Habit, n. a shackle for the free.
Ambrose Bierce
1842 – c. 1914
The next question in our series is: What should I _________________? As before, you will need to complete the question.
There are actually two different ways to ask this question. The first way is obvious: what should I do to make my trip to Australia a reality? Or what should I do to land my dream job/house/soul mate?
Asking “what should I do” is slightly different from the “how can I” question. Asking “how can I” brings up all sorts of possibilities. You then must evaluate the possibilities and decide which ones are worth implementing. Once you’ve narrowed the list of possibilities, ask “what should I _____________?”
It’s important that you prioritize your list of things you should do. Failing to develop a prioritized list will often leave you starting with the easiest but least productive tasks. The hardest tasks generally carry the greatest rewards, so be sure to work on the highest value task first.
There’s one other way to ask this question. Before we explore it, let me remind you that there’s a highly disproportionate relationship between efforts and results: most of our efforts produce little in the way of results; or to put it differently, most of our results are generated by a rather small percent of our efforts.
If you want to improve your results in life, you will need to change some things you’re doing. This leads to the second way to ask the question: What should I change or stop doing in order to ___________________?
Actually, this second question is probably more important than the first. If you eliminate the things that are taking lots of time and producing very little effort, you will dramatically improve your life.
Most of our actions are habitual. We get in the habit of acting a certain way, and once that habit is established, we react automatically. We don’t even think about what we’re doing or the consequences of doing it. But if you truly want to change your life, you need to change some of your habits.
Learn to ask the questions: What should I do ___________, and what should I change or stop doing in order to _______________?
By asking these questions, you’ll become more aware of the actions you’re taking and the results you’re getting. The more aware you become, the better decisions you’ll make.
No one knows what he can do till he tries.
Publilius Syrus
1st Century B.C.
Copyright © 2009 John Chancellor