Stop Setting Goals. Start Changing Habits.

I got a question this week from a contractor that inspired me to write on this topic.

The question he asked: Will SynkedUP work for me?

The topic I’ve been thinking about since that conversation: Changing habits.

We had been having a conversation about the ins and outs of SynkedUP, how it works, his business, and what he was looking for.

Then he asked:

“So you’re really confident that the software will be a success for me?”

Here is how I answered him:

“Am I confident that the process and the software works? 💯.

But it takes commitment from your end. It’s like losing weight on a diet. It’s all in or don’t even try, you won’t get the results without the commitment.

That commitment is always the wild card. We do our best to set your expectations up front and then help you implement. But if you bail, or can’t make zoom calls with our onboarding team, or go back to the familiarity of your old process, then it won’t work.

I hope I’m not coming across as too harsh…. My intention is to be “no fluff” and straight to the point… I hope you read it as such.”

Habits

My main inspiration for writing on this today is not to push SynkedUP.

But rather, to think for a minute on changing habits.

And what leads to failed attempts vs successful attempts?

Nearly half of Americans make New Year’s Resolutions, but only 9% of them actually follow through and make it stick.

Most quit within the first few weeks.

Why?

Because changing habits is hard.

“We don’t rise to the level of our goals, we fall to the level of our processes.”

My favorite quote from the book Atomic Habits.

The idea is, sure! Many of us want to be fit, happy, and healthy.

We all have such a “goal”.

But, much less actually achieve that.

It’s not our goal that is the culprit.

It is our processes. Our habits.

Internal Thermostat

Another angle of looking at this is: Maybe we don’t believe we deserve this good thing in our goal.

I’m listening to a book called The Big Leap, and it talks about this concept of our own “internal thermostat.”

It uses various stories to make its point.

One of them looks at a man that was negotiating selling his business for millions.

In the final stages of the negotiation, the man that was selling his business, and getting ready to collect more money than he ever had in his life, didn’t like one little seemingly insignificant detail, and pushed so hard, that he completely lost the deal.

The book went on to show how it wasn’t that detail that was the problem at all.

It was the fact that the man was uncertain and scared to receive that much money.

His own internal thermostat had a certain way of viewing the world and money, and he was extremely uncomfortable with breaking out of that.

His own instinct kicked in and “made up” the issue with that one little detail to protect his “temperature” as defined by his thermostat.

I’m trying to write one small paragraph on a complex topic, but the big idea is that we all have our own internal thermostat that defines what is known and we are comfortable with, and we all optimize to stay within that “temperature”.

When we encounter situations beyond that, our own internal thermostat reacts and tries to regulate to bring us back into the known comfort zone.

We don’t think we deserve what is beyond that thermostat.

It’s why lottery winners rarely do well after winning the lottery.

Business

I see traces of this topic when we work with contractors, and it intrigues me.

I see people’s internal thermostats so to speak kick in.

It’s almost like they won’t believe that they can and deserve to know their numbers.

They struggle with believing that they are allowed to be successful, to thrive, and that they can be in control of their numbers.

Every excuse in the book pops up.

“I’m not a numbers guy…”

“I’m not a tech guy…”

We fear what we don’t know.

It’s easier to keep doing what we’ve always done, even if that method is broken.

So… how to land the plane on this article?

My challenge to you is to stop and consider for a moment – what is my own internal thermostat, and how am I reacting to stay in the safe zone of my temperature?

Where do I have a goal, but my fear of the unknown is keeping me stuck?

Or where do I have a goal, but I haven’t built the process and consistency that will make that goal a reality?

Identify it.

Ponder it.

And decide what you’ll do about it.

Blessings to you as you strive for growth.

Weston Zimmerman

SynkedUP CEO & founder

Book a call