#125: How Simple Daily Habits Can Help You Achieve Your BIG Goals

Ever wondered how some people achieve their biggest life goals while others struggle? It's all about the power of daily habits!

In this episode we uncover how simple daily habits can help you achieve your BIG goals. From small actions to grand aspirations, we'll uncover how consistency can transform your life.

Ready to make progress on your dreams? Let's go!

ACTION STEP FROM THIS EPISODE
What is your "100 Shots"? Choose one action you can perform daily that will help create momentum towards your big goal.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• 00:13 The Power of Persistence: A Lacrosse Legend's Advice
• 02:05 Applying the Lesson: Small Steps to Big Goals
• 02:41 Personal Reflections: Finding Your '100 Shots a Day'
• 04:11 Expanding the Concept: Daily Habits in All Aspects of Life
• 07:15 Overcoming Setbacks: The Importance of Consistency

RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE

• For more on Upper and Lower Limits, check out Episode 85.
• For more info on mastering the fundamentals of habits, check out our 7 Day Habit course email us at hello@habitmasters.com if you're planning to take the course and we'll hook you up with a free code.

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Transcript

Jeff Corrigan: 0:00

Welcome back to Habit Masters. I'm Jeff. And I'm Sheldon. This is the best podcast to help you bridge the gap between where you've been and where you want to go. It's all about change, and we've got tips to help you do it. Sheldon, what do we got for them today?

Sheldon Mills: 0:12

Okay. We're going to start with the story. This is going to be a short one today, but it's powerful. It's going to be to the point. Let me just read it to you. Hmm. Let's Okay, this is from, well, I think what's his name? Billy Oppenheimer. I think you and I both subscribed to his, email list, but it's one of the stories that he shares. I know he didn't write the story, but from the book. The way of champion, pain, persistence, and the path forward. Paul Rabo, I believe. Anyway, here it is. During a talk at a summer lacrosse camp, the legendary coach, Tony Seaman, asked the kids, Who here wants to play at a division one school? Every kid in the packed auditorium raised their hand. I'll tell you how to do it, he said. And on top of it, I'll tell you how to get a full scholarship to play at a college of your choice. Who here wants a full ride? Everyone. It's a simple formula, he said. From this day forward, you have to shoot 100 shots a day. That's it. You shoot 100 shots a day from now through your senior year of high school, I guarantee you will get a full scholarship to the Division I college of your choice. It takes just 30 minutes to take 100 shots, Siemens said. But here's the caveat. You can't miss a day. Even if it's a holiday, the weather's bad, or you're on vacation, you can't miss a day. I don't know about the other kids, Paul Rable writes, and again, from The Way of the Champion, pain, persistence, and path forward, but I walked out of that auditorium and did what Coach Seaman said. Every single day, rain or shine, I practiced. Everywhere I went, I would find a wall to throw against, a goal to shoot on. From my home state of Maryland to New York, California, Washington, to England, Italy, Spain, Israel, and France. I know, part of me is like, well, that sounds like a fun job. I know, he's a traveling guy, right? He's all over the

Jeff Corrigan: 1:57

place.

Sheldon Mills: 1:58

Yeah, yeah. Me, a stick and a ball. For 20 years, and he was right. I was offered a full scholarship to over a dozen universities. It doesn't matter how ambitious or speculative the goal, you get there by taking one small step. After one small step. By consistently maintaining a little bit of energy in one direction. By consistently maintaining a little bit of energy in one direction. 30 minutes a day. 100 shots on net. 200 lines of code on your commute. 300 words on your lunch break. Whatever the reps are in your sport, in your business, in your chosen field, you do them, Ravel writes. And there is only one caveat. You can't miss a day. This was like music to my ears, Jeff. I've been sick, I've been traveling, my routines have gone out the window, and there's this part of me, as much as we've talked about this, I'm like, why am I going nowhere? Why am I floundering? Why am I struggling with what feels like even basic things? And this was like, this is what I needed to hear.

Jeff Corrigan: 3:03

Me too. Me too. And, you know, having this show, guys, Habit Masters, This is probably the best advice we could give you, is Pick where your destination is. Where are you trying to get, right? Whether that's getting a scholarship, whether that's, you know, developing a new skill, whether that's getting a new career, or whatever that's, whatever that is, it really comes down to this. Like, what are your hundred shots a day? Yeah. What's the thing you're going to do for 10, 15, 20, 30 minutes a day that's going to push you in that direction and create momentum that will lead to the results you're looking for, or maybe even something better than what you expected. Right. And that will get you back into a routine where you're feeling momentum. Yeah. You're just feeling that energy again.

Sheldon Mills: 3:54

Well, that's the C it doesn't have to be a mile. It can be a hundred steps, but if you're taking those hundred steps every day, It's taking you closer to your goal. I mean, I feel like this is like for me, this is even more fundamental. It's like the basics, you mean? For me, it's my relationship. It's my relationships with God. It's my relationships with my spouse, with my children and my health. It's my career. Do you want to mean it's just like these basics of Of, of like, not missing my, my, my prayer and scripture study, my connection with, with deity, right? It's, it's doing something, something every single day, no matter how busy it gets with the kids, with life, with work, to connect with my spouse and to show her that I love her. And she's the most important thing to me in the world. Do you know what I mean? It's like. Something, it needs to be, it doesn't have to be huge. I mean I like to do huge things, like big grand things sometimes, but it's the little consistent things that make all the difference.

