The following contains excerpts from the book, The Habit Factor (Martin Grunburg).
At our music school in Odessa, Texas we believe that music is much more than mere sound, rather, it is relationships. In the following discussion of habits, there is a correlation to the subject of Leadership, as the first step towards successful leadership begins with leading one’s self well. At our music school in Odessa, Texas we see great value in helping students acquire discipline, routine, and focus in core basics, as this is the only way to achieve mastery in one’s craft. By extension, these lessons will apply in highly beneficial ways in every aspect of their lives.
The book’s opening pages contain several quotes: “Your cannot live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.” (John Wooden) “It makes no small difference to be habituated this way or that way straight from childhood, but an enormous difference, or rather all the difference.” (Aristotle, 342 BC)
Application
Create Your Goal In 6 Simple Steps
- Identify the goal.
- Specify the Start Date and Projected End Date.
- Capture the ‘Why?’ that is, why is your goal meaningful and emotionally significant?
- Describe in detail what the goal looks like once it has been successfully achieved.
- Identify Key Milestones in the journey toward your completed goal.
- Habit Alignment. Set up core habits that relate to the achievement of your goal. This process has its own six steps:
- Identify core habits (between 3-5)
- Establish minimum success criteria for each habit.
- Describe why each habit is important.
- Identify Target Days of the week you will perform the behavior/habit.
- Establish the Tracking Period start and end dates.
- TRACK! (Daily)!
At our music school in Odessa, Texas we help students set appropriate goals for their level of development, goals that are attainable yet require the student to apply discipline to achieve.
“The end date should always serve you and it should never discourage you…by recognizing that the real success lay in the journey and not the goal itself…when you view any experience this way, you quickly realize there are no mistakes, only lessons, and there are no failures, only experiences.”
“The ‘Why?’ is designed for you to capture the emotion (energy) associated with the successful completion of the goal. What would it mean to you to successfully achieve your goal? Here’s perhaps an even better question: ‘What would it mean if you never achieved your goal?’ I’ve personally found that question and the associated emotions of regret and disappointment to be extremely motivating.”
“What is value? Here’s a simple formula:
Value = Purpose + Creativity.
One of the most important values we teach students in our music school in Odessa, Texas is that music is not only sound, rather it is relationships. It is relationship with self as disciplined habits are formed. It is relationships with those who are being served, adding beauty and meaning to our communities, and it is relationships with those we join in collaborative efforts.
Purpose (solve a problem or serve others) + Creativity (how unique is your solution or service? What is your creative spin that makes it better, easier, faster?). this equals Value (something people are willing to pay for)…The greater the purpose and applied creativity, the greater the value, thus, the greater the return.”
“So the idea is to first establish a frequency of Target Days (for each week) related to each habit that is reasonable…Only you will know if you’ve set up a daily frequency (per week) for each habit that is achievable and reasonable.”
“Target days are essential to the tracking process, as these are the days you ideally choose to perform the habit…and you provide yourself with the opportunity for a ‘make-up’ day should you miss a Target Day, allowing you to achieve your week’s ideal frequency. Note: This added flexibility allows you to surpass your frequency targets during your tracking period.”
“Anytime you establish a key habit, the ‘Minimum Quantity OR Time’ for each must be identified. This is the metric that allows you to know if you have successfully met your objective for the day.”
“Once you’ve identified the key, related habits and established their respective minimum success criteria and Target Days, tracking the success of each habit is as simple as either a Check (YES) or No Check (No) for each desired behavior/habit.”
“The Tracking Period. This is the period of time in which you will initially track you actual behaviors vs. your ideal targets for any one period (initially, four weeks is recommended). Tracking Periods are required for habit formation and are entirely customizable.”
“We cannot waste time, we can only waste ourselves.” (George Matthew Adams)
“Goals are the equivalent of metaphysical super-glue, bonding your creative essence to that of your birthright- your dreams, ambitions and desires.”
To help people identify their goals, “an even better exercise I find myself consistently recommending to people is for them to write their own obituary.”
We try to help students at our music school in Odessa, Texas value their time and their own unique strengths enough to spend time developing themselves for the purpose of helping and serving others.
“HAPPY- a basic acronym designed to remind you about the importance of habit alignment: Be sure to track daily, relevant Habits that are Aligned. Ensure they have Purpose (they are core, important and related to the goal) and they are Positive (don’t ever track negative habits), and finally, be sure you celebrate any progress with a great big ‘Yes!’”
“The simple truth is that any (stretch) goal is achievable once you dissect and identify its Key Habit Attributes (KHAs). Then, by tracking each KHA daily, you gain immediate momentum, which is a prerequisite for any goal to be achieved, We call this Habit Alignment Technology, and what makes it so effective is you don’t need a long, detailed list of planned tasks or actions. You simply need to know the core, related habits (typically, no more than five to retain focus), and then realizing immediate results is nearly automatic!
“Quick Summary: To realize any goal, momentum is critical! With The Habit Factor, this can be quickly achieved by simply identifying 1-3 Key habits (no more than five initially) that will help you reach your goal, and them TRACK them on a daily basis. That’s it!
We endeavor to help students in our music school in Odessa, Texas develop musical and artistic disciplines, understanding that the value of leaning these disciplines has far-reaching consequences in life-lessons. One cannot be successful in music without the application of well-though habits, and the acquisition of disciplines in mastering music can be easily transferred to all pertinent aspects of a wholesome and successful life.