There is always that temptation that the way to change I need to make BIG changes in life. Drastic maybe but BIG might be an overstatement. Why? Because the way we got to having bad habits or wrong attitude was not overnight therefore the way to change our habits might not also be an overnight thing.

Let me give you an example. Thammie and I usually sleep late. 1am would be the normal time for us. We knew that our sleeping time was not healthy. We knew we couldn’t maximize our deep sleep which happens from 10pm to 3am. We knew everything during our first 8 years of marriage. We knew that if we could get this habit of sleeping early right – it could cause a ripple effect with our health and energy goals.

Then not too long ago, by God’s grace, we started sleeping a little earlier. First it was before 12, then we made it a goal to sleep by 11pm. What happened next was amazing.

We realised that when we sleep early – we do wake up early. We don’t have to be coffee dependent ( we are coffee lovers by the way) to perk us up, we can exercise on a more regular basis and we are able to do major things before 8am because of a habit that we changed. We are not yet perfect on this aspect but we do try to keep this as a habit now in our family.

We did the same thing with the kids. When they started sleeping early, they were able to give more effort and energy to their homeschool the next day, their attitude was excellent and we had more time as a family.

So how many habits did we change? ONE.

Sleep early and the domino effect happened.

Now whether its a leadership habit, a relational habit, an eating habit ask the Lord to pinpoint a habit you need to change to see major results happen.

 

Here are some work habits we implemented in our church that made a lot of difference:

1. Daily check in.

We ask everyone to inform the whole team the top three things they will be doing and accomplishing everyday. With this habit – we were able to weed out the lazy attitude because everyone comes to work with a goal to do at least three major things in their work plate. With the daily check in, we also were able to create a culture of accountability. Since we know what they are doing and where they are – we can ask them if they have reached their goal that day and that week.

2. Engage fully at work so you can go home on time.

One of the challenges in the workplace is that there is so much free time. When I say free time – I mean people stealing work hours chatting, facebooking, mingling, 30 minutes coffee breaks and the likes.

When you make a culture that everyone goes to work fully engaged you just changed ONE outlook on work and it has a dramatic result in productivity in your organization.

3. Show up at work.

With the recent work fad of working at home which results in lower productivity by the way ( ask google office), nothing beats the culture of showing up to work and having to see your workmates and interface with them on a daily basis.

Most of my weekly messages are crafted with regular interface with other pastors who are in the office and we would just discuss our thoughts and then we get our AHA moments and finish crafting our message.

Nothing beats having more minds engaging in a certain project or goal. This happens effectively when people show up to work.