Trends are Telling

Trends are Telling

If you're the person who has had 20 jobs in the last ten years, it's you...you've got issues with conflict management, quitting, etc.  You're not the victim, it's a mindset and a personality that you've adopted.  Anything can be a one-off, those are anomalies, not rules.  That said, over time, patterns develop and trends emerge across the facets of our lives.  Ultimately, those trends likely are indicative of our character and begin to blur between the facets of our lives.  In other words, if you're a schmuck at work, you probably are (or are becoming) one at home as well.  The old "excellence as a habit" rings true and if you're killing it in one area of life...likely you're doing so elsewhere as well.  

It doesn't help when you have cookie elves
in the house.

My wife jokes that I've got the best and worst self-control of anyone she's met.  I've been blessed to
have the ability to block out a lot of distracting stuff...and cursed with a metabolism that has allowed me to binge eat sweets.  As we age, our metabolism tends to catch up with us and our habits may need to change.  Chances are, you likely don't sit down and pack on twenty pounds of Christmas cookies (although we can all have aspirational goals).  More likely, you pack on a pound here and there over the year and look back at New Year's twenty pounds heavier.  In other words, our trends catch up with us...we can have cheat days here and there, but the trend tells us whether or not we're being successful/healthy overall. 

We, nor you, likely achieved your financial status overnight...it was a series of repeated habits, systems, and decisions that put you on the course to where you are now.  If you're rocking it, the one dollar here and there over time has likely grown to a comfortable amount.  If you have trickled it away by spending that same dollar here and there over time, you're probably sweating it after ten or twenty years.  The trends tend to pattern up over time and compound.  The old turtle's slow and steady wins the race holds true in most parts of our lives.  If we're doing the things that happy, healthy, wealthy people do over time, those trends will likely conspire to make us happy, healthy, and wealthy over time.  

One quick caveat and we discuss it in our articles relating to Zig's Wheel, you can have sprint seasons where one part of life runs a little off-kilter to others, and as long as that's only a short sprint...so be it.  When we find ourselves out of alignment over time (a trend), we often find ourselves on a pretty bumpy road.  As an example, our family has had some seasons where we've sprinted hard in freelance work toward a particular goal, then laid off when the season ended to farm the time back into quality family activities.  On the other hand, I've got a friend who makes big money...but has essentially "moved to Texas" and away from his family.  It works for them, but I'd argue if you analyzed the trends for both he and I, you'd find that you gravitate toward one or the other.  

The good news, perhaps the great news, is that no matter how difficult, trends can be changed.  Just like turning a giant ship or slowing a speeding train, the momentum we build up and take advantage of can be changed.  By making a decision to change your trends, you can start the work to turn the momentum toward a trend you find more desirable.  While it's not particularly easy to do so, it is generally pretty simple, and it's also doable.   

An example of a freezer meal habit/system
to eat healthier and change a trend we were 
seeing.  

We talk a lot about habits and systems that are the bedrock of goal achievement more than relying on willpower.  Taking a page from that playbook, you can likely make a decision, or more likely a series of decisions to start changing the course.  Let's say it's saving money, making that first decision, then tracking the trends over time, you really start to see some motivational progress to hold you over.  At first, the momentum is small...a few bucks here or there.  When you track those trends, you start to see at six months that a few bucks are now hopefully a few thousand.  Looking back in the rearview mirror at the trends a year or two down the road and hopefully, it's tens of thousands.  I can tell you, now, looking back twenty years from high school graduation, those trends can be powerful, carrying you into the six or even seven-figure club.  

To summarize, we measure trends in each facet of our life.  We are likely the sum of the trends, not any one individual decision or moment.  Identify the people doing what you'd like to be doing, start taking those actions, and measure those trends.  Over time, you'll look back and likely be amazed at how much you've accomplished.  As Bill Gates said, “Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years."  Set your end state, take action, measure the trends, and be amazed.  

With you in the arena, from ours to yours...Happy Trails!

Call to Action: 

• Make a list of three trends you'd like to evaluate in your life (health, wealth, happiness, etc)
• 1 - ___________________
• 2 - ___________________
• 3 - ___________________
• Determine if your trends are taking you closer or further away from your desired end states.
• If further away, what systems/habits/next step actions are you going to take to course correct?
• If closer, how are you going to maintain or enhance the strengths you've created?
• Are there any trends as a family that you want to work on?  
• Discussion: Consider what you/your family could/would/should (level of commitment) and start/stop/sustain (action) in the next 30 days.

Further Reading, Motivation, and References:

- Habit Stacking with James Clear