As a person who spends most of her time thinking about ambitious goals – my own or the goals of those I serve – I’m always on the lookout for techniques and perspectives that can facilitate success. I’ve been holding on to an article I read last year in my favorite magazine, Real Simple. The article focuses on how to stick to a workout routine and it includes eight suggestions to help you do that. One of the suggestions caught my eye and prompted me to tear out the page as inspiration for a future blog post. The future is here! So, let’s dive into suggestion #6: Micromanage Yourself.
Let me first say that seldom if ever have I heard the word “micromanage” in a positive context. In my career, it was the thing to avoid as an aspiring and now experienced leader. Micromanaging was an indicator of mistrust, and relationships are built on trust. Hence why I was so intrigued when I saw the article’s recommendation to Micromanage Yourself.
The idea is to engage in mental and physical preparation to leave nothing to chance. As the article focused on fitness, I’ll start with my own fitness example which illustrates the micromanaging approach.
I am many years into the habit of working out first thing in the morning, six days per week. The night before my workout, I think about what I’m going to do. I rarely wait until the morning to decide. If it’s going to be a running day, I first check the expected weather. In the cold weather seasons, I skip that because I’m just going to the basement to get on the treadmill. If the weather is warm enough and it’s not too dark, I think about what route I want to take and what podcast I’m going to listen to. If it’s not a running day, I decide whether I’m doing upper body, lower body, or both, and which type of exercises I’ll be doing. I do not write it down and most of the time, I do not decide exactly which exercises I’ll do; but I do decide on my overall plan. Will the lower body workout be centered around ankle weights or walking lunges? High weight with low reps or the other way around?
The point is that I think about all of this the night before, right before bed, so all I have to do is get up in the morning and execute my plan. And, I make sure I go to bed on time so I will be fully rested and ready for my workout in the morning.
A few more examples illustrate how micromanaging helps me maintain positive habits:
- This year I declared a new habit I want to incorporate now that I’m working for myself: to attend daily Mass once per week. I’m still determining which Mass and which church works best for me. Sometimes I go to my own parish and other times I don’t. Either way, I plan ahead of time, it’s on my calendar, and I update the appointment each week with the specific church and Mass time. I decide when I will leave the house, what time I need to be done with breakfast in order to leave on time, etc.
- When I travel, I always plan in advance when and where I’ll be going to church (if I’m away from home over a weekend), and where I will work out. For the latter, does the place I’m staying have fitness equipment and/or a safe running trail? If not, I may need to pack my resistance bands or make an alternate plan and/or shift my weekly day off to occur while I’m travelling.
What happens when I don’t micromanage myself? I can answer this most easily using my attempts at healthy eating, contrasting what happens when I micromanage with what happens when I don’t.
What about you? Think about your most consistent habits and compare those to the habits you have repeatedly attempted to master but you always seem to revert back to your old ways. How can you flip the traditionally discouraged micromanagement approach on its head and use it to your advantage? Habits become solid when you have to expend little energy to maintain them. Micromanaging yourself leaves little to chance because decisions are made in advance, increasing the likelihood that your positive habits will survive and you will thrive.
