17 Building in Public: Bad Habits

GM and happy Thursday.

Welcome to Building in Public.

Okay, so I recently finished reading Atomic Habits by James Clear. Reading this book is something I have put off for year(s). Not sure why exactly. But I think it was due to arrogance.

(It was definitely due to arrogance).

My thought process was this: “I have pretty awesome habits and I’m already disciplined. What could I possibly learn? Likely a scam”.

But on Saturday morning I finally picked it up.

And by Sunday evening… I was done.

Fastest I’ve ever finished a book.

This may have been one of the best books I’ve ever read. And I just started re-reading it again. I’ve only ever gone back to back with one other book this quickly ($100m Offers by Alex Hormozi).

Obviously, it taught me a sh*t ton about habit building, system formation, and the importance of small, consistent gains. But it also opened my eyes to bad habits that are likely holding me back.

There’s no such thing as an overnight success. Extraordinary success is simply the byproduct of a large volume of fundamental actions. And so, our everyday habits will dictate our long-term outcomes. Guaranteed.

And these small changes (in either direction) will take us on a path whether we like it or not.

Take a look at this graph. The power of being 1% better (and worse) everyday for 365 days is astounding.

It's wild.

1% gain everyday for 365 = 38x better.

1% decline for 365 = 0 (basically).

But through this learning, I wanted to focus on the bad habits potentially holding me back. And there were many…

These apply to business and life. Here are my four holding me back.

1/ Focusing on the Urgent. It’s easy to jump from one task to another. The constant action and ‘busyness’ makes me feel important (and you as well, likely). Busy is still a badge of honour for most people. So we spend our time just jumping around from one ‘important task’ to another.

I reviewed my previous weeks, and I do this a lot. I’m constantly in motion. Sometimes, it’s needed, but sometimes it’s motion for motion’s sake. It’s a short-term orientation.

Now, I’m looking to shift my focus toward long-term compounders and delegating or eliminating the busyness and ‘important actions’.

2/ Inaction. I’ve improved this bad habit recently. But it’s still something that is a continuous improvement. The hardest move we make is the first move. And the only way we get comfortable with making that first move is by practising the move.

The hack I am using to spur more action is this: If something in my gut feels “right”, I’m going to do it. Plus, I’m going to heed my own advice. Often I’d get caught in decision making paralysis and be looking at all the cons, the finances, and things that could go wrong. Even though, deep down, I knew it was important.

Not anymore.

3/ Saying Yes (to everything). This is self-explanatory. It’s something I’ve improved lately, but I’d still like to say NO with more confidence.

The ability to say no is a superpower. Saying no allows us to focus, build leverage, and work on the things that matter most.

It’s the ability to understand what is a YES and what is a NO. This, I hope, comes with practice.

4/ Avoiding hard conversations. Avoiding them is easy in the short-term, but painful in the long-term. Avoiding them gets us nowhere. It feels 10x better to speak our mind and have the hard conversations. It’s a weight off our shoulders. And a weight I hate carrying.

Although it’s important to focus on building good habits, what this book taught me was also the power of small bad habits that we let creep in.

If you haven’t read it, then read it.

If you’ve read it, then read it again.

Happy Thursday!