Posted onFebruary 4, 2022|Comments Off on A Quick Way to Make Habits Stick
Do you have trouble remembering to do a new habit?
Are you setting the right conditions to form the habit?
Do you lose motivation when you don’t get immediate results?
Habit stacking is a quick way to build good habits, which have a lasting, massive impact in your life. Habits are automatic behaviors that reduce decision fatigue, make time your ally, and save your energy for the hardest things.
2) How habit stacking fits with Professor BJ Fogg’s ABC method for designing behavior and building habits
3) Habit stacking applies the four rules of habit formation, outlined in James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits:
Rule 1 – make the cue obvious
Rule 2 – make the craving attractive
Rule 3 – make the response easy
Rule 4 – make the reward satisfying
4) 5 quick tips for habit stacking
To listen to episode 49, A Quick Way to Make Habits Stick, click here. If you prefer to read the transcript, go here. Subscribe to The Incrementalist at Apple Podcasts or other apps.
Dyan Williams is a solo lawyer who practices U.S. immigration law and legal ethics at Dyan Williams Law PLLC. She is also a productivity coach who helps working parents, lawyers, small business owners and other busy people turn their ideas into action, reduce overwhelm, and focus on what truly matters. She is the author of The Incrementalist: A Simple Productivity System to Create Big Results in Small Steps.
Posted onJanuary 28, 2022|Comments Off on 4 Reasons It’s So Hard to Build Good Habits
Do you know how to build a habit?
Are you struggling to make a good habit stick?
Have you set yourself up for success or for self-sabotage?
Goals are the results and outcomes you want to achieve. They are the direction you want to head in, at least for the time being. But systems are what create the desired results and outcomes.
Your daily habits make up your system. What you do day in and day out compounds over time to determine your level of success, mastery and contentment.
1) Key lessons from James Clear’s Atomic Habits and Professor BJ Fogg’s Tiny Habits books
2) What is a habit
3) How your brain controls your behavior
4) How habits form through a neurological loop: cue, trigger, craving, response and reward
5) What drives behavior (Professor BJ Fogg’s B= MAP formula)
6) Why good habits are so hard to build
Reason 1 – the cue is not obvious
Reason 2 – the craving is not strong
Reason 3 – the action step is not easy
Reason 4 – the reward is not satisfying
To listen to episode 48, 4 Reasons It’s So Hard to Build Good Habits, click here. If you prefer to read the transcript, go here. Subscribe to The Incrementalist at Apple Podcasts or other apps.
Dyan Williams is a solo lawyer who practices U.S. immigration law and legal ethics at Dyan Williams Law PLLC. She is also a productivity coach who helps working parents, lawyers, small business owners and other busy people turn their ideas into action, reduce overwhelm, and focus on what truly matters. She is the author of The Incrementalist: A Simple Productivity System to Create Big Results in Small Steps.
Posted onJanuary 20, 2022|Comments Off on How to Time Block (Without the Apps)
Do you get overwhelmed by digital task management tools?
Are you seeking a good mix of structure and flexibility in your day?
Is there an easy, stress-free way to block time for important projects?
When you hear the term Time Blocking, you might picture color-coded calendars filled up with specific activities for the week. Digital apps to block time might also come to mind.
But you really don’t need an app or even a planner to time block.
1) More busyness does not lead to higher quality or better results. To align your intentions with your actions, you need to have structure in your day. You also want to have buffers for emergencies and margin for the unexpected.
2) Time blocking is an essential tool to protect time for important projects and tasks. You assign a time block – with a start time and an end time – to focus on a specific activity or a batch of similar activities.
3) The subtle and important difference between time blocking and time boxing.
4) 3 main tips for time blocking
Tip 1: schedule time blocks in 30-minute or 1-hour increments (not in 5-minute increments like Elon Musk)
Tip 2: time block just the day (not the whole week)
Tip 3: incorporate theming and batching in your time blocks (not time blocks for whatever, whenever)
4) You do not need digital apps or even a planner to time block.
5) How I time block the easy, stress-free way on a whiteboard.
To listen to episode 47, How to Time Block (Without the Apps), click here. If you prefer to read the transcript, go here. Subscribe to The Incrementalist at Apple Podcasts or other apps.
Dyan Williams is a solo lawyer who practices U.S. immigration law and legal ethics at Dyan Williams Law PLLC. She is also a productivity coach who helps working parents, lawyers, small business owners and other busy people turn their ideas into action, reduce overwhelm, and focus on what truly matters. She is the author of The Incrementalist: A Simple Productivity System to Create Big Results in Small Steps.
Posted onJanuary 11, 2022|Comments Off on When to Quit and When to Persist
How do you know when to give up?
And when to push on with everything you’ve got?
Must you abandon ship or stay the course?
