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One Simple Life Hack to Help You Create Good Habits

Chris Dessi Avatar

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Good Habits - Chris Dessi

Lately I’ve been implementing a little trick that has helped me. I think it can help you too.

My agency is growing. We have amazing clients. We also produce a world class conference. The conference and the clients are synergistic events on paper. In execution they are at odds. One takes from the other in time, energy and sweat equity. I needed to clone myself, or find a solution.

At first, I began to working more hours during the week. But it was killing me. I wouldn’t get home from the office until 10pm at night. I would need time to wind down before bed. I was depriving myself of sleep. I was missing my daughters. I was missing my wife.  I also began neglecting exercising. Longer hours in the office was not a good solution for me.

The first step in resolving this issue was to work a few hours on the weekend. I started to reduce my stress level early in the week by chipping away a few hours on Saturday and Sunday at the local library. I was feeling good and wanted more, but how?

Instead of thinking of a new behavior in my life as taking something away, I began to view it as adding something good.

I began viewing those hours on the weekend as an extra full day at the office. This helped.

Two weeks ago we entered the time frame leading up to our event on May 14th that is insane.  Lot’s of last minute details.  Lot’s of calls and meeting during the day.  Not conducive to long stretches of uninterrupted work time.

To get on top of my work load without cutting into my exercise regiment (which is a crossfit class at 6pm), I began waking up at 5:30am.

I am NOT a morning person. But using my new technique of viewing this new early morning work time as added on hours to my week has helped. I now view these hours (about 1.5 to 2 hours per morning) as my most productive. They get my head ready for the full work day. I’m able to help to get my daughters off to school without feeling rushed. And I’ve tacked on a full work day by the end of the week (7-10 hours) total. So instead of viewing those hours as less sleep, I view them as more productive work. It also helps to get me off to bed earlier. Which allows me to end up with even better and longer hours in bed. Amazing!

So give it a shot. View your new habit as ADDING to your life instead of taking away and see what happens? Tell me about your progress in the comments below.

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Chris Dessi Avatar

One response to “One Simple Life Hack to Help You Create Good Habits”

  1. Daniel Walsh Avatar
    Daniel Walsh

    Chris, I’ve been and still are where you’ve been. I’ve been a project manager for a number of years and I’ve worked out what works for me.
    I spend the “normal” workday talking to people, gathering information and moving my projects ahead on a real time basis. The one thing that is very hard to do
    during the “normal” workday is to find a block of time to work on one or two things. My solution has been to find quiet time on off-hours (morning, evening weekends)
    like you. I try to keep time available for my personal life on these “off-hours”.

    If you like a more formal approach find the book “Getting Things Done” by David Allen. I think there is a new edition.

    One thing I do think you need to start thinking about is delegating to others. It usually requires selecting the right person who is good at managing
    the smaller pieces at least, training them with what you want and the hardest part: letting go of the details and trusting them.

    Hope this helps.
    Dan Walsh