Habits 2 Goals: The Habit Factor® Podcast With Martin Grunburg | Goal Achievement, Productivity & Success Simplified

"There is no way to happiness; happiness is the way.” ~Buddha On this Frequently Asked Friday we tackle the massive idea of happiness once again. In season 4 we addressed the topic "How Can I Be Happy?" toward people fighting through depression and sadness. Today, however, we explore the question, "What Are the Keys to Happiness?" A paradigm-shifting concept is simply to choose happiness. The idea of happiness as a choice goes back thousands of years, and yet too many of us expect perfect circumstances to bring us happiness. To achieve happiness, your basic circumstantial needs (food, shelter) must be met. Taking care of our bodies is vital, as our energy relies on health and wellness.  Optimizing your environment influences your happiness. Surround yourself with positivity to set yourself up for success at choosing happiness. Importantly, goal achievement via habit tracking—along with the right mindset—is a critical element of happiness. Listen in for more on about making happiness a choice, setting yourself

"Put yourself in the shoes of others and make it part of your core values; it's the basis of customer-centered ideology.” ~Paul Reynolds This week's Habits2Goals interview spotlights a phenomenal CEO and entrepreneur, Paul Reynolds, whose business insights come fast and furious. Paul is a lifelong entrepreneur and the CEO of EasiHair Pro, a leader in the hair extension industry that utilizes a revolutionary tape-in method. Growing up in Capetown, South Africa, with an entrepreneurial father, Paul learned the value of both hard work and taking time to enjoy life. He immigrated to the U.S. with his family, attended San Diego State University, and dreamed of owning his own business. His father steered him toward an accounting career to prepare him for the rigors and challenges of entrepreneurship, and while he enjoyed the work, he yearned for the freedom of working for himself. He figured out that "niches bring riches" and was inspired by his father's wig business to found EasiHair. Wigs were a niche, and hair e

"Being 'lost' isn't as much about not knowing where you are as much as it is about knowing where you want to go."  Today's Mind Bullet stems from a reader's feedback, appreciating the way we dig into the etymology of a word to extract its true meaning and look at it in a new light. We did this with our Quest episode, and today we put the spotlight on the word lost. First, why do we do this? A Zen quote says, "To the beginner all things are possible, and to the expert few things are possible." When we keep a growth mindset—a beginner's mind—we find ourselves always open to learning. Too often we close ourselves off to learning with our preconceived notions.  Take the word lost. The definition of lost is, "Unable to find one's way; not knowing one's whereabouts." We usually default to the second understanding of lost—not knowing one's whereabouts. But the first part of the definition is critical when we're trying to move on from our own feelings of being lost. We've all said it and felt it: "I feel lost." But i

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” ~Thomas Edison Today's Frequently Asked Friday is deceptively straightforward: How can you stay motivated after repeated failures? First, let's get a "right perspective" on failure. Is failure the opposite of success? Absolutely not! Anyone who has ever succeeded has failed along the way. Think about Thomas Edison and his fabled 10,000 failures before he refined and invented the lightbulb. Was he wondering how to stay motivated? No! Every time he failed, he felt one step closer to success. Whether in business or any area of life, "failure" isn't the opposite of success. Failure means energy and effort was put toward a goal, so the experience is valuable. The real danger is hopelessness. But what about motivation? Think about your motive. As Tony Robbins said, "If you have a big enough why, you can always find the how." Listen in to hear about using failure as a stepping stone to success, figuring out if

"I learned early on that I couldn’t control what happened to me, but I could control what I did about it.” ~Shay Eskew Habits2Goals is proud to present a powerful interview with best-selling author, motivational speaker, Ironman, and fellow Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim adventurer Shay Eskew.  Shay's story is inspiring and motivating, showing that self-made success is possible despite overwhelming obstacles. At the age of 8, a neighbor's child accidentally set Shay on fire. Shay saved the life of his 7-year-old friend and suffered burns on more than 65 percent of his body.  Despite being told he'd never play sports again—and enduring more than 35 surgeries over the last 36 years—Shay is a four-time Ironman, member of Team USA, and 25-time Ironman 70.3 athlete. He is ranked in the top 1 percent of Ironman athletes worldwide and has competed in 11 Triathlon World Championships in seven countries on four continents.   Shay shares his gut-wrenching fight to rise above his injuries and reclaim his life, and how he rose above

