or eat certain foods I have a meal beforehand. Or I just pretty much get myself out of that situation.
Just being able to forgive yourself but also maybe have a tactical plan for that type of scenario.
Kamala Chambers
I’m not a habit driven person. I feel like I thrive on change.
Luis Congdon
Oh, you have all sorts of habits you just naturally do.
Kamala Chambers
Yeah.
One of the things I’m trying to get out is that I think change is positive. That’s where I grow the most is if I break up my habits.
We take off for a few months to a different country. We’d take on a different set of habits. We wake up at different hours. There are things that for me like flux is positive.
I want to hear from you. At what point do good habits become harmful?
Steve Scott
That’s a good question.
Becoming Addicted To Good Habits
Steve Scott
For the most part, when you have something that’s consuming you, and you get to the point where you’re almost doing it because you have to do it. It’s like there’s an internal drive telling you, “All right. I have to do this today,” but there’s no actual reason why you’re doing it. Then, that’s a point where it starts becoming harmful.
For example, you have to exercise every single day, and it’s by the third or fourth month in a row, and your body is starting to break down. Maybe that’s a sign that today is a time to take a day off.
Steve Scott
The way I like to look a habit and this is a little bit of what you’re eluding too is I like to structure large parts of my days, so I have the flexibility to enjoy other parts of my life, and that also goes for being able to travel a lot.
I travel about two months out of the year, so I’m regimented with being able to focus what I need to focus on also giving myself permission. Like today, I just took the afternoon off at four just to work out. It didn’t feel like I had to do stuff because I know I did the right amount of work and the right amount of work what I need to get done for the day. I just give my permission to take the day off.
I’m not too sure if that quite answered your question but let me know if you need me to elaborate on that.
Kamala Chambers
Yeah. I think the point is when good habits stop being beneficial to you at it becomes more like an addiction.
Steve Scott
Yeah.
Kamala Chambers
It’s like you have to do it.
Luis Congdon
That leads me to an interesting question because I know your book was popular. I can guess that it’s popular because all of us are trying to figure out different habits.
It goes back to that corn chip example, or it could be anything. Maybe you smoke cigarettes. This is more about social stuff because a lot of us have habits because our social root does those things.
And so, I’m curious from you. How do we change a habit when it’s deeply entrenched within our social group?
Regarding corn chips, I could say I see those friends maybe once or twice a week, so that will be the day where I just let it go or whatever it might be, and the rest of the week, I won’t.
But what if your family is accustomed to having coffee every morning together, and then all of a sudden, you want to change that to a better habit? But it’s very hard because now, you’re dealing with your social group that you see very often.
Steve Scott
That one is a hard one.
Replacing Negative Habits With Good Habits
Steve Scott
What I said before is I don’t try to focus too much on breaking bad habits. I’m just more about developing good habits.
For the most part, if I find myself around a bunch of people doing something negative that I just don’t want to do with my life, I try to find excuses not to be around them when they’re making that particular habit.
I guess the best example would be drinking. If I know a group of people is going to go out and they’re going to have a mess of night, which is something I’m not going to want to do, I just avoid that situation. And I try to replace that with other good habits.
Let’s just say there’s the group that’s going out like have enough good time, but you don’t necessarily want to do that. You could also schedule the activity earlier in the week or later in the week where you’re going off. You maybe organize an event like you’re going on a hike or doing something as positive where you’re going to go out, and not just grab dinner together.
I guess my point is I try to replace it with good habits instead of focusing on trying to break stuff.
Kamala Chambers
Yeah. I think that’s powerful.
I remember when I have just turned 20 I decided to quit smoking pot and quit drinking. I know I wasn’t legally allowed to do it, but I was drinking a lot as a teenager. I couldn’t hang out with those people anymore because everyone in my life including most of my family was taking part of those activities.
It was lonely, so I had to find that new thing I could put my focus and attention in, and luckily I was going to school at that time so it benefited me to have something else to focus on.
What else can we do to create good habits?
Steve Scott
Are we talking about physically healthy habits or all aspects of your life?
Kamala Chambers
We’re talking about all aspects of our lives.