Patience and persistence are essential for success. If you give up whenever you face a challenge or an obstacle, you’re bound to fail. But you also need to know when to quit and cut your losses.
1) The Sunk Cost Fallacy means we prefer to continue the action if we already put time, effort, and money into it, even if the current costs outweigh the benefits.
2) Commitment bias is to stand by past decisions despite new evidence showing this isn’t the best action.
3) The Endowment Effect is to ascribe a higher value to things we already own. The disutility of a loss is greater than the utility of a comparable gain. The displeasure in losing something is greater than the pleasure in gaining the same thing.
4) The story behind Instagram
How this microbusiness with 13 employees sold to Facebook for $1 billion
Why co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger quit working on the check-in app, Burbn, and pivoted to the photo-sharing app, Instagram
The significance of focusing on a unique solution for a specific problem
5) The three curves to watch out for in any major endeavor or project, according to Seth Godin:
The Dip
The Cul-de-sac
The Cliff
6) The three questions to ask when deciding whether to quit or stick with it:
Am I in a cul-de-sac, on a cliff, or in the dip?
Am I willing to slog through the dip?
Why am I doing this thing? (Is it to be the best or for some other reason?)
7) Why you need to practice strategic quitting and set your quitting criteria before you start.
8) The Incrementalist approach is to prioritize what matters, make time for it, and create margin.
9) Sometimes you do need to quit even good things to make space for one great thing.
To listen to episode 46, When to Quit and When to Persist, click here. If you prefer to read the transcript, go here. Subscribe to The Incrementalist at Apple Podcasts or other apps.
Seth Godin, The Dip: A Little Book that Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)
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Dyan Williams is a solo lawyer who practices U.S. immigration law and legal ethics at Dyan Williams Law PLLC. She is also a productivity coach who helps working parents, lawyers, small business owners and other busy people turn their ideas into action, reduce overwhelm, and focus on what truly matters. She is the author of The Incrementalist: A Simple Productivity System to Create Big Results in Small Steps.
Posted onDecember 31, 2021|Comments Off on How to Kickstart Your Year with 12 Key Questions
The start of the new year is an ideal time to take stock and reflect. January 1, the 1st of every month, or the start of a new season are temporal landmarks. This is when many of us set goals or recommit to goals.
A review of the year gives you insights on how to move forward in the next. It’s better to do it in the first week of the year, but no later than before you start planning for the upcoming months.
2. You get to decide where to review your year, such as at the dining table, at your work desk, on your couch, or outdoors if the local weather is ideal.
3. The Peak End Rule is a cognitive bias that affects our memories and shapes our behavior. We remember fragments of an event or experience. The fragments are the peaks, the pits, and the beginning and ending.
4. Don’t rely on just your memory when you do your review. Go through your personal records, like journals, planners, calendars, notebooks, videos and photos.
5. The 12 key questions to kickstart your year:
Question #1: What made you feel the most joy?
Question #2: What made you feel the most discontent?
Question #3: What was your biggest win? How did you celebrate it?
Question #4: What was your biggest setback? How did you recover from it?
Question #5: What do you wish to do or experience more? What would happen if this came true? How can you make it come true?
Question #6: What do you wish to do or experience less? What would happen if this came true? How can you make it come true?
Question #7: Which habit or activity renews your energy the most?
Question #8: Which habit or activity drains your energy the most?
Question #9 What did you do to make life for your [spouse, partner, child, sibling, parent, friend, colleague] more easeful?
Question #10: What did you do to make life for your [spouse, partner, child, sibling, parent, friend, colleague] more difficult?
Question #11: What did you receive from each person that made you most grateful?
Question #12: What was the biggest lesson you learned and are afraid to apply?
6. If these questions do not resonate with you, be sure to come up with your own to reflect on the past and plan for the future.
7. Remember the 80/20 Rule: 20% of what you do creates 80% of the results – either 80% of your joy or 80% of you discontent.
8. The huge benefits of reflecting on the past before you plan for the future.
9. Asking the right questions will lead to more informed answers. Sometimes we avoid questions because they are inconvenient and they hold us accountable or responsible. But if we don’t bring them to the surface, they will linger and keep us from growing and making good decisions.
To listen to episode 45, How to Kickstart Your Year with 12 Key Questions, click here. If you prefer to read the transcript, go here. Subscribe to The Incrementalist at Apple Podcasts or other apps.
Dyan Williams is a solo lawyer who practices U.S. immigration law and legal ethics at Dyan Williams Law PLLC. She is also a productivity coach who helps working parents, lawyers, small business owners and other busy people turn their ideas into action, reduce overwhelm, and focus on what truly matters. She is the author of The Incrementalist: A Simple Productivity System to Create Big Results in Small Steps.
