Get Yourself Habit-Fit!
Habits can be good and habits can be bad. We need them so we can move effortlessly through life and change gear (literally and metaphorically) without too much thought.
But from time to time we all develop habits that are unhelpful to us, and some that are just pointless. Tackling these leaves more room for new and exciting things to emerge!
Review
What habits do you have that are helpful to you? For example, you might have a habit of walking to get the newspaper every day, which helps clear your head and gives you some fresh air exercise. Equally, a period of ill health may mean you had your newspaper delivered for a while and, although you are now recovered, you may not have resumed the habit of walking every day!
As you go through today try and make a mental note of the habits you have that are ‘good‘, that enrich you (or the world at large) in some way, and those that are ‘bad’, that sap your energy and that contribute nothing positive to anyone.
And tomorrow, try to replace that habit with something else! It’s been estimated that it takes about three weeks to change a habit to so you’ll need to keep at it. Start with something small and build your confidence in your ability to change.
Get yourself habit-fit for winter!
Are You a Blue Thinker? Or Green…Or Red?
If you find yourself in a group faced with a task of creating something new this might help!
Blue, Red, & Green Thinking
I am grateful for this idea to Nigel May Barlow, author of Re-Think-How to Think Differently.
He talks about three stages of creative thinking:
Blue - Blue is for IDEAS- with the sky being the limit! Blue type questions are Well, why not? and What if we…?
Red - Red is for STOP, like traffic lights. It’s the selection, evaluation, fine tuning and prioritising stage, choosing your best ideas.
Green – Green is for GO, deciding who is going to do what, by when, planning in the milestones.
In any group of people you are likely to find a scattering of all these types. Some will be more comfortable with a particular colour than others. if you get too many in one category you may miss out some of the valuable stages.
For example, a room of Blues may generate some fabulous ideas but never actually get around to putting them into action! Whereas Reds will never allow enough discussion of ideas as they push to get something agreed. And the Greens will be busy planning who is doing what before Blues have finished being creative!
What colour are you? How does it show itself in you?
