Good Daily Habits – a Most Powerful Tool

Habits become the structure that frames your day. Structured days become the scaffolding that uphold your life. Every decision has a consequence. Best to make good ones. Life transformation begins simply with good daily habits.

Now if you’re a creator and you already feel yourself bridling at the idea of structure. I get it. Truly. But here’s the thing, your structure is not a box… it’s not a prison. Rather, your structure is merely good habits done daily that set you up for success.

Habits are all a kind of addiction. Become addicted to the habits that serve your goals and let the others die from neglect.

Structure is that place where creativity can safely be about its work.

Habits become the structure that can make—or break—your day. Good daily habits create more good days.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder – iCreateDaily.com®

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• The Habit of Habits
• The Habit of Setting and Achieving Goals
• 10 Good Habits that Make a Difference
  • On Waking up Early
• Be Honest
• Habits and Self Sabotage
  • Examples of Negative Habits Common to Creatives
  • Create Your Habits List
  • Create a 3 Column List
• Recommended Books on Habit

Your habits are created from your decisions. They can be tailor made to fit your life and goals. Just at habits start as decisions, decisions also become habits.

Don’t bridle at structure. Take the reins.
~LeAura Alderson, iCreateDaily.com®

The Habit of Habits

One of the simplest and yet most important tools to employ for your business success is to make a habit of having good daily habits.

Habits are the building blocks of your day. They create the structure within which you can get your work done. Habits compound to build the home of your life.  Your habits become that which houses all that you do… the rooms where you live.

You do not daily have to build your home in order to have a roof over your head. You do not need to construct a shelter to keep the elements off and wild animals out. Fortunately, most of us have homes that we wake up in and come home to each day. Your home’s structure is there. It is your place in which your life happens. You know you can count on it to shelter you.

The habits you intentionally implement will create the place where you can do the work that matters to you while not needing to worry about the things that don’t.

Your good daily habits become that inner office from which to create the work you wish to share with the world.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder iCreateDaily.com®

The Habit of Setting and Achieving Goals

The number one tool we use to set and track habits that serve our goals and omit the holes and gaps that snag our resolve is the 90 Day Goals Journal. You can download a free 30 day pdf version here to see if it’s a fit for you.

Do not underestimate the power of habit to serve you… or derail you.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®

10 Good Daily Habits that Make a Difference

Establishing one new habit each day, or even each week, will help get you get in the flow of creating positive change in your life.  Here are some ideas of fairly simple habits that you can use to get started, and we’ll link to loads more at the end!

1. Starting tonight, get your tomorrow morning ready the night before: set out your clothes, plan or prepare your breakfast so that you start your day ahead and relaxed.
2. Wake up 30 minutes earlier to make the time and space for your creative endeavor.*
3. Drink a large glass of water with a squeeze of lemon first thing in the morning for an internal cleanse.
4. Write down what you’re grateful for every morning and/or evening.
5. Start your day with a healthy breakfast, (perhaps that you prepared the night before).
6. Complete at least one important goal in the morning before doing anything else. Big tasks loom large, so do it when you have the most energy, and that frees up a chunk of bandwidth in your day.
7. Take 1-5 minute workout breaks throughout the day, (or at least one workout break). The power of exercise to generate personal power is a well established fact.
8. Don’t start your day with news or social channels. Instead, listen to an educational podcast on topics of  interest, or uplifting elevating music to put a spring in your step and boogie right out the door, or into your ‘creator’s chair’.
9. Avoid negativity and immerse in things that are beautiful, positive and elevating.
10. Get fresh air and sunshine each day that you can. Nature, helps you connect with and nurture your nature.

For a list of 100+ good habits, see this article.

*On Waking up Early

Creators often share their frustration over not having time to create. If you just try this tip of waking 30 minutes earlier for a week — and using that time to create — you’ll see how much more you get done.

That 30 minutes time won’t truly make a difference in how rested you feel. However, it will definitely make a difference in how you feel about yourself and your day by doing the thing you’ve been wanting to do but haven’t had time for.

That 30 minutes extra time will deliver to you far more than 30 minutes of benefit… we’ve experienced it and seen it over and again. But the only way for this to work for you is to hold that time as set and sacred… not to be relegated to anything else.

Remember, you would’ve been sleeping, so you should be able to protect that time as belonging to you and your creativity. And… chances are you’ll want to bump that 30 to 45 or more soon. Progress is empowering and empowerment is energizing, and when you’re energized you can get more done! ?

Don’t over-complicate or over-think building new habits.  Progress is simply daily efforts compounded over time.

Make a habit of good habits.
~LeAura Alderson, iCreateDaily®

Be True to You

To move forward will require you to be true to you and piercingly honest with yourself. After all, we’re ultimately accountable to ourselves. If you’re struggling with finding time for your creative pursuits, is it truly that you don’t have time, or is it that you’ve simply not yet prioritized your time according to your values, goals and purpose?

Don’t be the one wasting time complaining about others, the state of the world, or why things didn’t get done. Use that time to fuel your creativity rather than to excuse or explain the negatives. That won’t get you where you want to go.

There is a place in human development where we spend more time making excuses and complaining than in actually doing the work. Don’t let that be you.

You and your dreams are better than that and you’ve got important work to do. Your work.

Do the work you’re compelled to in your highest vision of yourself. Get busy on that project and watch the negatives in your life diminish and disappear. 

