161. 2 Tactics to Finally Install Your New Habit

Episode Transcript

Courtney Baker:
Hey guys. Today we are going to be talking about habit stacks and how you can use rituals to have more habit stacks. But we’ve also got a free download for you on how to build your own ritual. You can get that today atfullfocus.co/build-rituals to download that today. Check it out.
Verbs.

Verbs Boyer:
Yes.

Courtney Baker:
I’m curious if you have a habit that you really wanted to start but it just didn’t happen. I’m sure it was before you used the Full Focus Planner.

Verbs Boyer:
Yes. We’ll say that for the purpose of this episode. No, but you know what? Normally at the top of the year I always have this, I guess, I’ll call it ambitious goal of reading a certain amount of books within the year. And then week two, those reading times start to get further and further and further apart. Because actually reading requires either reading early in the morning or reading later at night, which I’ve determined I am just not good at because if the sun is down and I’m relaxed enough to read a book, then I’m probably going to go to sleep, so that’s been the story.

Courtney Baker:
That’s doing this podcast together. We’ve been recording together for two years?

Verbs Boyer:
Years.

Courtney Baker:
Two, yeah. We’ve been recording for a hot second together and so we might as well solve our problems as well as help everybody out there listening. And so, I thought today’s topic might help you maybe get this, have it reinstalled, but the sleeping issue does cause a little issue. But let’s jump into it and see what we can do here.

Verbs Boyer:
So actually one of the easiest ways to install habits or to begin new habits is through this thing called habit stacking, where you’re putting them on top of an existing habit. So today we have two tactics they’re going to help you start this whole practice of habit stacking.

Courtney Baker:
And specifically today we’re going to be talking about our favorite habit stacking, which is rituals.

Verbs Boyer:
Welcome to another episode of Focus On This, the most productive podcast on the internet. So you can banish distractions, get the right stuff done. And finally start Loving Mondays. My name is Verbs here with Courtney Baker. Happy Monday to you Courtney.

Courtney Baker:
Happy Monday. So Verbs, where do we want to start here?

Verbs Boyer:
All right, so let’s start with tactic number one, which is basically identifying something that you do every day. This be driving to work, it could be brushing your teeth, it could be making a cup of coffee in the morning, putting your kids to bed at night, exercise, these sorts of things, identifying what those may be.

Courtney Baker:
So let’s use your wanting to do this habit of reading a certain number of books per year. So I think if you list out all those things that you’re already doing every day. So at night and maybe you’re brushing your teeth, you’re getting ready for bed, maybe you have some journaling you do at night, what are the things that are already in existence that you do? So once you’ve done that, tactic number two is to write out this statement, after I blank I will blank. So for example, it may be after I get in bed I will read for 20 minutes.

Verbs Boyer:
Yes, I would like that to be the statement. The truth is, after I get in bed, I’m going to sleep Courtney. I’ll be asleep in 20 minutes or less.

Courtney Baker:
I hear you and I tried to come up with another idea. Okay, here’s your other idea givers.

Verbs Boyer:
But here’s the thing. I will have the book, I will have the book in my head. I would have the book in my hand and I would at least get a strong solid two pages in. And then I have to reread two of those paragraphs because I’ve already started to doze off. But yes, I’m with you.

Courtney Baker:
Okay, so here’s my idea here, because sometimes we think of a reading goal as an achievement. Hey, I want to read 24 books this year or 12 books this year. But one way to actually accomplish that is to turn it into a habit like this, I’m going to read for 20 minutes a day and it can become a really powerful tool. And when you say, hey, after I brush my teeth, I will read for 20 minutes. Once I shower in the evening, I will read for 20 minutes, trying to pair those together.
Now, I will say for you Verbs, if you are one of these people that fall asleep from reading a book, I feel like that’s a win-win all around, you’re either making progress towards your goal or you’re getting more rest for the next day. So win-win.

Verbs Boyer:
Save money on melatonin and those sorts of things.
No, I will say this though. The times that I have been the most successful as far as a consistent reading kind of pattern is when I’ve installed it earlier in the day or attempted to install it earlier in the day. So because we work mostly from home at that point and we’re in front of the screen all day, I had a little app that every, I think 30 minutes or so would shut down your computer, your computer would start to dim and make you take a five minute screen break. So I would just have my book right next to me at that point, read as much as I could in that five minutes, focus my eyes on something else as well. And then by the time the screen pops back on I can continue work. So it does that five or six times throughout a work day. So that helped.
I think using something like this on the tactic two is writing out a statement, hey, after my screen shuts off, then I will pick up my book and read. Try to get as much of a chapter in as I can during those screen breaks.

