Habit Mastery: The Foundation Of All Success

The Workbook

Bill White

Taming The World™ Press • Corinth

Copyright 2017 by Bill White The Biggest Deal, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,

electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher.

You DO have permission to print a copy for ease of personal reading.

Achieving Anything Is A 3 Phase Process.

When it comes to achievement, I’ve found that there are 3 distinct phases that need to be implemented in order to quickly reach your goals. These 3 phases are being, doing, and having. In the course of this forward, I’ll give the break down on all 3 phases, why each is vital, and how to use them efficiently.

Being

When you’re making big changes in your life, working towards a goal that is relatively different from your current reality, you must first understand why it hasn’t been your reality already. The mindset of a millionaire is considerably different than that of a low-income worker. The mindset of a world-class bodybuilder is considerably different than that of a couch potato.

Honestly, I find quite a lot of the commentary on “mindset” to be a lot of woo-woo, fluffy, blow-colored-smoke up your tail pipe nonsense. I have always been action oriented, and I tend to wow people with just how much I can get done in a short span of time. But with that said, I do, however, believe mindset is important, because these are the collection of beliefs, of focus, and of discipline that lead you to success or failure. At a later time, I’ll dive much more deeply into this particular subject, and talk about how archetypes play a role in it as well. But for now, we’ll stick to the basics. If you see yourself as a victim, if you lack self-confidence in your ability to achieve a desired outcome, if you believe the process of achieving it will be hard, you are most definitely shaping the experience.

I was fortunate early in life, to have a very practical, rugged, mechanically-inclined father. The kind of Dad you’d see outside in the 16 degree, rainy weather, turning his wrench under a car, getting his knuckles bloody, and never pausing to whine about doing what needs to be done.

In my professional life, I’ve often seen considerable delays in getting things done, quite simply because a team would be more worried about how difficult a project would be, or how unpleasant the long hours, or the particular tasks would be to complete. And, the result was, it took a long time, and the experience was toil rather than excitement.

A colleague, in one position I held, used to say in her Oklahoman drawl, “Quit your bitching and just do it!” And while she wasn’t the most loved member of our team, she had a point. Yes, sometimes things require labor, sacrifice, long hours, pushing past your comfort zone. But, it boils down to the simple question, “How bad do you want it?”

In another case, I used to teach guitar, and I would begin my first lesson with a student telling them how easy it was to learn the guitar. And, in my experience, my students were learning how to play far more quickly than the students of other teachers. And it was because from the onset, I instilled the belief that the process would be easy.

Doing

Knowing what to do, and often what not to do, is the starting point of the doing phase. People can be incredibly “busy” working, but if they aren’t doing the things that push them toward the completion of their goal, they are simply spinning their wheels, or as I would say “actively procrastinating.”

Active procrastination is when you find yourself doing “busy work” rather than addressing the proper steps you need to do to get your goal completed. For example, say you’re writing a book, and you sit

down at your computer to write, but before you know it, you go do the dishes, and put the laundry in the dryer. Yes, you’re working, but, you’re not getting your book written.

It can be far more subtle though. Let’s keep with the writing the book goal. You sit down to write your book, and you get stumped on character development, so you go over to Google and you look up the topic. The next thing you know, you’ve shot through 3 hours of time reading someone’s suggestions on character development, and while doing so, noticed 3 new posts on FB, which led you over there to respond, and got you stuck watching a video as well.

This is where focus comes in to the picture, and if you really want to achieve, you’ve got to learn to create maximum focus. That means, you close your web-browser down, put your phone on silent, and get rid of any other distractions so that you are 100% focused on the task at hand.

It helps considerably if you write out a time-line of the steps you need to take to get your goal completed, and put deadlines on each step. The more clear you can make the project time-line the more likely you will be to stay on track.

Having

Most of us have a tendency to put all of our celebration at the end of a result. For example, my Dad used to say, I’ll be happy when I win the lottery. What a sad idea to think you’ve placed your happiness into the hands of such astronomical odds. But, you know the thrust behind this, “I’ll be happy when I get my degree.” or “I’ll be happy when I’m married”, whatever the goal, take some time to enjoy the process, celebrate the completion of each step. Fully embrace the journey, not just the destination. The enthusiasm you generate from doing this, will make each goal you seek to achieve easier moving forward.