Time to get on with your purpose.
Don’t waste precious time congregating around negativity… yours or that of others.
Immerse in the best examples of humanity, creativity, compassion and positivity.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®

Habits and Self Sabotage

Creating supportive good habits is critical for any success. Whether you’re working towards making your creative endeavor an income producing business, or just wanting to spend more time creating, good habits make for a happier, healthier life. Good habits are where you’ll want to spend the bulk of your day.

Write down your habits and you’ll become more conscious of the habits that don’t support your aspiration and the triggers that trip them.  You can also ask for accountability from trusted people who can encourage you towards your positive habits and help you avoid the self sabotage of negative habits.

And keep in mind that we’re not talking about perfection and never doing things that aren’t good for you. It’s fine to have the slice of birthday cake and ice cream. What isn’t fine if you wish to excel, is the habit of unhealthy treats and behaviors.

Our brains are wired for repetition so repeat the positives until good habits are your default mode. Let the negatives dissolve into nothingness.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder – iCreateDaily.com®

Examples of Negative Habits Common to Creatives

• Talking about creative blocks over finding solutions.
• Too many ideas but too little application.
• Glamorizing disorder, chaos and absence of structure.
• Dramatizing emotional highs and lows and/or manic depressive.
• Procrastination doing the work.
• Not finishing projects and/or starting too many new projects
• Perfectionism versus learning more rapidly through trial and error and through failing.
• Holding onto a negative story about who you are and/or limiting yourself based on your past.
• Addictions, distractions and other bad habits.
• Stinking thinking and negativism.
• Engaging with people/groups that feed negativity.
• Distractions in the news and media.
• Getting caught up in “the cause of the day”.
• Depression, hopelessness and feeling stuck.

Send us yours and we’ll add them to this list (don’t worry… we won’t name you unless you’d like us to. :-))

Confronting our own bad habits is not fun, but it is imperative for progress.

Growing into your vision requires growing out of limiting beliefs.
~Devani Alderson, iCreateDaily.com®

Create Your Habits List

I created a list recently of behaviors and thoughts that were not serving me. It was uncomfortable, disappointing, and even a little depressing at first.

Writing down negative habits and thoughts did two things:

1. The internal tension of my negative energy lifted
2. Moving forward with solutions and accountability became simpler and energizing

To create your own list of habits that serve you and those that don’t is a powerful exercise to do and keep current.

Create a 3 Column List:

1. Good Habits – (those things that serve my goals)
   
2. Poor Habits – (that which detract from my goals)
   
3. Neutral Habits – (that don’t contribute or detract; most habits are either good or not, however if you’re not certain, you can create a ‘neutral’ column for now for those that don’t seem to go in either place as you decide over time).

Once you have your list, you’ll become more clear on where you need to spend most of your time if you want to be happy, content and successful. Hint: it will be on the good habits list. ?

Reframing Negatives to Positives

“Believing I’m worthless does not serve me and I do not do things that do not serve me.”
~Tom Bilyeu, founder of Impact Theory, cofounder-Quest Nutrition

You can replace the first part of the above quote (e.g., “…I’m worthless”), with any bad habit that does not serve you, and that word or phrase can be added to (or pulled from) your negatives list. E.g.:

” ___________________ does not serve me.”

Bad Habit Examples for Ideation and Transmutation:

• Feeling that I’m not good enough does not serve me.
• Believing that I don’t have enough time to create does not serve me.
• Thinking I’m not educated enough does not serve me.
• Procrastination does not serve me.
• Negative self-talk does not serve me.
• Talking more than doing does not serve me.
• Consistently waking up late does not serve me.
• I do not do things that do not serve me.

You can create your own list of affirmations to rotate through as you need them.

Recommended Books on Habit

For a deeply researched and insightful book on habits, you will most likely enjoy the best seller: The Power of Habit.

Two other favorite books along these lines are The Compound Effect, by Darren Hardy, and also The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson, one of Darren Hardy’s mentors.

And if you enjoy a really deep dive into the art and science of structure, this is a virtual textbook on the subject of creativity within structure that’s mind-expanding: A Beautiful Constraint, by Adam Morgan and Mark Barden.

Here’s the huge 100 good habits list we promised.

Life is a question, and how we live it is our answer.
~The One Thing book, by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan

Your good habits create the structure within which you can get your work done.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®

Good Daily Habits Make All the Difference

Habits are like diets, they work if you work them, and they work better if you make good daily habits a lifestyle.  iCreateDaily was built around the concept of programming your subconscious mind to support your goals to create the life you want to live. Your life is your greatest work of art. The day is the way through creative, conscious manifestation.

The creators we’ve interviewed all have multiple habits that support their vision. Common success practices include dedication to daily exercise, journaling, meditation, goal setting and disciplined daily creation.

In episode 26 of the iCreateDaily Podcast we interviewed Niraj Naik, who talked about how we often miss the simple things in life that cause so many of the shifts we’re looking for. We tend to overcomplicate things, but often the greatest results come from the simplest things practiced consistently over time.

While it seems as though habits are a tough nut to crack for many people, it’s less because the habit is hard, and more because we go about it in the wrong way.  Many times we’ll assume before we even start, that breaking out of old patterns will be hard. It’s only hard if we resist it. Reframing to positives makes all the difference.

So what separates people who are “successful” from the rest of us “mere mortals”?

Tune into podcast conversations and YouTube videos of successful creators who implement constructive good habits daily, such as this one with Matthew Turner, or hop over to this full list of good habits to shore up your own.

Daily good habits are the building blocks of success.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®

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