10 Habits

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Introduction Habits are the mechanical “secret weapons” in the all out assault that I teach my clients to launch on a mediocre existence. By creating a habit, we are able to take a simple action that is associated with a favorable, and desired outcome, and ingrain it the mind to the level necessary to ensure that it is completed with regularity with a minimal amount of conscious effort beyond the initial habit formation period (three weeks). Action taken on a daily basis has a compounding effect, creating growth in whatever the targeted area may be. Simply put, adopting productive habits is a can’t-lose formula for creating more of what you want wan t in your life. My upcoming book “Blueprint book “Blueprint to Beast”, Beast”, which this eBook is designed to supplement, gets deep into the idea of habit creation as well as the rest of o f the tools and education necessary to ensure one’s ever growing succe ss. For our purposes here in this title, we will be looking at some excellent habits that you can begin creating today to help you move forward, away from mediocrity, towards greatness, in the five major success headings, which are, in no particular order:

Body Relationships Professional Life Finance Mission The provided habits are simple to implement. As a reader, you can begin the habit formation process with any or all of the recommended reco mmended tasks today. As I’ve written before, the process necessary for the adoption of a new habit is simple. One must simply complete the task every day, without interruption, for a period of three weeks. It’s a longaccepted principle in the science of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) that twentyone days represents something of a magic number when it comes to habit creation. Once the task has been performed for three weeks, it begins to require much less conscious











This morning upon waking, before beginning your day, I am relatively certain that you probably brushed your teeth. Now imagine if you had not performed this simple task and instead headed out to work, to meet friends, or whatever your day has consisted of this far. How would you feel if that were the case? If you’re anything like most people (with good hygiene habits) you would feel terribly uncomfortable, and would more than likely be seeking a way to remedy the situation so as to not be breathing your awful, unclean, morning breath in the faces of every one that you meet. In our terms, you would associate not brushing your teeth with pain. This is critical. While the act of brushing your teeth this morning most likely did not require much conscious effort (you just kind of got up and did it), failing to do it would create a degree of stress and anxiety for you. Now, are you concerned that in a year, or maybe six months that you’ll “fall off” and give up brushing your teeth each morning? Of course not. Brushing your teeth is a deeply ingrained habit, one that has been solidified by years of repetition. You’ve repeated the same action over and over, without any immediate reward or gratification with the exception of the a voidance of the stress and anxiety that would come with not doing it. Now let’s identify something that you could do that would be conducive to developing a more attractive/healthy body. Imagine if you performed that same task everyday with the same regularity that you brush your teeth, with the same subconscious drive to do so, if for no other reason than to avoid the “pain” that you’ve associated with not doing it. What do you imagine the effect would be on your body over time? Pretty simple huh? Ok, so what I’ve done here h ere is compile ten simple actions that can be installed as habits beginning now; two from each of the listed categories earlier. These are either common habits that I work to create with clients, or one’s that I have used myself. This by no means represents a complete list of the habits that can be created to bring more success in your life, but hopefully the implementation of a few, or all, of these will get you on your you r way to building a bigger life “Blueprint to Beast” style. Enjoy.











The Body Habits

A strong, attractive, healthy body is critical for the successful individual. If it is within your ability to develop such a body, it is your responsibility to create that for yourself. Healthy relationships, financial success, a powerful professional life, and a strong mission are no good if you aren’t alive to experience them. Take care of yourself from the inside out first. Build a strong, healthy, attractive body, and then reap the rewards of your efforts in all aspects of your life. Remember that each of these headings carries with it a spillover effect that impacts the entire picture. Generating momentum in one of the five will improve the others every time. The body is the one heading, which most readers will admit that they have the most control over in terms of making change, chang e, at present time. Since this is the case, take advantage of that fact, and begin changing your life for the better by changing your body. The two habits presented here are an excellent start.