"Practice isn't the thing you do once you're good. It's the thing you do that makes you good." ~Malcolm Gladwell Today's Mind Bullet revolves around a famous success tenet that, when you look deeper, simply reflects the magic of The Habit Factor: The 10,000-hour rule.  The 10,000-hour rule was made famous in Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers, which discusses the outlier-type variables that influence success, for example when you were born.  10,000 hours spent practicing a skill. This rings a bell. What is created when you do something over and over again until you become unconsciously proficient? That's right! A habit! In Outliers, while Gladwell points out the seemingly random occurrences that contribute to success, he discusses one consistent success factor that holds true across all instances: the 10,000 rule. That is, practicing a specific task that can be accomplished with 20 hours of work a week for 10 years, leading to otherworldly proficiency. Tune in for more on Gladwell's 10,000-hour rule, the one gr

"Good habits happen when planned; bad habits happen on their own." ~Grunburg This Frequently Asked Friday throws it back to a core concept: How long does it take to develop a good habit? (For more on this topic, check out Season 4's What Is Habitstrength? and What's the Best Way to Build a Good Habit?, and Season 2's How Long Does it Really Take to Build a Good Habit?) Building a good habit DOESN'T take a week, or 14 days, or the mythical 21 days some like to tout. The 21-day myth, in particular, gained traction thanks to its inclusion in Psycho-Cybernetics, by Dr. Maxwell Maltz, who said, "It usually requires a minimum of about 21 days to effect any perceptible change in a mental image.”  Newer research actually points to 66 days to create a habit, but even this isn't a fixed number. What's critical is hitting all three major components to building a habit (according to Stephen Covey in his 7 Habits of Highly Successful People): desire, knowledge, skill—or as we've tweaked the formula, the capacity to do the

"What makes us weird also makes us wonderful. What makes us weak also makes us strong." ~David Rendall Habits2Goals is proud to welcome a true "freak," professional speaker, bestselling author, Ph.D., and fellow Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim adventurer David Rendall.  Growing up, David was told he’d never be successful because he didn’t fit the mold— he couldn’t sit still, he talked too much, and he didn’t listen. He tried to conform to the norm and even pursued a career in counseling psychology. But he ended up unhappy, unsuccessful, and never actually worked in his "chosen" field. Known as "the Freak," David realized that his supposed flaws were actually strengths. Even the term "freak" has two meanings — someone who is different and perceived in a negative light, or someone who is different and admired (think Giannis Antetokounmpo, the "Greek Freak").  The kid who was criticized for talking too much now speaks for a living, teaching revelatory management practices to get the most out of employees by embracing their un

"Well I'll tell you something, this is no longer a vacation, it's a quest. It's a quest for fun, I'm gonna have fun and you're gonna have fun, we're all gonna have so much ****ing fun..." Clark Griswold This Mind Bullet, Quest, was inspired by two things: a listener, Micheal K., who wrote in suggesting an episode about questions, and Chevy Chase's iconic Clark Griswold character from the Vacation movies.  A little background: Emotionally keyed up and on the edge of sanity after a series of mishaps on his family's way to Wally World, Clark announces that the family trip is no longer a vacation—it's a quest for fun. He goes on to announce that they'll have so much fun they'll need plastic surgery to remove their grins, among other things. (Warning: Clip is played in unedited form, complete with F words.) Quest is at the root of the word question, and quest and question are all part of the same process. We are all on a quest in our lives, and asking the right questions is the key. Asking questions cues our mind

"A nail is driven out by another nail. Habit is overcome by habit.” ~Desiderius Erasmus On the first Frequently Asked Friday of Habits2Goals Season 6, we tackle a back-to-basics topic first visited in Season 1: How to kill a bad habit. The formula is simple: To kill a bad habit, use the three "ments": environment, replacement, and experiment.  Say you need to kill the bad habit of drinking beer. To control your environment and make it conducive to quitting this habit, don't buy beer. Need to quit smoking? Don't buy cigarettes or be around those who smoke. The bottom line: If your environment is conducive to a bad habit, that bad habit isn't going anywhere. Create impediments to create a prohibitive environment! Substitute comes next: If you're quitting beer, perhaps substitute it with non-alcoholic beer. If your habit is smoking, go for a walk when your friends go out for a smoke. Remember that just as a nail is driven out by another nail, habit is driven out by another habit.  Next, experiment: Nothing in li

