In this month’s blog post we are going to YAP about routines.
In my opinion routines are the breeding ground for success. Creating and maintaining routines is an electrifying strategy for achieving goals. Oftentimes, routines are labeled as dull or even boring, but they are far from that. Routines create a structured environment where progress unfolds one step at a time. Routines help to cultivate discipline, increase productivity, predictability and incremental progression.
Recently, I had a conversation, and Steph Curry came up. If you don’t know, Steph Curry is one of the greatest basketball players in the world and he’s known for his three pointer. During this conversation, I learned that Steph takes 200 to 500 practice shots a day. He has incorporated small consistent habits into his daily routine. Steph Curry’s practice routine is a combination of shooting, cognitive drills and focused workouts that are designed to build confidence and muscle memory. In other words, he is shaping his mind and body to win daily. He didn’t wake up like this. He practiced it. Steph leads his team by doing what the 99% percent won’t do on a daily basis. He goes against the odds.
‘Show up as the woman you desire to be”
You may be thinking, how do you cultivate routines that breed success? I’m so happy that you asked. Here are three steps to cultivate success
- Create SMART Goal
The first step to cultivate successful routines is goal setting. To measure success, you will need to know what you want to accomplish, and I personally do that my setting SMART Goals.
The SMART Goals framework outlines the steps needed to accomplish your goal and puts you on the path to a better future.
The SMART goal framework was developed by management consultant George Doran to help businesses set performance goals. Since then, this framework has stretched beyond the workplace.
We will break down what a SMART financial goal looks like in a bit.
2. Create a Process
A process is a series of steps taken to achieve a desired end. Your process is similar to the turn-by-turn navigation that your GPS provides in order to reach your final destination.To develop a process, you will need to identify each step needed to reach your goal and write it down.
3. Implement a Routine
Now that you’ve created your process, you will need to develop daily, weekly or monthly routines to reach your goal. This helps to break down your goal into actionable steps and incorporate them into what you already do on a day-to-day basis.
Let’s use budgeting/saving as an example. Say for example, you would like to begin saving. That is a great goal to have but it’s VERY vague so let’s make it a SMART goal instead. A SMART goal is specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely.
- Specific-What are you trying to achieve?
- Measurable-How we you measure success of this goal?
- Attainable-Is this goal reachable for you?
- Realistic-Is it realistic given your current financial status?
- Timely-Is the timeframe you’ve given yourself sufficient?
A SMART goal would be: I would like to build an emergency savings account of $1000 dollars in 10 months.
Now that you have what we would consider a SMART goal. You will need to develop habits or routines to ensure that you’re meeting your monthly goal.
To save $1,000 in 10 months you will need to save $100 dollars a month. To reach this goal you will need to implement a habit of budgeting to ensure funds are allocated appropriately to reach your monthly goal.
Your complete SMART Goal would be : I will create a budget and manage my finances each morning to ensure that I build a $1,000 emergency fund in 10 months.
I hope this was helpful and you take these simple tips and implement them into your daily routine to cultivate success. Have a great one.