Body Habit #1: The Daily Workout So this one may sound a bit overly simplified, but the fact of the matter is that if you want to change your body for the better, consistency is key. Regardless of your intended outcome, whether you are more interested in building large amounts of strength and muscle mass, or dropping bodyfat, you are going to have to put in the work. In my book “The book “The Greyskull LP: Second Edition” I talk about creating habits that push you closer to your body recomposition goals, particularly chin-up and push-up ladders, and what I call the “Villain Challenge #1 burpee progression”. Both of these examples represent daily workouts that are performed regardless of the da y of the week, whether you are scheduled to be in the gym that day lifting weights or not. Here I will look at the daily workout wo rkout idea as it pertains to someone attempting a ttempting to build serious muscle mass and strength. Now, in my experience I have yet to encounter someone who truly has NO concern conc ern with that his or her body looks like. In fact, a large percentage of the consulting and coaching work that I do with clients is centered around helping them grow, and build muscle without becoming a fat mess in the process, or reversing the effects of having foregone responsibility with regards to bo dy composition while gaining weight. I’ve often written about the benefits of walking for 30-45 minutes in the morning on an empty stomach, particularly the positive effects that this action has on controlling or reducing bodyfat (dependent largely on the diet used), and the favorable effect that fasted walking has on the appetite of the individual, namely making you hungry as hell all day long. The biggest issue that people have with taking advantage of the benefits of the fasted walks is the simple adherence issue. Lame, right? I mean here is something that can and will help you, yet you neglect it, or worse, represent it as a “non-essential” or “supplemental” type of training. The latter is similar to the idea of “assistance” movements in weight training, a term that I loathe. There are no such things as “assistance” movements in my book. Each movement plays a major role, otherwise why do it at all? This “assistance” concept is a carryover from the powerlifting world, where movements outside of the three competitive lifts (Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift) are seen as being intended to “assist” in increasing performance in said mov ements. The idea here is to accept the idea that each component of the program is of equal importance. Adopt the philosophy that there is a workout to be performed each and every day. I can tell from my own experience, and from the experience of many others with











As you will see with each habit ha bit that you create, momentum is built, bu ilt, and the entire big picture improves as a result. I can assure you that approaching each day as a training day whether you hit the weights that day da y or not will eliminate the problem of missing workouts, both of the conditioning/cardio variety, as well as the lesser, but still often neglected strength training type. Every day is a training day. Whether it’s a walk, a weight session, a ch in ladder, whatever it is. Build the habit of training daily and you will dramatically speed up the process of building the body that you desire.













Body Habit #2: The Protein Shake Sandwich This one I addressed in a case study with one of my former consultation clients in my book “Drop book “Drop the Panties: The Greyskull Guide to a Better Body”. Body”. The client was a female who had given birth to her first child and had fallen off the wagon so to say with diet and a nd training. She had been in possession of a seriously awesome body prior to getting pregnant, the result of a solid diet and training regimen. The demands of a newborn coupled with the toll that the pregnancy had taken on her body placed her in a mental position that was not very conducive to being where she wanted to be body wise. I assigned her one simple habit, and inside of four weeks she had not only adhered to the task with one hundred percent consistency, but had built the necessary momentum to overhaul her entire situation and get back on track. The habit was: Drink a protein shake first thing in the morning. The shake’s contents can vary depending on what your objective is. For instance, someone looking to add strength and mass might construct a shake similar to the mass gain shakes outlined in my book “SWOLE: The Greyskull Growth Principles”, Principles”, while someone else (like the client mentioned above) might opt for a simple Whey protein in water shake.

Then,

Drink a protein shake shortly before going to bed. b ed. This one is a bit more universal, un iversal, as my recommendations for shakes before bed are always protein only, sans carbs and or fats. The only variance here would be the serving size.











The Relationships Habits

The relationship heading includes, but is not limited to, intimate relationships. This heading also includes personal relationships of all sorts, your friends, your family members, your friendly dry cleaner, your cigar guy, etc.











Relationship Habit #1: Talk to Strangers Human beings are the most valuable resource at your disposal. Cultivating and continually developing strong relationships with other humans will go a long way towards advancing you in any pursuit. In order to make this happen, we need to shed the wisdom bestowed to us by our parents and teachers in early life, and talk to as many strangers as possible. There are of course the chance encounters where someone who provides continual enrichment to your life strolls up and introduces himself or he rself, but more often than not such an introduction is going to require some action on your part. Your ability to leverage your contacts (other humans) in order to accomplish the things that you need to accomplish, and your ability to enjoy the company of others, and learn and grow as a result of their wisdom and gifts of knowledge and/or love is greatly predicated on the number of people with whom you have relationships with. The habit to create here is simple. Make it a point to proactively strike up conversation with people from all walks of life with whom you make contact throughout your day. Of course there will be days where you don’t feel like talking to people much, and that is ok, but assuming that you leave your house on any given day, you should make it a point to introduce yourself and converse with at least one new person per day. I can say without equivocation that the overwhelming majority of the accomplishments that I have made over the past several years would not have been possible had I not been able to enlist the help, or influence of others in my network. People who spend time with me often comment about the extensiveness of my network; saying things like:

“You know everybody”











Relationship Habit #2: In the words of Dalton from Road House, “Be Nice”. Do one genuinely nice thing each and every day for someone with whom you have a relationship. This one is a fun one. Each day, select one person that you know, and make a nice gesture towards them in some way. This can be in the form of flowers or even a simple note or card left for or sent to a significant other. This can be a thoughtful thou ghtful gift for a good friend, a few nice words to a store or restaurant owner who provides you with excellent service, even an email e mail sent to someone who you haven’t been in contact with recently, but who you are thinking about. The form that it takes does not matter. What does matter is that you are making mak ing a conscious effort on a daily basis to let the people with whom you are close know that they are in your thoughts and appreciated. Human beings thrive on appreciation and a nd significance to others. I don’t doubt that there are several people in your life, whether in your inner circle, or in the periphery who you know you do not show your appreciation to regularly enough. A wise man once told me that a relationship is like a muscle in that it grows stronger when you work it. Make the effort to provide the kind of genuine, thoughtful interaction with others that they crave, and may be lacking. A simple act of kindness is all that it takes to change someone’s entire day. Become the one who affects others in this positive manner on a daily basis. The universe will reward











The Professional Life Habits

Since profession is such a broad topic, and readers no doubt represent a wide variety of professions, I am including two habits in this section that are designed to be as generally applicable as possible. Obviously within each individual profession there are specific habits that can be created to promote better performance, productivity, etc. This is one of the things that I often discuss with my coaching coac hing and consultation clients. These two are a re designed to be helpful to anyone, and also to provide examples that hopefully inspire the creation and development of additional ad ditional habits more appropriate to the reader’s individual situation.













Professional Life Habit #1: The Sacred Six This is one of the single best habits hab its that I have ever used in my own life. I first became aware of this story about seven or eight years ago. The simplicity is utterly ridiculous, but the results are nothing short of extraordinary when the idea is put into practice. Roughly a century ago, a man named Charles Schwab was in control of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, a massive company in its day. When the company began to experience some rocky times, he sought the advice of several experts in an effort to increase productivity and efficiency in all departments. One of the men he spoke with was a man named Ivy Lee. Lee told Schwab that he could increase efficiency and productivity in his organization significantly if he was allowed fifteen minutes with each of Schwab’s top executives. He added that he would do the job for free, allowing Schwab to judge the effectiveness of his methods for three months. If after three months he wa s not satisfied, then no payment was required. If he was satisfied, then Schwab could pay Lee whatever he thought his services had been worth. Lee’s method was simple. He instructed the exec s to spend five minutes each night n ight writing six tasks on a piece of paper, which needed to be completed the following day.











Professional Life Habit #2: Reading is FUNdamental I vividly remember getting my first library card at the age of three. I have my mother to thank for getting me into books at a very young age. She would read to me on all of the topics that I was interested in, as well as the usual childhood stories. I was reading full books (“chapter books” as I then called them) before I started Kindergarten. For the first few months of Kindergarten I kept my hand down and my mouth closed during story time. Then one day when the teacher asked if anyone wanted to try to read a few words of our “Weekly Reader” to the class, I raised my hand out ou t of frustration. See I wanted to get through this part so that we could play with the trucks sooner. I was getting antsy, and thought that the teacher read to us at a painfully slow pace. I walked to the front of the class where she was sitting, took the magazine, and proceeded to read aloud the entire story to the class. The teacher and teacher’s aide bombarded my mother when she arrived to pick me up shouting,

“John can read!”











