3138: Only 1% of Americans Do This Essential Daily Habit by Benjamin Hardy on Goal-Setting

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[00:00:36] Living Daily.

[00:00:38] This is Optimal Living Daily, Episode 3138.

[00:00:42] Only 1% of Americans do this essential daily habit by Benjamin Hardy of benjaminhardy.com

[00:00:49] and I'm your host and narrator, Justin Malik.

[00:00:52] Hello old friend.

[00:00:54] Not calling you old, old stands for Optimal Living Daily.

[00:00:57] This is where I read to you from some of the best blogs on the planet with permission from

[00:01:01] the authors.

[00:01:02] And with that let's get right to our next post as we optimize your life.

[00:01:11] Only 1% of Americans do this essential daily habit by Benjamin Hardy of benjaminhardy.com

[00:01:20] Only 3% of Americans have written goals.

[00:01:24] Only 1% of Americans rewrite their goals on a daily basis.

[00:01:29] Giving yourself even 5 minutes per day to orient your life in the direction of your goals

[00:01:34] is the difference between success and average.

[00:01:38] If you don't give yourself time every single day to orient your life in the direction

[00:01:41] you want to go, then you will default to former habits and patterns.

[00:01:46] Life gets busy.

[00:01:48] Life is stressful.

[00:01:49] It's easy to forget what you really want.

[00:01:51] It's easy to disconnect from your purpose and priorities.

[00:01:55] It's easy to fall into autopilot and go through the motions.

[00:01:58] It's easy to watch several weeks or months go by and realize you haven't made much

[00:02:02] progress on your goals.

[00:02:05] It's easy to let the little fundamentals slip.

[00:02:08] It's easy to default to consumption rather than organizing your life and environment

[00:02:12] for creation.

[00:02:14] It's easy to focus on the constraints of your circumstances rather than the power

[00:02:18] of your capabilities.

[00:02:20] Distraction fuels the need for more distraction.

[00:02:24] Addiction is an endless vacuum.

[00:02:27] In decision and inaction lead to a loss of confidence, motivation, and hope.

[00:02:33] Success is a choice.

[00:02:36] Choosing to be successful isn't a moral decision.

[00:02:40] You can be a good person or a bad person and be focused on your goals.

[00:02:44] You can be a good person and choose to be average.

[00:02:47] It's really your choice to life you will live.

[00:02:50] It's your choice if you're going to be happy.

[00:02:52] It's your choice if you're going to be healthy.

[00:02:55] It's your choice if you're going to be financially successful.

[00:02:58] The decisions you make right now are a direct reflection of the person you will

[00:03:02] be in one, three, five, 10, and 20 years from now.

[00:03:08] When you look at yourself in the mirror, you're looking at your former

[00:03:11] self's choices, actions, and habits.

[00:03:15] Staying the course.

[00:03:17] It's fundamentally impossible to stay on a straight course without

[00:03:20] continually checking in to see how you're doing.

[00:03:23] If you're not reviewing your goals on a daily basis, then I can guarantee that

[00:03:27] your behavior and performance is suboptimal.

[00:03:31] Without clarity of direction and purpose, behavior and motivation become erratic.

[00:03:36] Without orienting yourself first thing in the morning with who you are and

[00:03:39] what you're about, you'll be going through the motions.

[00:03:43] You'll be disconnected from your purpose.

[00:03:45] You'll be disconnected in your relationships.

[00:03:48] You'll lack motivation and conviction.

[00:03:51] You'll allow low-level influences, activities, and actions to creep into your life.

[00:03:57] On an occasional basis when triggered by something random in the environment,

[00:04:01] you'll remember your goals and dreams.

[00:04:03] If you feel a quick rush of excitement and enthusiasm to get back on track,

[00:04:07] you may even engage in some powerful behaviors like sending positive and

[00:04:11] helpful messages to key relationships, going to the gym, writing in your journal,

[00:04:16] or taking action toward a goal.

[00:04:18] But unless you establish a lifestyle of reviewing, remembering, and

[00:04:24] engaging with your goals and purpose daily, you will make minimal progress.

[00:04:29] In order to make extreme progress, you need momentum.

[00:04:33] In order to get momentum, you need to be consistent.

[00:04:38] Not just consistent, but you need to continually be getting better.

[00:04:42] And in order to get better, you need goals that you're actively pushing toward.

[00:04:46] For example, many people go to the gym but have no goals.

[00:04:50] They're simply moving their body and not getting better.

[00:04:54] In the book Turning Pro, Stephen Pressfield said, quote,

[00:04:57] addictions embody repetition without progress end quote.

[00:05:02] Doing something over and over may be how you develop a habit,

[00:05:06] but habits don't guarantee success.

[00:05:09] Habits, if unchecked, actually create apathy, boredom, and the lack of engagement.

[00:05:15] Habits can lead to mindlessness.

[00:05:18] Consistency, not habits is what you're after.

[00:05:21] You want to consistently show up and push through your current level.

[00:05:25] You want to get yourself focused and clear on what you want to achieve.

[00:05:29] You then need to fuel that focus by taking powerful and

[00:05:32] bold actions daily towards your goals.

[00:05:36] As you take action towards your goals, your identity will change.

[00:05:40] You'll quickly begin to see yourself as a person you intend to become.

[00:05:44] Your personality will change.

[00:05:46] Your expectations will change.

[00:05:48] Your confidence will change.

[00:05:49] Your subconscious will change.

[00:05:51] Your results will change.

[00:05:53] Your environment will change.