"Life is full of opportunity. Leadership is about taking those opportunities. Legacy is what you will leave behind when you do." ~Michel Kripalani Habits2Goals is proud to present a conversation with the insightful leader, coach, and entrepreneur extraordinaire Michel Kripalani A peripatetic upbringing with an engineer father exposed Kripalani to numerous life experiences, fueling a fascination with and empathy for people and their varied life experiences. At first a pre-med student at UCSD, Kripalani found himself called to visual arts; this path led to his first startup soon after graduation, moov Design, a firm ahead of its time that coded the first-ever multimedia magazine.   Fueled by a desire to build a game, his next venture, Presto Studios, created the Journeyman Project in 1993—the world's first photorealistic adventure game. JP defied all expectations, selling more than 100,000 copies.  A desire to enter the burgeoning app economy fueled Kripalani's next venture: Oceanhouse Media, which became a lea

"We tend to believe that in the future, we're much, much better." "You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do." Henry Ford Habits2Goals kicks off its sixth season with a powerful Mind Bullet: Your Future Self.  A topic called "behavioral economics" was the catalyst for this mind bullet. In his book The Undoing Project, author Michael Lewis discussed the concept of behavioral economics—the idea that humans are not rational creatures. They're emotional. Sometimes they eat too much, sometimes they drink too much, etc. The concept of behavioral economics cropped up again in an NPR podcast featuring Richard Thaler, who won a Nobel Prize for behavioral economics and is the author of Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics. Thaler said something that resonated: "We are all better in our future self." Think about it: Our future self is amazing! We say things like, "I'm going to get her flowers next week." "When I get my raise, I'm going to save more money." I'm going to eat better, give more, sa

"Every minute you spend in planning saves 10 minutes in execution; this gives you a 1,000 percent Return on Energy!”. ~Brian Tracy "Plans are worthless, but planning is everything. ~Dwight Eisenhower *** First, some great news! Season 6 of Habits2Goals officially kicks off next Monday, September 23, complete with our Mind Bullet Mondays, Interview Wednesdays, and Frequently Asked Fridays! Mark your calendars, make sure you're subscribed, and tell a friend! *** Today's Mind Bullet, Planning, tackles a subject that has huge implications on our lives, yet it's something so obvious that it gets overlooked, much to our detriment. You may know about planning. You may agree that it's important. But are you doing it? Do you have a plan for your life? We're good at things like planning a vacation. But we rarely take the time to pause, breathe, and ask ourselves the hard questions: Where do you want to be in 60 days? 90 days? A year? Three years? These are powerful questions because when we visualize ourselves hitting

"Synergy is what happens when one plus one equals 10 or 100 or even 1,000! It's the profound result when two or more respectful human beings determine to go beyond their preconceived ideas to meet a great challenge." ~Stephen R. Covey Today's Mind Bullet, Synergize, flows from last week's THEM, which discussed how significant relationships are to our lives and how important it is to take the "smooth handle" in our interactions. Any discussion of synergy has to include a recap of the great Stephen R. Covey book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Be Proactive: YOU! are responsible. Begin With the End in Mind: Have vision and Foresight Put First Things First: This is the kernel of The Habit Factor, where we intentionally craft habits in line with our goals to reach them more quickly. (These first three habits are about "personal victory," i.e., you. The next 3 habits move into "public victory," i.e., relationships) Think Win-Win: Your intention takes others into account. Seek First to Understand, Then

"Always take things by the smooth handle." ~Thomas Jefferson On the heels of the previous episodes "Nobody Cares," "Hypnotized," and "YOU," which all focused inwardly, this week's mind bullet shifts to look at THEM—other people.  Nobody Cares looked at the idea that we're all carrying burdening stories we needn't be lugging around; Hypnotized examined how we convince ourselves that certain self-defeating stories are true; and You emphasized that the best way to improve the world is to improve yourself.  While improving ourselves is always the first part of the equation, we can't do it alone. We have to understand how to work with others.  Thomas Jefferson once said, "Always take things by the smooth handle." This means that when dealing with other people, instead of trying to force your way and lobby for your cause, try to understand their point of view and work with them.  Benjamin Franklin was a great example of taking things by the smooth handle, as explained in Walter Isaacson's excellent biography. Ben w