Reading always was, and always will be, at the root of it all. Sadly, many people rarely if ever read once they reach adulthood. I cannot imagine a life without books, but it troubles me to think that I am not the norm when it comes to this subject. In order to get ahead in your professional life, I highly recommend adopting a habit of daily reading. Obviously, reading materials germane to your given profession will help you expand your knowledge and make your self more valuable to your market place. Additionally, reading fiction for enjoyment increases your creativity (as well as reading’s inherent power for increasing your vocabulary) significantly. Creativity is a valuable attribute in any profession. I encourage that this habit be anchored to a certain time of the day so that continuity is much simpler. For example, if you have a lengthy commute on public transportation, that time would be well used reading a book on your iBooks or Kindle App, or in good old hardcopy form. Additionally, I am a huge fan of audio books, and regularly top off my iPod with new titles. These are great for in the car. You need not complete two, or even one whole book per week (though one book is an excellent target). Simply read some form of printed word, aiming for a fifty/fifty split of educational materials, and reading for enjoyment. Whenever, wherever, you choose to make it happen, read. Everyday.











The Finance Habits

“Money makes the world go ‘round”.

We’ve all heard this at some point in our lives. We’ve also heard things like,

“Money doesn’t buy happiness”, or “More money more problems”.

I am here to tell you, having spent more than my fair share of time at or well below the poverty level, that it is in fact possible to be happy without money, but seriously, who the hell would want to do that.











Finance Habit #1: Stack those Ones This is a habit that I started over a decade ago while I was in the Army. I was able to start a bit of a “rainy day” fund despite a very low income at the time. Many people are in the habit of saving their change (coins) in a jar or “piggy bank”. This is a habit that many of us u s have carried from our youth. For most, the first lessons received regarding saving money involved a simple bank, which we were excited to deposit found coins in. What I do, and what I am encouraging you to get in the habit of, is take that idea a bit further, and save all one dollar bills that you receive (or whatever the equivalent currency is in your country). All of them. If you break a five, ten, or twenty dollar bill buying a drink, or a pack of gum, and get a five, and three ones back as change, immediately deposit the ones in a pocket, or fold them and place them in your wallet, separate from your other bills. When you arrive home, or at the end of the day, create the ritual of depositing the bills into a jar or can. Get yourself a handful of one-dollar bill bands from the bank to use to band your ones up once you have one hundred dollars worth. Once you have a hundred banded, you can put the stack of bills in a drawer, deposit them in a savings account, or













Start this one now. Empty your pockets and put any ones in a safe place. Do this absolutely every time you receive a one-dollar bill, and you will soon escape the ranks of those who say,

“At the end of the week I don’t have anything left to invest”.











Finance Habit #2: Pay Yourself First! This one is straight of George Clason’s famous work on personal finance, “The Richest Man in Babylon”. The simple idea is to save money (pay yourself) before spending money on anything else, including bills and other expenses. For those with a nine to five, who have taxes withheld from their pay, p ay, this one is impossible to do in the purest sense since the government takes their piece of your income first. In those situations however, you can still apply this idea with your post-tax dollars.











“This sounds awesome. As soon as I do X and can make some more money, I’m going to start putting this one into action”

I urge you to change that way of thinking and adopt this principle now. I can assure you that the time will never be right, and you will never perceive to have enough income to give any up for such non-essential purchases as long term assets (all intended sarcasm present).











The Mission Habits

Mission is the Blueprint to Beast heading that will vary the most from person to person. Mission is simply the purpose of your life. What do you want to contribute to society or the world? How do you wish to be remembered when you are no longer here? Each of us has gifts to give to this world through our actions in life, and each of us has a responsibility to do so.











JP’s Mission Habit #1: Give Back My Grandfather, who is my hero, and the single most influential person in my life is remembered by many in the city of Chester, PA as an extremely benevolent individual (despite others who will speak of his volatility and propensity for violence). At the holidays he was known for filling one of his dump trucks that he h e owned as part of his plumbing and heating business, with turkeys mea nt for distribution to those less fortunate. He regularly donated large sums to schools, bought coats for people living on the street (who he had never nev er met), and sent chords of wood to families and elderly community members when the temperatures dropped. One of my uncles, his youngest













be so ungrateful to their fans and followers is something that I simply simply will never understand. Do this each day, and you will be rewarded in immense proportions propo rtions form the universe. I don’t care whether you are a religious person or not, the simple fact exists e xists that good deed











JP’s Mission Habit #2: Stimulate Your Local Economy











Try adopting this habit. You’ll feel great about doing your part to stimulate your local economy, and I promise you that your support will not go unnoticed.











Conclusion

10 Habits

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