Leading by Adventure - 036 - No longer in Rome

Change habitual patterns to make you more effective in what you seek to do – Use simple techniques to break unwanted habits and create new supportive ones

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Why take this challenge?

Free yourself of the habits that undermine you effectiveness and purpose

Efficiently adopt new habits which better support your purpose

Take more control over who you are and who you are becoming

Graphic image reflecting different pathways to take the adventure

Back in our second adventure – That’s not me! – we looked at how we can gain a greater sense of freedom and control by challenging our habitual patterns and deliberately doing something different for a moment. We have also brushed alongside this idea in our two most recent adventures – in intentionally being ‘diverse’, and in changing our practices to feed the values we choose.

In this week’s adventure, we are going to go a step further and look at making more sustainable changes to our habits. Perhaps changes which incorporate all of the above, but also changes that deliberately reconsider our typical routines in terms of how they might be adjusted in order to better support who we want to be.

Now, to be frank, neither habit-breaking or habit-setting is part of my particular skill set. So in this adventure I am turning to speakers and resources who speak sense and who have made a name for themselves in this space.

+ Green track - taking it in your stride

Breaking old habits

We all have them. Behaviours that we know are not good for us, but we find we do them anyway. We are not proud of them, and would really like to break out of them, but we find ourselves some sort of prisoner within them.

Judson Brewer has great common sense advice on using ‘curiosity’ as a powerful simple way of breaking the patterns that hold us captive. He explains the approach in this simple TED talk.

So the green track is to:

Watch Judson Brewer’s TED talk
Identify a habit you would like to break
Use Judson’s advice to apply mindfulness and curiosity to decoupling the cycle and allowing you to step out of it

+ Blue track - a bit of a workout (click to open)

Adopting new habits

Adopting a new habit that is good for us is often as difficult for us as stopping a bad habit that isn’t. As anyone with a track record in failed New Year’s resolutions can testify.

Christine Carter has a profound and surprising insight into why we find adopting a new habit so difficult, which she explains in her TED talk.

It is determined by our ambition for the new habit, and our capacity to be willing to be ‘bad’ at it until we get it established. Her simple strategy – make the change really small until it happens naturally. She also has provided free resources to support this thinking.

So the blue track is:

Watch Christine Carter’s TED talk
Identify a habit you would like to build
Use Christine’s advice to establish it in a small, simple, unambitious way

+ Red track - stepping up to bat (click to open)

Developing a new habit strategy

Back in Adventure #031 we looked at a matrix technique for better supporting your outcomes with your activities. The red track is to use this approach to review the impact and influence of your habits and routines on the impact you want to have.

Simply list along the top of the matrix up to seven or eight regular routines or habits, that take your time but you tend not to think about too much.

Afterwards, list down the left hand side of the matrix up to seven or eight outcomes, impacts, or influences that you are seeking to achieve.

Then use the body of the matrix to explore how each habit or routine positively or negatively supports your intentions.

This analysis may help you better understand how you might want to work with those habits or routines over time.

You may find the following resources helpful in tackling your challenge or in gaining further benefits from the skills and insights you develop

Fixing ‘That’s not me!’ – https://culturistics.co.uk/adventure/fixing-thats-not-me-video-and-transcript/
The 1-minute secret to forming a new habit – https://www.ted.com/talks/christine_carter_the_1_minute_secret_to_forming_a_new_habit
A simple way to break a bad habit – https://www.ted.com/talks/judson_brewer_a_simple_way_to_break_a_bad_habit

To catch up on past adventures you may have missed, feel free to browse our Adventures Library

Let us know how you get on.
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Useful links:

Introduction to Leading by Adventure  |  What we mean by spirituality?  |  Why Adventure
Adventures to date   |  I did it, but it didn’t work very well   |  How do I know if it is working
Bringing this thinking into your meetings   |  Adventure & Mental Health
Leading by Adventure community   |  Explore Strategic Support options

Why take this challenge?

+ Green track - taking it in your stride

+ Blue track - a bit of a workout (click to open)

+ Red track - stepping up to bat (click to open)

Useful links:

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