Courtney Baker:
Yeah, I think being really specific is really important here. It may even be as simple, hey, after I get ready for bed, I will sit in a chair and read for 20 minutes. Now will you still fall asleep in a chair? I need to know. The audience needs to know, are you going to fall asleep in the chair?

Verbs Boyer:
I know, right? It’s like, well my struggle might be somewhere else during the course of my day if I’m that tired where I can’t sit up in the chair once I sit down at night.

Courtney Baker:
Well, the point is, wherever it is, and maybe in the morning after I pour my cup of coffee, I will read for 15 minutes. Just trying to be really specific about where you’re going to tie that habit together. I think these are two really helpful tools that you may not have thought about before. How can I tie my rituals, what I do to the habit formation process?

Verbs Boyer:
Yes.

Courtney Baker:
So Verbs, as much as I we’re using your example, I will tell you a little story about my own journey with trying to read 24 books in a year. I’m part of a book club. I have been in a book club, I think I’ve told you about this, but for 12 years, I mean crazy. We’ve been in a book club together forever. So there’s usually 12 books that can kind of count on that I’m going to read during a year. But every year it just seemed like I was never able to get to the 24 mark and I would try all these different things. Some years I got close, some not as close. And I really kind of used this principle without really realizing that I was using this principle. When my husband is out of town, I do not turn on the TV. It’s really weird. I kind of wish I loved watching TV because I love to talk about it, I love to know the thing that all the people know, but it’s just not actually what I would naturally on my own gravitate towards.
I do love to read, I love reading. And so I started to, when my husband would turn on the TV, that’s my little statement. When my husband turns on the TV at night I will pick up my book. And so just that little process of basically when he did his thing, I would pick up my book and start reading. We’re what, nine months into the year? I think I’m on 26 books this year. I have read like I’ve never read before. So it’s been fun.

Verbs Boyer:
Send me those CliffsNotes too.

Courtney Baker:
Yeah, I’ll send you some of my favs. Yeah, it’s been fun to see how these habits, again, they can be so powerful. A couple of years ago, especially, I have an almost two year old at home, you would never say a person that has an almost two year old can read more than 24 books in a year. But I think it is, and I think this tool was really helpful for me.

Nick Jaworski:
Do you want to give some book recommendations?

Courtney Baker:
Okay, let me think here.

Nick Jaworski:
Going to Goodreads?

Courtney Baker:
Yep.

Nick Jaworski:
Look at that.

Courtney Baker:
This was a fascinating read and y’all are going to be like what? It’s called the Feather Thief. And it is a dramatization of actual events of these fly fishermen, all these exquisite feathers that they use in these ties for fly fishing. One of these fly fishermen goes into the natural history, I think is it London? The British Museum for Natural History and steals all of these birds and sells the feathers on the black market. But years go by, the museum doesn’t even know it. It’s pretty fascinating. I really enjoyed that. If you are into real life events that seem crazy, this can be a real thing. So the Feather Thief, that was a good one this year.

Nick Jaworski:
I love it. That’s a perfect niche for me.

Courtney Baker:
Is very niche.

Verbs Boyer:
All right, so I’m going to throw one in there because it’s the last one that I read that I really, really, really enjoyed and I have mentioned this one before, but there’s a book called The Lincoln Conspiracy that talks about the first assassination attempt on President Lincoln. But when you hear everything that was happening within the political realm during that time, it was pretty intriguing to see. I won’t ruin the book for you, but I didn’t even know if somebody tried to assassinate him an additional time to begin with. So the story is pretty compelling. The link [inaudible 00:11:33]-

Courtney Baker:
I’m going to add it to my book club nomination list.
I have a very special guest joining me for this section of the podcast. I think Dave, you and I have worked together about four years and out of all the people I know here at Full Focus, you’re committed planner user, but you really have a unique job in that you’re dealing with a lot of details, a lot of technical things that most of the time I don’t understand. And so for everybody listening today, I’m really excited to have a conversation with you about how you utilize the planner and maybe a few hacks because I think you’ve got a few. So Dave, welcome to the show. Will you tell everybody who you are and what you do here at Full Focus?

