January is classic for New Year’s resolutions. Although sadly, a good chunk of these are forgotten by February. Research suggests only 8% of us actually achieve our New Year’s resolutions.
Maybe we should focus on kicking bad habits instead of starting something new. After all, we can’t simply keep adding without eliminating. We need to get rid of the bad to free up time for the good.
Here are 3 habits we recommend you kick in 2016:
Checking your email
In this always-connected world, people are checking their email as often as every five minutes. Surely, we can all agree this is excessive. While we often tell ourselves we are scanning for urgent messages, we are more likely succumbing to curiosity. 
Slow down in 2016 and stop trying to be connected at all times. Park your phone and commit to only opening your email when you have time to action your email. Create a routine for checking your email, so you control your time instead of letting someone else’s priorities dictate how your time is spent.
Multi-tasking
The evidence is pretty clear that multi-tasking costs us a ton of excess time. It also leads to lower quality work and increases our stress. All things considered, multi-tasking is so last year.
Kick your multi-tasking habit in 2016 and commit to doing one thing at a time. This might mean closing your door (which is perfectly acceptable), letting calls go to voicemail and turning off your phone alerts. The great news here is the less you multi-task, the more you focus (which is much more productive).
Saying yes
Ok – confession time: I was a tad over-committed in 2015. Can you relate? The irony is that I know this is a bad thing so I’m turning things around in 2016. Over-committing ourselves leads to fewer results and greater frustration.
When we can kick the habit of saying yes to everything, we free up time to dedicate to better things. This leads to better results and easier days. Less truly does equal more. Now that’s a formula that works for all of us.
As you are clearing out the above habits, you will suddenly find yourself replacing them with much more productive habits. Your time will refuse to function like a black hole. You’ll soon be effortlessly focusing on top priorities, making great progress and freeing yourself from the drain of being always connected.
As you are clearing out your bad habits, remind yourself that perfection is not the goal. In fact, perfection simply gets in the way. I’m a firm believer in striving for good enough. In the words of Marisa Murray, Executive Coach, “Are you striving for mostly good, most of the time?” If your answer to this is “mostly no” then I encourage you to reconsider your quest for perfection.
We hope this slightly alternative approach inspires you to have a really productive 2016. On that note, what bad habits are you going to get rid of this year?
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