So what would you like to create in your life? Be-Do-Have. There’s the formula. Fill in the blanks for each, and get to it. How This Works For Habit Mastery When you go about the process of developing new habits and eliminating bad habits, the most powerful and profound way to do that is to begin with your identity habits. That means you need to address the underlying beliefs you have about your identity first. So, to make this program work at the highest level for you, please proceed through the workbook and fill out the exercises in the order of “Being, doing, and having.” So the first habits I recommend you change are those habits that directly relate to your identity. Once you’ve begun to change your identity habits, the actual performance habits will be far easier to adopt as they comply with your habitual way of thinking of yourself. By the same token, once you’ve moved on to performance habits, you can them begin implementing appearance habits, which should by that time, become a natural by-product of the identity and performance habits. (This is the snowball effect I mentioned in the Habit Mastery book and audio.) As an example, let’s say you want to gain muscle and get six pack abs. By first changing the habitual belief that you have a “hard time going to the gym on schedule” to the belief you are the type of person that “never misses a workout.” You will find it easier to stay committed once you do start

setting up a weekly gym routine. Then, once you’ve maintained that gym routine for several weeks, you’re going to see some muscle growth, and people will start telling you, “Hey, you look like you’re getting buff.” This further reinforces both the identity habit and the routine habits, so you can now make it a habit to wear more flattering clothes that show off your new physique. I’d also like to encourage you to take your year, segment it into 4 quarters of 3 months each, and dedicate your habit creations to the 4 commodities of life. So, you can do these in any order you like, based on your own priorities, but, make the habits you adopt for one quarter each year directly relate to love, wealth, health, and time. By taking this approach, you will actively focus on everything that makes a life dynamic and inspiring. Now, on to the exercises... Each of the following exercises will help you organize your mind, and align with the proper routines to set each of your habits into place. By thinking things through before commencing, you’ll prevent many of the problems that typically derail the adoption or replacement of habits. Let’s begin with some questions: 1. Name some habits you have now that might be hindering your success efforts. Do you want to get fit and lose weight, but just can’t resist the sweets, soda and late night snacks? Or, do you procrastinate to the point of getting behind in your schedule? 2. Write down 5 habits that could help you reach the success you desire. Setting the alarm clock earlier than usual so that you can exercise may be one way to lead you to fitness success. Developing good study habits may be a way to earn that degree you’ve always wanted.

3. Have you ever lost a job or damaged a relationship because of bad habits that you couldn’t control? (Perhaps it’s being constantly late, or missing dates or deadlines) When bad habits begin to take control of your life and keep you from having the things you desire and deserve, it’s time to change them. What habits have been holding you back?

4. Do you believe that any of your present habits interfere with your enjoyment of work, family or other situations? Even working too much can be a bad habit if it interferes with how much you enjoy your job or takes time away from you that you could be spending with friends and family. List the habits and explain why they interfere.

5. How would your life be different if you could get rid of some old, harmful habits and replace them with good ones? Practice some visualization here. Visualize your life if you didn’t smoke, lost weight or stopped drinking too much. How much better would you feel? How much money could you save or spend on fulfilling activities like pursuing your passions?

6. How do you plan to overcome the obstacles you’re sure to face when creating new habits? Those old triggers for your bad habits come in many forms. There may be obstacles you don’t foresee, but think of as many as possible and write them down, and how you plan to overcome those urges to revert back to your old habits.

7. Explain how you perceive your friends and family reacting to your new habits. Friends and family should support you through the habit creation process, but some In this exercise, we’ll take a global look at what the overall effect or goal is, then break that down into the necessary habits you need to form, and the identity habits you need to adopt to make it easier to achieve. 8. Think of the ways you act around people that are the result of a habit you have — either good or bad. Note the habit and the results you may experience when you get rid of it. When you get enough sleep and exercise, you may become a nicer person to be around. When you stop drinking, your drinking buddies may feel abandoned. Write down how creating a new habit might change your persona.