Dave Yankowiak:
Absolutely. So yes, I am Dave Yankowiak. I have worked at Full Focus for just over five years. So Courtney, you and I have definitely spent a lot of times planning out strategy and all that. But I am the technology director, I’m part of the revenue team, specifically the marketing piece of that. So, I do a lot of tech support for various websites, web apps that we’ve built, landing pages, opt-ins, different internal systems, things like that. And I kind of touch every department in this company. I get to work with a lot of great people each day. So just the planner is definitely a tool that helps me stay sane with all those different interactions and just trying to keep, like you said, keep those details straight to the best of my ability.

Courtney Baker:
Yeah, I will say to your credit, Dave, if I have a problem that I’m completely stuck on, everything that I know to try or have dreamed up just not working, Dave is the person I call. Because there’s nothing like somebody that works with technology all the time to have some tool that you don’t even know exist, come to the table and be like, oh well here’s a way that you could do this in a new way. So Dave is so good at that. So I’m really excited to pick your brain.
Out of the gate. I’m going to change things around a little bit here Dave. What is your favorite planner hack? What is something that you do in your planner that the rest of us probably don’t do yet?

Dave Yankowiak:
I don’t know if this is a hack and I’m sure a lot of people probably do this. But Courtney, I know You Need a Budget user. So this app called You Need a Budget and we’re both die hard YNAB users. One of their core principles is give every dollar a job. So every time you get a paycheck, you give every dollar a job, otherwise you’re just going to be spending on whatever. So for me in an ideal day, I’m giving every hour of that day a job or every half hour. The planner’s broken down into half hour. If I’ve got a lot of meetings during the week, I try to get those in each day and then fill in around those, okay, I’ve got an hour here, I’m going to work on this particular project and I’ll fill in that project in the planner for that day. Even after hours. Okay, I know I’ve got three hours tonight, I’m going to give those hours a job so I don’t waste it watching TV. I’m more intentional at that time. So, I know a lot of times I’ll take days and I’ll just fill in what I know I have to do at specific times. But even if it’s free time trying to fill in, okay, I’ve got free time here. Give it a job, even if it changes later just to give those different time slots a job as much as I can.

Courtney Baker:
I love this idea, even if it’s like you do have free time and it’s like, oh, the job is going to be, I’m going to watch that show that we’re watching together. But it’s like then the hour after that, you’ve got the next job that has to be complete so that you don’t get sucked in to binge watching Netflix shows, unless that’s the job you want. But it’s a more intentional way of deciding how you’re going to spend your time.

Dave Yankowiak:
You’re just deciding this is what I want to spend my time doing. Even if it’s something that has no meaning whatsoever or it’s your decision, it’s not anything else dictating what you’re going to be doing. It’s not a distraction that’s dictating what you’re going to do at that time.

Courtney Baker:
I love that hack. Also, I will just say that I think some folks at YNAB also love the Full Focus Planner because one of their executives emailed me that listens to the podcast. And so I think the love is mutual with our friends over at YNAB.

Dave Yankowiak:
It’s all love.

Courtney Baker:
All love. Now Dave, this next question I feel like you’re going to have to really think back because you fall into that class of the very beginning of the planner’s life you were using the planner. I think you said a minute ago right before we started recording, that you have five years of four planners each stacked up besides your desk, which thank you, I am with you on we save those and treasure those forever and ever and always. But I know that’s everybody with their used planners. But when you think back to before you used the planner, how has it impacted your life? How have you changed as a person through the planner?

Dave Yankowiak:
I think it’s funny because the planner is so much planning, you’re thinking your future oriented with it. But really for me, I can look back, even though it’s not a journal or anything like that but I can look back and be like, oh a year ago at this time we were working on this project or trying to do this. It can be just as retrospective as it is future oriented. You can go back and really feel like… Sometimes when you look forward you’re like, oh, I don’t know if I’ve accomplished that much. And you go back and you look at these planners and you look at the projects and the goals you’ve completed. And it really is, I don’t know, sometimes if you’ve been on the planner for a few years go back and look at one of your planners from three years ago and you just put yourself on that head space. For me, it’s really good for taking inventory of things I’ve done in my life or experienced or even just if it’s something at work here where we’ve completed a huge project and I can see what went into that. So, there’s something to that that just helps you just feel that sense of accomplishment the more and more you use it.

