I use experiments and questions to upgrade, transform, or improve my current trajectory. I also conduct an inventory of my habits, routines, rituals, and beliefs every quarter to course-correct.
I do this because daily choices accumulate, shaping my weeks, years and life. The only way to stay in control of how my life is evolving is to measure what I do daily.
Now, the one question that’s helping me or, better still, forcing me to confront my reality is this:
Can my current habits, routine and beliefs carry me to my desired future? If not, what adjustments can I make now?
Another way to question your present reality is to ask: Are my current habits contributing to my happiness, mental clarity, or misery?
I use it to bridge the gap between my present behaviour and future goals. It highlights the disconnect between my actions and what I want for my future self.
A quick thought experiment.
Fast forward five years. You’re living the life you’ve always wanted. Now rewind to your present routine. Think about your typical day now. Are your present habits getting you closer to that desired future or holding you back?
Simple introspective questions like the one above can have life-changing effects if we can be brutally honest with ourselves. The good news is that you have more control over the outcome of your life.
What does your ideal future look like?
Is it mastering a new skill, achieving financial security, or building stronger relationships? What does it look like? How do you feel?
Write it down. Be specific.
Clarity makes way for change. Compare your desired future with your current habits. Find the gap. How wide is it?
Identify the habits that can help you close it: the specific behaviour you can repeat daily to level up. Where can you make adjustments now?
Real change begins with self-awareness.
“If you defer investing your time and energy until you see that you need to, chances are it will already be too late.” ― Clayton M. Christensen, How Will You Measure Your Life?
The only way to be truly satisfied is to invest in behaviours that will serve you now and continue to bring out the best in your future self.
Too many people get stuck on autopilot. They go with the flow and rarely question their present trajectory.
Habits have always been our building blocks. Once you master them, they will elevates you to your desired outcome. If your present habits are not serving you, drop them.
“If you believe you can change — if you make it a habit — the change becomes real. This is the real power of habit: the insight that your habits are what you choose them to be. Once that choice occurs — and becomes automatic — it’s not only real, it starts to seem inevitable.” ― Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit
Every time I ask myself the same trajectory-changing question, it triggers a massive realisation about where I’m headed.
“Are my current habits taking me where I want to go?” is a powerful self-transformation tool. Make a habit of two things: measuring and doing more of what’s serving you.
Without measurement, you’re blind to what works and what doesn’t. Track your habits — the good, the bad, and the ugly. Introspective measurement is the truth. It’s key to adjusting your behaviour.
Psychologist Martin Seligman says the building blocks of a fulfilling life are positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment(PERMA).
Use the question to identify habits that can help you put Seligman’s theory to work in your life. You can start with something meaningful to do, something to hope for and someone you can connect with.
And keep doing more of what serves you.
Watch as your habits shift and your life transforms, taking you closer to your desired future.
With every investment of your time and every decision about how you spend your energy, you are choosing what reallymatters to you.
“All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits — practical, emotional, and intellectual — systematically organized for our weal or woe, and bearing us irresistibly toward our destiny, whatever the latter may be.” — William James
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