Steve Scott
For me, I try to take a look at the different goal areas. There are your spiritual goals, career goals, and financial goals.
Good Habits In Different Areas
Steve Scott
I try to sit down and say “All right. For the next three months, what do I want to accomplish?” So what are the actual goals I want to achieve? And what would get me there? Kind of a reverse engineer will get me there from the very end. You work your way backward.
What I try to do from there is just identify one of the good habits for each one of those major areas and do that on a regular daily basis.
For me, I try to include a lot of aspects of a habit of development.
With accountability, I make sure that I check in with my accountability partner.
Keep Track Of Your Good Habits
Steve Scott
Once a week, I also keep track of my good habits. I have a reminder. It’s an app called Todoist.
Every time I wake up in the morning, I have a list of not only the task I want to accomplish but also the good habits I’m trying to build. I just put everything into almost a checklist where I’m just checking everything off.
I do admit that seems a little bit regimented and a robotic way to live your life. But, if you can commit yourself to just focusing on the things you need to get done every single day, and you’re checking off, you do build some momentum with building good habits on a consistent basis.
Tying Good Habits To Goals
Steve Scott
All my good habits tie into the things I want to accomplish in life. That is what I recommend to my readers.
Kamala Chambers
I love that, and I don’t think it’s that regimented. I believe that it’s focused and I appreciate that a lot.
Steve Scott
Yeah, I know. But at some peep times, people want to sit there and check all good habits. It’s almost a fun way of like, “All right. I accomplish maybe 15 things today. I’m making momentum on what I want to do with my life.”
Appreciate Yourself For Doing Good Habits
Kamala Chambers
I think that lends itself to celebrating the successes we have, and the steps forward that we have to. Because maybe we have a habit changed and don’t even realize it. We don’t even take a moment to appreciate ourselves for moving to that next level.
Steve Scott
Yeah, absolutely.
Kamala Chambers
Going back to what I was saying earlier about replacing my drinking and pot smoking as a teenager, with going to school, the thing that worked for me is that I’ve focused on the big goal I wanted.
I still wanted to smoke pot, but the more major goal was that I wanted to be mentally focused. I was going to school for energy medicine, so I wanted to be energetically sound and be spiritually clear. That’s what I had to concentrate on was a big desire. I had to let go of the little desires because the big desire was important.
What do you think about that? How does that play in with your work?
Steve Scott
I like that. That’s a good way of describing how I feel a lot with my personal habits.
Good Habits And Bigger Goals
Steve Scott
What I recommend for people is that when you do have a larger goal that sometimes are things you think are important aren’t necessarily as important as what you want to accomplish.
For example, someone who would decide to run a marathon that has that great goal that will produce a massive change, and give them a sense of purpose in life. Suddenly, they have this marathon goal, and they see that bag of chips or bottles of beer. They compare they already have this big goal, and I could temporarily give myself a nice fix of alcohol or something crunchy and salty.
You just learned that “All right. This big goal is a lot more important that these little things I don’t need to do on a daily basis.”
Kamala Chambers
Yeah. I love that, and I appreciate this conversation so much.
Before we go, is there anything else you feel the Thriving Launchers could benefit from hearing?
Good Habits Stacking
Steve Scott
People are trying to have 15 – 20 different habits spread out all over the day. What’s worked for me, and what I’ve been talking about in one of my most recent books is a concept called Habits Stacking.
You take a small group of habits, and you just compile them together into a morning routine, or an afternoon routine, or an evening routine whichever you feel is the best time of the day to do it.
What you’re doing here is each of these good habits is one to five minutes long. They don’t take very long to do, but the problem is people often have difficulty remembering all these things they’re supposed to do every single day.
Like review your goals, take your vitamins, identify the three tasks you need to do every single day, work on that one aspect of your business.
Take all the things you know you should be doing on a given day, compile them together into a routine, and just set out a checklist and a reminder to do that on a daily basis.
When you do it, it doesn’t matter. It’s just what works best for you. That’s what I recommend to people.
Kamala Chambers
What a beautiful conversation. We’ve been here with Steve Scott talking about creating good habits.
I encourage you all to go out today and find one new healthy habit that you can implement in your life today.
Keep thriving everyone.