"Nobody improves the world without first improving themselves." "Nothing will bring you peace; you must bring yourself to it." "Joy is not in things, it is in us." Today's Mind Bullet topic, YOU, builds off the past two episodes. In Nobody Cares, we examined the strange and often damaging beliefs we hold onto, and in Are You Hypnotized? we looked more deeply at the stories we tell ourselves that hold us back. The common denominator, of course, is YOU. Things don't change; you change. There is no "out there," there is only in here. If you want the world to change, changing yourself is the only way. Whatever the problem, "you" is the answer." Looking inward is the greatest gift you can give to yourself and the world. Listen in to hear more about taking 100 percent responsibility for your life by understanding YOU are in control of your own thoughts, words, views and intensions, and using concentration and energy to focus on your own life experience.  Enjoy the episode!  *** New listeners: By texting the word "H

"The greatest illusion you'll ever know is the 'reality' in which you believe." Today's Mind Bullet centers around a massive concept: How hypnotized are you?  We're all hypnotized, that is, we buy into beliefs about ourselves and the world around us—which isn't a bad thing. But if you're not experiencing your ideal life—if you're dissatisfied and unhappy—the first place to look is at those beliefs about yourself you hold so firmly.  The idea of being hypnotized by our beliefs was touched upon in last week's episode, "Nobody Cares," which discussed how we carry around stories about ourselves, both fearing and expecting reactions from others. These stories are our beliefs, and what we believe has a direct effect on our happiness and self-worth.  We believe our beliefs wholeheartedly; they touch upon everything in our lives — our self-worth, whether or not we're athletic, how and what we should eat, politics, attractiveness, etc. "I'm an introvert." "I'm destined to be overweight." "I'm not someone who takes on

"You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you knew how seldom they do." ~Eleanor Roosevelt Today's topic is unexpectedly enlightening: Nobody cares. Nobody cares — and that's a good thing. This subject was triggered by a book that was a joy to read called "Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life," by William Finnegan, a Pulitzer Prize-winning New Yorker columnist who chronicles his surfing adventures. At one point, worried about people finding out he was a "dumb surfer," he eventually came to the conclusion that "apparently, nobody cared." Whether it's beliefs we carry around or perceptions of ourselves we strive to shape in the minds of others, the truth of the matter is, nobody really cares.  MG once wrote a book, "The Three C's of Success," under a pen name, thinking, "Who am I to be writing about success?" Ultimately, he shouldn't have bothered with the pen name—nobody was judging. Stephen King wrote a book under a pseudonym "Richard Bachman" because of a publisher's concern that he was being t

"Self-efficacy is your first step toward goal achievement and following PARR is the key to self-efficacy." Today's topic, efficacy, is especially relevant to new listeners and those starting out on their goal-achievement journey. Self-efficacy, in fact, is the ability to produce a desired result, as in a goal. When attempting a goal, we all have to bridge a gap between where we are (X) and what we want to accomplish (Y). Surprisingly, this has less to do with discipline or motivation than it does with self-efficacy.  How do we create the bridge from where we are to our desired destination? Self-efficacy is the key, and PARR (Plan, Act, Record, Reassess) is your golden ticket to self-efficacy. Say your goal is to lose 30 pounds. To get from +30 to -30, following the Habit Factor methodology, you download the tracking sheet or use the tracking tool in the app. You decide on the habits that will get you to your goal and start tracking them.  What does this have to do with self-efficacy? We've planned; now we're

"No man is free who cannot command himself."~Pythagoras You may be familiar with the old adage, "No pain, no gain." But on a dingy wall in a college apartment by the beach, MG and his roommates had a sign that read, "No pain, no pain." This phrase is even more enlightening in the context of these MBM episodes that have been focusing on challenge and change.  We often get the question, why do I need to challenge myself? Life is hard enough already. Yes, life is hard; therefore, giving ourselves challenges, often physical, helps us to create mental breakthroughs and personal growth. "No pain, no pain." Not challenging yourself, not putting yourself in a state of growth, is comfortable. There's no pain — TODAY. But this is static thinking. Because life is dynamic, you may end up paying for that comfort and pain-free existence later, with health issues or emotional roadblocks. We get too wrapped up in dichotomous thinking, but life is about balance. It's this AND that. Go fast AND slow. Life is short AND long. Yo