The Snooze Button | The Zebra Blog

The Snooze Button

People are always thinking about resolutions this time of year. Most often, a resolution means that someone wants to change something about themselves. Whether that be going to the gym and drinking more water, not snapping at one’s kids, or even upping their game in their business, oftentimes one has to change something about their behavior in order to accomplish those goals.

As a result of this being resolution season, I have had several people share interesting and motivational clips, videos, and imagery they have found on the internet that resonate with them and helps keep them on track with their resolutions. One video in particular stood out to me because it reminded me of a change I had to make almost two decades ago in my business, which I will get to in a second.

In this video, speaker Mel Robbins shared how she had to fight her brain’s urge to maintain her life in a state that was not working for her. By changing the way your brain currently reacts to certain situations, seemingly on autopilot, you can replace your old bad habits with good ones.

For example, the alarm goes off in the morning and you “automatically” hit the snooze button and buy yourself another 5, 10, or even 30 minutes’ worth of sleep. What if there was something you needed to do in your life that only cost 10 minutes of time but would have a monumental positive outcome for you? Would you still hit the snooze button? Would you try to take action to get up earlier?

The mind is a very complicated thing and the premise of the video was that you need to act and make a move within 5 seconds of your mind thinking of this task or goal or your brain would essentially talk you out of taking action.

Over 20 years ago, I was in a position where I needed to change a habit so I could manage my tasks better. I needed a time every day where I could organize my day, my schedule, my business, my life, everything!  I wanted to set aside a time to get all my projects done and I didn’t want to be interrupted. So I decided to get up very early in the morning and set aside an hour just for me and my projects and tasks.

I can tell you that the first week was awful. Every time that alarm went off my body was so trained to hit the snooze button that I had to really fight to get out of bed. I told myself that all I needed to do was get out of bed, go get my morning water and at least just go and sit at my desk. I really had to force myself to take the action of turning off the alarm and sitting up. Once I sat up, it was easier to stand up. Once I stood up, it was easier to walk to my desk. And once I was sitting at my desk, well, I might as well get some work done. Before long I had retrained my mind that when the alarm when off I got out of my bed and took action.

Remember that the mind and body like comfortable…but comfortable isn’t where change happens.

Ask yourself what part of your life you are hitting the snooze button on. And then make a plan for action! Remember, a short 10 minutes a day habit change for a real estate agent, especially doing a money-making activity could have a monumental effect on their business.

So, take a look at the habits you are trying to change and the resolutions you are trying to keep and don’t let your brain make excuses to keep you comfortable. Don’t hit the snooze button, get uncomfortable and make 2018 the year you see real change in your business!

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