6Structure a Framework for Your Days
What did you do when you woke up this morning? If you're like most people, you reached for your phone and checked your e-mail (and tweets and other messages). First thing. Even before you went pee. Lots of people sleep with their phone only a few inches from their head, as if they were a brain surgeon or a superhero awaiting that very important call. (Some people have that kind of mission-critical life. I don't envy them.) But why do they do that first?
Answer: They do it out of habit.
No matter what justification you're going to give me (I have to see if something is blowing up), it's a habit. It's a learned behavior.
What did you do after looking in your inbox or at your texts? I'm betting you reacted to something there and took an action based on what you found there. You followed a response pattern.
Sadly, you and I and lots of people serve these two bosses more than any other: habits and reactions.
Just let that one sink in for a second. Do you agree? Okay, but now let's turn this on its end.
If you picked better habits, and chose reactions that served you, wouldn't that be a good thing? I sure think so. Structure is based on your ability to create and follow patterns—which then become habits—and to respond to your environment after bouncing that response against your plans. Make sense?
Structure Gets a Bad Rap
When we think about trying to put a little more structure into our days, the freak in us likes to rebel. “But wait! I'm not ...
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