[00:05:55] You'll be able to produce results easily that once took enormous effort.

[00:06:00] Your new normal will be beyond what your former selves dreams were.

[00:06:05] Your standards for yourself and your flexibility and empathy toward others will improve.

[00:06:11] Your appreciation for life will deepen.

[00:06:14] Your ability to feel and love will grow.

[00:06:17] Your reasons for living will change.

[00:06:19] You'll stop focusing on what you can get and simply try to be as helpful as you

[00:06:23] possibly can.

[00:06:24] You'll shift from consuming to creating.

[00:06:28] You'll stop focusing on your present circumstances and focus on the leverage you have to create

[00:06:32] new circumstances for yourself and others.

[00:06:36] You'll change your life more for the sake of others than for yourself.

[00:06:40] You'll hold yourself to a higher standard so you can perform better work.

[00:06:44] You'll eat better because you can't put regular fuel in a Ferrari.

[00:06:48] Your goals will become bigger and longer term.

[00:06:51] Confidence can be measured by how far out your goals are.

[00:06:55] Most people are living day to day because they don't have the confidence to see and

[00:06:59] believe in a bigger future.

[00:07:02] Confidence can be earned, but it must be earned every single day.

[00:07:07] You can create confidence with the choices you make, and you can lose confidence with

[00:07:11] the choices you make.

[00:07:13] Your confidence reflects your self-trust.

[00:07:16] The more you trust yourself, the more willing you will be to do things that are beyond

[00:07:20] your current capability.

[00:07:22] The less you trust yourself, the less willing you will be to make decisions and commitments.

[00:07:27] Conclusion

[00:07:28] When was the last time you wrote your goals?

[00:07:31] Did you write them down this morning?

[00:07:34] Did you set yourself up last night for success or were you numb in distractions?

[00:07:38] Do you really love yourself?

[00:07:41] Do you care about yourself?

[00:07:42] If so, then why wouldn't you become successful?

[00:07:46] Why wouldn't you create a better life for yourself?

[00:07:48] Why wouldn't you get clear on who you are, what you stand for, and what you want?

[00:07:54] Why wouldn't you crystallize that clarity and create the confidence to actually create

[00:07:57] a better future and life for yourself?

[00:08:00] Why wouldn't you upgrade your standards and let go of the low-level influences and

[00:08:04] choices holding you back?

[00:08:08] Make the decision

[00:08:09] This is one choice that will influence all others.

[00:08:13] Make the decision to start your day by writing your goals down.

[00:08:18] Then do your best throughout the day to align your daily behaviors with your future dreams.

[00:08:23] As you take daily steps toward your goals, your confidence will increase.

[00:08:28] As your confidence increases, your belief that you will succeed will grow.

[00:08:33] Your identity will change.

[00:08:34] Your environment will change.

[00:08:36] Your brain will change.

[00:08:38] You will change.

[00:08:39] You will succeed.

[00:08:46] You just listened to the post titled,

[00:08:47] Only 1% of Americans Do This Essential Daily Habit by Benjamin Hardy of Benjamin Hardy.com

[00:08:54] and I'll be right back with my commentary.

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[00:10:02] Take it to Benjamin.

[00:10:04] See this is what I love about this podcast.

[00:10:07] On one day you'll hear how essential it is to make goals like in this post

[00:10:12] and then on another episode you'll hear the opposite.

[00:10:15] We've had some authors say that maybe we shouldn't have goals.

[00:10:19] And I for instance don't really have goals yet somehow have made thousands of episodes

[00:10:25] of this podcast going every day for years now.

[00:10:28] Well, I might have had a few tiny goals in the beginning of having a certain number

[00:10:34] of lessons by ex-date or whatever.

[00:10:36] But I wouldn't call those serious goals by any means.

[00:10:40] So what does all of this mean and what's going on with the contradictions?

[00:10:44] Well, again, that's the fun of this podcast.

[00:10:47] What works for me might not work for you and the same is even true for yourself.

[00:10:53] Maybe five years ago goals were essential or might have been essential to you feeling

[00:10:58] successful but now not so much or the opposite.

[00:11:03] You could really use them now and write them down every day and revise to get

[00:11:06] to where you want to be.

[00:11:08] Either is fine.

[00:11:09] It's also possible that the answer is both.

[00:11:11] Maybe we need even just a tiny goal to start, maybe a rewrite of a goal here and

[00:11:16] there but then once the habit is developed you don't need them anymore.

[00:11:20] It's really up to you to decide if what you heard in this article sounds like

[00:11:24] what you need to get to the next level.

[00:11:27] Maybe you're already there and you're happy and you're successful.

[00:11:30] That could be the case.

[00:11:31] Wistern areas in my life like exercise I probably could use this.

[00:11:35] But in other areas like releasing an episode of this show every day that I'm

[00:11:40] happy with, I don't.

[00:11:41] I don't need a daily goal for that.

[00:11:44] In either case, I'd say ponder this post, think about it in your own life.

[00:11:48] Man, I'd love to hear what you come up with.

[00:11:50] But I'll leave it there for today.

[00:11:51] Thank you for being here and listening to me and for subscribing to the show

[00:11:55] that really is the only way I've been able to continue doing this.

[00:11:58] It's not by having goals.

[00:12:00] It's by you subscribing and coming back to listen or maybe it's you having

[00:12:04] the goal of listening to an episode every day.

[00:12:06] Either way, so thank you.

[00:12:07] It means a lot.

[00:12:08] Have a great rest of your day and we'll be back tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.