An earlier post on Hacker News linked to this presentation about key mistakes, and solutions, to encourage behavioural change. Summarising the points, it goes:
- Don't rely on willpower for long-term change. Assume willpower doesn't exist.
- Don't attempt big leaps. Seek tiny successes, one after another.
- Consider how your environment shapes your behaviour. Change your life and change your context to influence your behaviour.
- Don't try to stop old behaviours. Instead, seek to create new ones. Focus on action, not avoidance.
- Don't blame your failures on lack of motivation. Instead, make the behaviours easier to do.
- Triggers are a key to behavioural change. No behaviour happens without a trigger.
- Information does not lead do action. Reading articles (or, ahem, presentations) does not magically lead to behavioural change. Human beings are not so rational.
- Focus on concrete behaviours, not abstract goals. For example, "Walk 15 minutes today" is much better than "Get in shape".
- Don't seek to change a behaviour forever. Instead, aim for a fixed period.
- Behavioural change is not difficult. It's easy when you have the right process.
BehaviorWizard is a related site that guides you through different patterns and pieces of advice to effect behavioural change. Of particular interest is the linked Behaviour Grid, which is like a crib sheet for approaches to changing your life patterns.
Why is this relevant to startups? Because as an entrepreneur, your main resource is yourself. We all get the same 24 hours each day. Learning to make better use of them is crucial to success as an entrepreneur (as it is in many other areas of life).
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