Effort
Having healthy cores. Physically, mentally, in private and work. Will keep you upright and moving forward.
As an entrepreneur or company owner – you’ll do well by translating the same thinking into your business.
Your engines for creating the life you want to live.
Consider them your central, most important habits. The nuclei everything revolves and evolves around.
Habits
The word habit, has gained a poor reputation. We most often associate it with smoking, drinking too much, over eating and social media addiction. It implies activities that are hard giving up on.
But habits are good and healthy too. Helping a charity once a month, going for a walk every day, flossing your teeth, taking an hour for yourself every day.
For some, habits reminds of boredom. Having to do the same thing repeatedly, never ending lists of todo items and trying to keep up with the inbox.
For others there is comfort in a steady rhythm. Knowing what is next on the list, checking the box off, coming back and go through it again.
Habits are the little engines we arrange most of our daily life around. The little things we must do, have to do, are compelled to do. Hence – changing a habit, or hopefully exchanging it for a healthier one, will have significant impact.
Our bad habits, often imposed on us by outside influence and stress, can hold us back. They can even be destructive.
Good habits will carry us forward even on bad days. The best habits, helps us create the world we want to live in.
I suggest these 5 simple habits for a more interesting life.
Cores
Our good habits – especially the best of them. Are great candidates for becoming our cores. They make up the foundation for, and drive signifiant parts of our lives.
Cores should be deliberate choices. But often we don’t realise which of all our efforts in life – that are the engines behind it all. It is important that we aim to identify them. And that we deliberately nourish and maintain them.
Same as there are reasons for our choices and how we behave. There’s often – the real reason. An underlying motivator.
We all have lives and jobs. With a mix of things we have to do every day, and numerous things coming at us in more or less planned or unexpected ways. We can all benefit from organising around Cores.
Your cores makes up your resting face. It is who and what you appear as to your surroundings. When you don’t make a special effort.
Work cores
Every business, devision, team and individual – must have a good understanding of their value add. Their main contribution to the next person in their value chain – their customer.
And making the activities needed to create that value – their cores.
As we all know. Far from everything we do in a day, is directly creating value for our customers. Time is needed for internal collaboration, reporting and accounting. We must work on improving our products and services – and develop those our customers will need next.
Call 10 customers every day. Not to sell, but to see how you can help them become successful.
It’s allocating time daily for maintenance. For your vehicles, computers and production equipment. Keeping everything running and avoid big expensive surprises.
It’s a steady media presence. Focused on your customers needs – preserving your place in their minds. And hope they’ll pay attention when you have a big push.
Review and remind yourself of everything you have done and achieved the past week, every Friday. Make corrections to your priorities accordingly. Celebrate it.
Our identified cores will help us ensure we deliver value to and service our existing, paying, customers first. Then focus on everything else, which we can do with greater calm and focus, knowing our business has been taken care of.
Personal cores
Your value add is to your self, and to your loved ones. The cores you identify, should be focused on living a healthy life now. And creating the world you want to live in.
Most people have busy lives; work, time with children, grocery shopping, garden work, community work. And scheduling date night every other Thursday with your partner through 8 years. May seem silly – but can be a saviour for your relationship.
We readily schedule time for team sports, our spiritual life, school plays. Activities that brings groups of people together. And we should just as well schedule regular time for our own activities.
Cores and habits combined, become equally the tracks that steadies you, and the engine that drives you forward.
It may seem rigid and boring to begin with. But you can create time you would otherwise use on – well. . . stuff. Things we do because we’re not sure what to do next.
You will use less time on things you have to when they are planned. And not having to do them when you are supposed to do something else – having to compromise on both.
It is a great way to figure out, if you have identified the right cores. Are these truly the activities you need and want. Are they pulling you in the right direction ?!
Cores – are a great way to actively take charge of your own life !
Most interestingly. It will – after a while. Create free time in your life to be spontaneous.
Routines
Routines are cores first cousin.
These base functions we have mastered to the point of becoming second nature. We do them without paying much attention.
They become almost meditative and allows us a slice of time where we can just do – without concentrating. We can use that time to tune out, dream, let our minds wander – have great ideas.
Great ideas we have in the shower, staring out the window of the train, driving home the same way every day or going for a run. These routine, repetitive and almost meditative slices of time, are anything but mindless.
Remember, all that is now routine for you – was once new to you, something you had to work at to learn. The time and effort you spend making them routine – now pays back handsomely.
Let’s spare a thought for all those with long hours of repetitive routine work every day – which is completely different. They made your clothe, packed your food, assembled your phone . . .
Maintain and renew your cores
We could think that by doing our cores often. We’re actively keeping them up to date, relevant and maintained. But there’s a good chance we have defined them so well, and done them so often – they have become close to being routine.
We need to evaluate them regularly – same as everything else we do. Learn new and better ways to get the most out of them, and everything surrounding them. And how often we need them.
It’s important to identify multiple cores, both in business and the different areas of your personal life.
Some we need daily, helping us for a decade. Others weekly – and they’ll serve their purpose within a years time. To be replaced with the next core, be that its logical successor or in an entirely different area.
Schedule
Have a schedule, actively allocate time to read, learn new things, sport, family time, seeing friends, go for a long walk in the park, stare at the ocean.
Spend some time, finding out what time of day or week, works best for your different cores. Your energy and motivation is different mornings and evenings.
Consider doing your least favourite and your most important cores when you know you have energy and motivation. It’ll give you the best possible chance of getting the most out of them, and you’ll carry that energy further into your day.
Reserve your most favourite activities for periods where you need a lift – whether that be Monday morning or for that mid-week boost you need.
And, set aside one hour – every Friday afternoon. To go over everything you’ve achieved that week. And celebrate.
What ever your cores may be, for your private or work life. Carving out time for them, is part of making good decisions that supports your future goals.
You will find that, even with a todo list, schedules and routines – there are still things you’re missing. Life happens every day and you forget things, or you have a day where you are so fed up with everything, that you take a break from being organised.
It is ok.
You will still be more organised, more structured – more trustworthy than most, and that is worth a lot.
This is what it can look like and lead to
Photo by Adam Dubec