9. Are you taking care of your body so that you’re fit and toned? Write down ways that you could improve your health and fitness and include a plan to reach that goal. Unless you’re taking care of your body by getting enough exercise and eating a health diet, you run the risk of becoming fatigued to the point that any task becomes huge — particularly the creation of new habits. It’s much easier to slide back into the old ways. You can’t achieve great things in life if you’re constantly sick, suffering from a debilitating illness and even more so, if you die prematurely. 10. Do you have a plan for how to combat the days when you’re tempted to revert to your old habits? If so, list them to reinforce them in your mind. If not, think about it and write down your plan of attack. Knowing how you’ll handle a situation before it occurs helps insure you can overcome it.

11.Write down some triggers than can sabotage the new habit you’re trying to create. Then, write down some triggers that might help you stay on track. Triggers are the first portion in the loop of habit creation. Drinking coffee in the morning might trigger your need for a cigarette. Brushing your teeth when you feel the urge might prevent it. 12. Name some bad habit triggers and the behavior you exhibit when faced with one of these triggers. Behavior follows certain triggers. Some triggers help you, others hinder you. Does the smell of your Mom’s home cooking soothe you, or cause you to overeat?

13. What are some rewards that you’ll experience from your new habit? Without a reward, a habit won’t last long. Even bad habits, reward you with pleasure, for example, cigarettes might “calm your nerves” or be a social tool.

14. Write down some negative thoughts that always creep into your mind when you try some-thing new and better. Negative thoughts or self talk are often the biggest saboteur to your habit creation success. If you’ve tried and failed to adopt a habit in the past, write down some of the thoughts you had that kept you from following through. Once you’ve written the negative thoughts out, write positive statements to counter them.

15. Write down the names of some people whom you admire and then why you admire them. These could be people close to you or celebrities. You’ll likely find that some of the traits you admire about them are habits you might like to develop for yourself.

16. Formulate a plan to learn the skills you must become proficient in to realize the success of the habit you wish to adopt. Without a plan in place, most new habits fall by the wayside. If you need to study for a degree, plan your study habits. If you want to invest, plan to study whichever kind of investing you want to do. If you want to take your fitness to the next level, learn the proper exercises to get you there, or plan to hire a trainer.

17. Is the habit you want to abolish or replace linked with an addiction? If so, write down ways that you can go beyond the norm to combat the old habit effectively. For ex-ample, if you’re trying to quit smoking, you may need extra help from a doctor or counselor to get the results you want. 18. Write down some daily changes that will take place in your life with your new habit in place. It may be as simple as working from home with your own business rather than driving in traffic to a job you don’t enjoy. Be specific. How will you look and feel? How will your daily routine change?

19. Write down some positive things about yourself. It helps if you have some self-confidence on tap when entering the habit creation challenge. Even though you might have a habit or two that prevents you from achieving the success you want, you have to start somewhere. Revisiting what is “good” about yourself will help spur you on to bigger and better habits-.

What is it you want to achieve? Examples (Lose 30lbs., Set up a retirement account, Build a business)

What actions must you make habitual to achieve it?

What must you believe about yourself to make committing to those actions simple?

Habit Mastery

Habit

Routine

Trigger

Reward

Habit Mastery

Proper Habit ConstructionPrint and �ll out one of these pages for each habit you want to adopt

Trigger

Reward

Reward

Reward

Trigger

Trigger

Habit Actions

Habit Mastery

Trigger and Reward StackingFor this worksheet, take your proposed habit, and see if you can stack trigger and rewards.

For triggers, see if you already do something that will trigger the new habit actions.For the rewards, see if you can �nd multiple rewards for completing the habit actions.

How to set up Google Calendar to send reminders to your phone.

Step 1: Navigate to https://accounts.google.com/SignUp?hl=en if you don’t already have a Google account and sign up for one.

Step 2: Sign into your Google account, and select calendar from the top right menu.

Step 3: Follow the instructions below to set up your Calendar to sync with your phone.

Step 4: Open your calendar and select the appropriate day and time for your particular habit, note that you can repeat it. If this is a recurring, daily habit, set it to repeat daily at the appropriate time.