The Meta-Habits: Part 1

Behavior change is hard and I’m looking at the man in mirror when I say that. 

When we look into the arena of personal development and growth, we often will come across the adage: “success leaves clues.” I believe this to be true. I also believe 100%, that if you want to change and become a better version of yourself, then you need to examine the daily habits and routines of successful people and search for commonalities and add those things into practice. 

One of the all-time most popular personal development books that has impacted many lives in this regard is Steven Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It is a classic and if you haven’t read it, you should. Following the thought process from above, it also happens to be a book that is recommended by many successful people.

A book that has had a profound impact on me recently is Atomic Habits by James Clear. It is now in my top 5 favorite books of all-time in the “ personal development” category. Yes, I categorize just about everything and have lots of “lists” in case you are wondering. There are many important take-aways from his writings and interviews on various podcasts. One of the most impactful statements for me was when he stated (paraphrased): “Whatever results that you are currently getting, your current system is perfectly designed to get them. If you want different results what you need is a different system.” When I heard this, it was and continues to be a #gamechanger for me. 

These improved systems are designed through the practice of small habits that add up to big changes. I look at this in much the same way as setting process based goals to achieve an outcome goal. The processes (our regular habits) are what determine success or failure in achieving our outcome goals.

All of that said, Clear also has mentioned in interviews something that he calls “meta-habits.” I think that term resonates with me because it reminds me of meta-humans in DC comics, but I digress. These meta-habits are behaviors that tend to have a huge transfer or spill-over to improve other aspects of your life. Once again, when you study successful people you see these common habits apparent with many if not all of them.

The Meta-Habits

I try to rarely speak in absolutes, but I feel that everyone should have a regular practice of the following five habits. When starting a regular practice of these habits you will find that they will have an immediate positive impact on your life.

1. Reading

Quality reading feeds your mind the good stuff. While reading fiction is a great way to relax, I personally feel it is critical to distinguish between reading for education/learning purposes and reading for entertainment purposes. 

Make no mistake about it, reading for learning is work! Everyone should have a dedicated time to read for learning purposes and to improve their chosen skills. Sage mentor Alwyn Cosgrove spoke to our interns a couple years ago and educated them about the importance of reading. He expressed to them that reading a half hour per day was easy to do. He also explained that reading a half hour per day was easy not to do. If you simply read something educational for just a half-hour a day think about how many books you would read in a year…. If you didn’t read for a half-hour a day how many would you read? Alwyn’s statement was simple and incredibly profound. The smartest people read – a lot! How do you think they got so smart? Through the hard work of educational reading.

So how do you do this? Well, everyone obviously has a different situation, but we would all agree that we can carve out 30 minutes to read. If you don’t think you have the time, can you replace something else with the 30 minutes of reading?

My current system is to put reading into my morning routine. Below are the first few steps of my morning routine:

5:45am: Wake – feet on the floor when the alarm goes off.

5:46 am: Shower and dress – this is my personal “on-switch” and the first thing I do each and every morning.

6:00: Drink 16 ounces of water – to re-hydrate from the evening and start on the right path.

6:01am: Read something educational for 30 minutes BEFORE doing anything else. 

 It happens in this order everyday so that it doesn’t get missed. I provide this example not because I think it is the only way, but simply to show how I regularly plug the meta-habit reading into my day. 

That’s my strategy, how are you going to do implement this meta-habit? Stay tuned for part two!