Jeff Corrigan: 4:56

Oh, absolutely, right? The inconsistent grand gesture is never going to beat the daily, small act of love or kindness, right, is always going to win over it. The, you know, oh, I bought you a car when you were 16, if you're talking about your relationship with your kids or something like that, it's like, they would way rather you, you know, throw a baseball with them every day, right? Or, you know, took time to play a game or whatever that looks like. And, not that those other things are bad, but they're not a replacement for the daily act. That's a great point. And, you know, actually these media, like, Larry Bird was a similar, right? He would shoot, what was it, like a thousand free throws a day, every day, when he was growing up. And, and then obviously Larry Bird is a legend. Larry the legend, they call him. And for clearly the same reasons, right? He took his hundred shots a day. His were probably more than that. But the point is, you know, decide what your hundred shots is. Whether that's a couple lines of code, if you're coding, like he said in there, or whether that's, you know, writing, writing 15 minutes a day in your book. And he gives another example in that same article of, of a writer who was working a full time job and kind of thought that his dream of being a writer had passed him by. And, but he just decided one day, he's like, you know what, I'm just going to write during my lunch break. Right at work. So he started writing during his lunch break every day and over What was it a six year eight year period while he was still working his job full time He was a part time writer and he wrote 15 books Right, and and then he became a full time writer and he could do that full time It's like you have to decide what it is you want in your life And in lots of ways, you've already decided so many things. You've committed to a relationship with a spouse. You've committed to, you know, having children, you've committed to a career, whatever those things look like. And you just got to decide. We talk about the garden a lot. Are those the things you want in your garden? And if they are, are you nurturing them the way that you need to be to keep them growing and thriving and flourishing, bringing the fruit. And, and that's been a reminder to me this last couple of weeks too, is just, you know, getting back into routines. And starting to reestablish those habits that I've lost. And he says, don't ever miss a day. Here's the thing. When you do. You will. You will. When you do miss a day, right? And some people, you know, you stick with it and you never really do miss a day on certain tasks. But I'm here to tell you that most of us do miss a day here and there. Is the goal is to not miss twice. And to have a tool in place, like the one we've referenced in the past, which is What do we call it? It's the lower limits, right? Have a lower limit to get back into routine. So that lower limit could be okay. I normally write 15 minutes a day. I'm just going to write five minutes a day, right? My lower limits, five minutes a day or something like that. It's like, so give yourself some grace when it comes to that, but not so much grace that you lose your routine entirely. You got to have some tools in place to get back on it. And Jerry Seinfeld has the rule, never miss twice. So, never miss a day is kind of the first goal, but when you do, don't miss twice.

Sheldon Mills: 8:17

Quick quote by Anthony Trollope, a small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labors of the spasmodic Hercules. We know that, right? I think sometimes the hard part is figuring out where do we want to go, and then what are the daily things that actually are going to take us there. So, maybe, actually, I bet most people listening to this, they actually, we know, you know what I mean? Like, we know. And as you seek for help from the universe, from God, as you pray, as you seek guidance from friends and mentors, like, it becomes obvious. I think it comes down to just getting back to the basics, the fundamentals. Okay, so you missed a day. Heck, okay. In my case, I've missed weeks and I feel lost and confused. And why am I getting nowhere? Why? You know what I mean? Get back to the basics. Do the things that you know are going to bring you back to equilibrium, sound mind, sound body, all this stuff. Reconnect

Jeff Corrigan: 9:24

you to the source. Yeah.

Sheldon Mills: 9:26

Connected to the source. And daily get back at it.

Jeff Corrigan: 9:33

So with that, guys, do it together. We, yeah, we're doing it right now. Right. We're back at it. And. You know, if first time here, welcome. And if you've been following us for a while, you know, we've missed a few months. The time has come to get back in the saddle and we are so excited to share some of these ideas with you. And these might be a little shorter. We're trying to adapt to our new life as you know, things change and careers change and families grow. And, and we want to know, we want to let you know that. That's life. We understand it. And that's what we're here to share is how to bridge that gap between where you are and where you want to be and give you some tools to get there. This is one of my favorites is just that daily habit is going to take you where you want to go. With that, I wanted to ask you if you have questions for us. We would love to have question and answer session on this from listeners. So if you have a question, send it to hello@habitmasters.com. com related to habits, routines, and everything that those entail and, and really transformation in your life. So thank you guys for listening. It is always our pleasure to share ideas with you. We hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did share it with a friend, that's the only way we get this message out there.

Sheldon Mills: 10:43

We love you, and we'll see you next week.

Jeff Corrigan: 10:47

What do we used to say? I don't even remember the tagline. I don't know. It's been too long, Jeff. It's been too long.

Sheldon Mills: 10:53

We'll figure it out, and next time we'll be back at it.

Jeff Corrigan: 10:56

It's time to start living your best life.

Sheldon Mills: 10:57

Yeah!

Jeff Corrigan: 10:58

That was it. Again. Bye, guys.