Courtney Baker:
I love that. I think it’s a really great tool, even if it’s something you just do at the end of the year to think about the past and examine the past to pull some of those off the shelf and really look at the last few years. Again, you talked about working with so many different departments and you’re working on these tiny things that might be a little bug on a site that needs to be fixed to these massive undertakings of projects that you’re just working on little by little over time. With that type of job and prioritizing all those different needs that are coming in, what does it look like to use the planner on a daily basis in that type of role?

Dave Yankowiak:
I mean, each week I’ve got little tasks, I’ve got big tasks and then you’ve got stuff that’s coming in on the fly. And so for me a lot of it is the weekly previews huge because here at Full Focus. We use Asana for all of our project management. So at the beginning of the week I can go into my list in Asana and just kind of distill those tasks into the week and kind of plan out like, okay, I’ve got this day to work on these types of tasks or these types of projects. It’s the ideal week, get it as honed in as I can for that week. In Asana too a lot of times we’ll mark priority for really high priority tasks, so making sure those are at the top of my list.
But then there’s this piece of my job that’s very much improvising and fixing things on the fly. Somebody’s like, hey, this isn’t working right. So, I a lot of times will use the other tasks portion of the planner to not necessarily put tasks that I’m going to do today, but to put tasks that come up today. So somebody might have something that we need to switch over on a site on Friday and I’ll put that in other tasks even though I’ll also on that Friday it’ll make it to the daily tasks just so I have a kind of a library if okay, here’s action items and then I can move this forward market as moved forward and things like that. So it’s a lot of, you can plan out so much, but then it also can be a tool for handling more reactive type stuff or making sure it gets out of your brain and gets onto paper and then gets scheduled. It’s a great tool for that.

Courtney Baker:
Well I can attest to your system because I have so much trust when I ask you even a small thing, hey can you help this is messed up or can you look into this, that you’re actually going to follow through. I never think what I got to do I got to circle back to Dave to make sure. You take on so much ownership and have a great system for making sure that you deliver the result, and so keep it up Dave.

Dave Yankowiak:
Thank you. Thank you.

Courtney Baker:
So I know you already mentioned actually taking a principle from YNAB and applying it to the planner, but are there other systems that you use to compliment the planner?

Dave Yankowiak:
Absolutely. So my systems are broken up into professional and personal and I do feel like it is nice to be able to keep those separate somewhat. And so here at Full Focus, like I said, we use Asana for all of our project management. So I have this repository of tasks and projects in Asana, but I also have personal tasks in the planner, there’s things you want to do with your family or trips you’re planning, things like that. And so I’ve started to really lean into the Apple Reminders app on my phone and kind of treat it the Asana for my personal life.
But also then there’s times where I might have a work task that needs to happen, maybe it’s something that I need to schedule for the weekend, I need to launch a site on a Sunday night or something like that where it just has to be done in those outside work hours. Well I don’t check Asana on weekends and I don’t have Asana a reminder set up on my phone. That’s purely for when I’m at work at my computer. And so I can use the Apple Reminder system, I can let a professional task peak its way into that system if I know it needs to be done outside of my normal working hours. And that’s been fantastic, I started to use that a lot more. But also being really intentional about those personal tasks, getting those things into a repository of their own.

Courtney Baker:
I love that too because, I’m thinking about in a role like yours, it’s like if you don’t have that reminder built in then you’ve got to allocate brain space all weekend reminding yourself, I can’t forget to do that thing on Sunday night, I can’t forget to do that thing on Sunday night, because it’s outside of your normal business hours. So it’s, I’m sure, really helpful to just have that mechanism in place and be able to just relax because you’ve got it built in to do it at the right time.

Dave Yankowiak:
Totally, totally.

Courtney Baker:
Well Dave, thanks so much for joining us today. It was really helpful and hopefully for anybody listening that has a role like yours can take away some feedback on how they might even utilize the planner in a new way. So thanks for being here, Dave.

Dave Yankowiak:
You’re welcome. Thanks for having me.

Verbs Boyer:
All right, so here’s tip to level up your focus. Pick one habit that you would like to implement and leverage today’s second tactic with formulating a statement, after I blank I will blank, and you can fill in the gaps.

Courtney Baker:
Also, we’ve got a free tool for you to use to build rituals. You can go to FullFocus.co/build-rituals to download a build your own ritual kit. Make sure you check that out.

Verbs Boyer:
Thanks for joining us on Focus On This. This is the most productive podcast on the internet, so please share it with your friends and make sure you join our Full Focus Planner community right there on Facebook. We got another great show for you coming up next Monday, but until then, stay focused.

Courtney Baker:
Stay focused.