Results of the February Success Habits

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Well we’ve hit the first couple of days in March. It’s time to post the results from my February experiment in the 30 Day Success Habits Series. (A monthly column where I discuss the habits that I’m trying to develop for the next 30 days)

As I said in my initial post about my habit goals for February, it was going to be a long month. Instead of trying to change one habit I tried three. As you can see below, this was probably a mistake.

Also when evaluating the “success” of a habit I like to use what I call the C.E.E.P. formula. This helps me determine how I should treat the habit after the 30 day trial:

  • Continue- Do you need another 30 or 60 days to continue evaluating this habit? 
  • Eliminate-Was the habit a failure? If so, it’s time to eliminate it. 
  • Evolve– Could you take the habit one step further? Maybe it should evolve into another habit that stretches your comfort zone.
  • Permanent-Was the habit a success? If so, keep it on a permanent basis.

Okay, let’s quickly review the results…

Success Habit #1- Daily Writing

Might as well start out with the good…

The first thing I was trying to develop was a Daily Writing Habit. This one worked out really well! Between this site, my info product, and my affiliate newsletter; I did a bunch of writing during the month of February.

What I’m happy about is my writing has seemed to improve over the last month. I’m able to crank out content at a much faster rate and I can communicate my thoughts in a clearer manner.

The verdict? This habit will be permanent. I would like to claim that I now posses the mental discipline to write every day—but the sad fact is simply have to write a lot to keep my online businesses running.

Success Habit #2- Twitter

This was one of those habits that I wasn’t sure was worth trying to develop. At first, I thought it was a complete was of time. But I found that a daily Tweeting habit has helped a lot with this blog.

The verdict? Again, this habit will be permanent (for now). I made a lot of connections through Twitter. If you’re reading this post, it’s probably because I connected to you through Twitter, or you know someone who I met through this site. So for March, I’m going to continue this habit and really ramp up my Twitter efforts.

Success Habit #3-P90X Exercise

Now it’s time for the excuses…

It was snowy out. I was really busy. My dog ate my P90X video tapes.

Sure, I could make a ton of excuses about why I failed to follow through with my daily P90X exercise regimen. The truth is definitely over-committed myself with this one. It only 4 days to quit this habit. Pretty sad, right?

The verdict? This habit will be eliminated. The good news is I did get a few things from the P90X material. This program has a great core workout called “Ab Ripper X” that I now do 3-4 times a week. Next, they also have an excellent basic nutrition plan which I’m using for the month of March. Thirdly, this program also has a lot of great fundamental principles which I’ve incorporated into my weight lifting routine 2-3 times a week.

So yeah, I suck at P90X. But I still received a few benefits from trying it out.

Conclusion

Well as Meatloaf once said, “Two out of three ain’t bad.” In February, I formed two habits that’ll help me become a more successful person. And even though I failed with the 3rd, I was still able to extract a few positives from the experience.

Finally, I determined that trying to form three habits in a month was overkill. For March (and probably moving forward), I’m going to stick with two habits. And tomorrow I’ll be discussing them…

Take Action. Get Results.



11 thoughts on “Results of the February Success Habits”

  1. Steve,

    A great effort and lloking at your positives you’ve have a 66.67% success rate. The one you didn’t do too good on was a learning experience. Great work!

    Regards

    Paul

  2. Pingback: 30DSHS- Improve Writing Skills, Twitter, and P90X | Steve Scott Site

  3. Thanks Paul. In baseball a 66.67% rate would make the best player in the history of the game. Actually, it would have been funny to videotape my efforts at P90X…pretty humorous if you have a twisted sense of humor like me.

  4. Steve,

    Sorry I’m lost with the percentages and baseball; not my game.

    I was unaware what P90X was, the ever so informative Wikipedia has just informed me. So is it a nightmare activity?

    Regards

    Paul

  5. The best part of this exercise in my opinion is putting a goal out there and then judging yourself. And yes two out of three is not bad. Just one other thought, sometimes I think that what you don’t do tells a lot about what you really want. Maybe you have better things to do than P90x, whatever that is.

  6. @Paul- Yeah, I’m a dumbass…I forgot that baseball is typically a sport that’s not really popular all over the world. P90X actually is a pretty decent exercise system, but it’s a commitment. It’s not one of those “30 minute” cakewalks…I might try it again in a few months, I just found it hard to incorporate in my schedule.

    @Ralph- You’re right. When it came down to it…I really didn’t feel like it was all that important to me. I exercise almost every day anyway, and doing these exercises was overkill.

  7. Yeh Steve, looking at the postive results, even though we have to compare them to the not so positve ones is the only way we can evaluate success. Whether to eliminate or keep. I think your twitter, don’t know what your other actually is, but your twitter seems to be something more than just a March outlook. I’ve personally had a lot of success with twitter and in reality it’s the place I spend the least amount of time on each day. Find a place you can manage and schedule your tweets on and use it diligently. Then check in each day to see who has responded, via tweetdeck or whatnot and say, “hey guys whazz up?” and shoot a few tweets out. If you find some extra time get on it and tweet your shiz and socialize a little. You’ll or at least I have gained a lot from it. Jus sayin..

  8. Steve,

    It could be a good decision about the exercise. I love exercise and realise how important it is both to my health & fitness and enjoyment. However, at the moment it doesn’t fit in my life. Perhaps I should make it fit in! Then again, like you maybe now’s not the time. Perhaps there are other more pressing thingss that need our attention.

    Regards

    Paul

  9. @Lee- Good recommendations. Twitter is definitely something I’m still trying to figure out. I see the positives, but it’s still hard to manage without getting sucked into wasting time. But will incorporate your ideas…I do use TweetDeck which definitely saves a bunch of time.

    @Paul- Exercise is definitely something that gets pushed aside. But it’s always something that I’ve done, so I’m now basically programmed with the mindset to work out almost every day. It’s not always easy…but I still manage to fit it in.

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