More on Habits

Cheryl:                  Hi everybody, Cheryl and Clay coming at you.

Clay:                      Hi.

Cheryl:                  We want to talk to you a little bit more about habits. So we laid the groundwork and just for those of you who were paying attention to the last amazing video, Clay did that entirely from memory. That was not a teleprompter. Which I think is completely amazing to have it that he had to memorize things when he was younger, like he did it on purpose. But that is a topic for another day. Talk to them about arm crossing and shoes.

Clay:                      It’s kind of funny, we have so many subconscious habits that we do on a daily basis, and we don’t even realize we’re doing them. You’re putting the same shoe on first every morning.

Cheryl:                  That’s so crazy.

Clay:                      I know and you’re putting your same arm in the sleeve, the same sleeve first every morning. One of the fun things to do is I’ll say, “Hey, let’s fold our arms.” And if you try this, you say, “All right, which hands on top? Which one’s tucked?” Now pull it apart. Do it again, really quick. Same thing. Now switch. And this is funny because most people-

Cheryl:                  Okay yeah, I can’t do it. Oh my gosh.

Clay:                      So most people go, “Oh”, and they cross both of them when they try to do it. So, but the thing is, once you do it enough times, one becomes just as comfortable as the other. In all honesty, folding my arms, I’d probably go to the default, but it’s not uncomfortable anymore to do that.

So we develop these habits in the industry that are like… And hopefully they’re positive professional habits, and we develop those habits and it’s like, “Okay, how are those helping me? And are they gonna help me as it worth getting past that discomfort?” And the answer is always, yes. Absolutely. It’s worth getting past that discomfort and doing it if it’s going to help us be better, more professional and serve the needs of the public a lot better.

Cheryl:                  Absolutely, and a fabulous book on that is the book Atomic Habits. Love, love, love that book. So you’ll have to check that out. So thanks for joining us.

Clay:                      Thanks so much.

Cheryl:                  See you.