I LOVE speaking in front of a big audience. I never thought that this would be something that I would become so passionate about.
As I write this article, I feel blessed to have been invited to speak more than 300 times, reaching over 100,000 people in America, Europe, Africa and Asia. The audiences have been so diverse: from public servants, corporate executives, high-school students to professional athletes and work-at-home moms. Sometimes I feel like I have the best job in the world: Getting the opportunity to help people make better decisions and live with fewer regrets in both their professional and personal lives.
However, over time, I started to get uncomfortable when people started to introduce me as a “motivational speaker”, or an “inspirational speaker”. The more times that I get invited to speak, the more I realize that there is a major problem that I am not addressing in my talks.
Yes, my message may be inspiring to some, but what I have learned is that inspirational messages alone are not enough to create lasting, personal change. We may know that we need to change, we may really be motivated to change, but yet, most of us end up failing to change.
I may give the best talks of my life on world-class management practices to 1,000 business owners at a global leadership conference. However, how many are actually applying what I said the next day? Regardless of how much inspiration people are exposed to, or how motivated the feel, people seem to be terrible at making a lasting personal change.
This is a problem not just unique to audiences I meet here in the Philippines; it is a universal problem that I have seen in more than 40 countries I have visited thus far.
So why are we so bad at personal change? Our track record is terrible. We fail far more times than we succeed. New Year’s resolutions being the most haunting evidence of how bad we are, with more than 80 percent of those who make them around the world not making it past the first 30 days.
Is it because we are lazy, or lack discipline, willpower and motivation?
I do not believe that is the case; rather, the real reasons we are so bad at personal change is that we continually repeat the top 10 mistakes we make in attempting personal change below, over and over again:
- We attempt big leaps, instead of small baby steps.
- We do not focus on the creating the habits that give us the biggest “return on investment”.
- We try to stop undesired behaviors, as opposed to replacing them.
- We oversimplify our motivations.
- We try to do it on our own (assuming willpower and self-discipline are enough).
- We do not leverage on tools or technology that will help us measure, analyze and improve our progress.
- We underestimate how our environment influences our behaviors.
- We underestimate how others influence our behaviors.
- We underestimate the power of rewards.
- We do not create an expectation for setbacks, as well as a logical plan on how we are going to deal with them.
What I have learned is that personal change need not be so difficult; in fact, personal change is easy if you leverage the science of how our brain creates habits.
Once something becomes a habit, it essentially becomes almost automatic; it happens with little or no effort on your side. Any change will never be sustainable unless people are not able to create new habits.
Successful people are simply those with successful habits. Successful companies are simply those with successful habits. Successful Filipinos are simply those with successful habits.
In the words of Aristotle, “We become what we repeatedly do; excellence is not an act, but a habit.”
The secret to success is found in daily habits. The people who figure this out will be the ones who will reach their potential. The businesses that figure this out will be the ones to dominate their industry. The leaders who figure this out will be the ones who will change the world.
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Grogan is a lean management expert, best-selling author and international speaker who believes in the genius of the Filipino. He has worked in Europe, America, Africa and Asia, and has delivered his inspiring talks and training seminars to over 100,000 people around the world; however, he believes that the greatest human potential in the world is here in the Philippines. He is passionate about helping Filipinos to become more confident, proactive and productive, so they can lead by example and become role models of Filipino excellence. For comments feedback and suggestions, contact mike@mikegrogan.ph. To get a free copy of his latest book, 7 Reasons Filipinos will Change the World, go to www.mikegrogan.ph/ebook.