How to Build Intentional Habits for Lasting Growth

We all at some point say things must change. I want to change. I want to be better. I don't want to go through what I've gone through the last couple years. I want even more. I want greater growth, I want greater experiences. I want greater wealth and health. And I don't know sometimes how to get there. But I'm going to share with you today exactly how to do that. Because it really always comes down, in my opinion, to the same five things that if you really want to change and improve your life, first and foremost it begins with a declaration or a decision that you must make. Self improvement a way of life. Today is a topic about behavior change. And I'd like to share with you one of my probably most popular frameworks that's ever been shared on the Internet. And that is my, what I used to call my intention ladder. And the intention ladder goes like this. It says this on the quote card if you've ever seen it around the Internet. Yep, that's me. It says this. First it is an intention, then a behavior, then a habit, then a practice, then a second nature. Then it is simply who you are. And the idea behind this intention ladder is, well, of course, everything begins with intention. You set an intention for the type of conduct and character you would like to have in this world. You have an intention about your day. You have an intention about how you'll treat your spouse, your partner, your lover, your kids, the people around you. And from that intention about what you want in life, how you want to show up, how you want to treat other people, the type of life you want to create, well, you enact behavior, right? First it's an intention, then a behavior. And that behavior either becomes a one time effort, which is where it stops for most people. They're not very consistent. So they just have an idea or a hope or a dream. They take one action, they get discouraged and they stop. But those who keep going, who develop that behavior, who practice that behavior, who hone that behavior, they quickly develop that into a habit, that habit of something that they are doing. There's a time, a place, a method, a way, a dedication, a commitment to keep doing it. And of course, the more you do something, the more it can become a habit that becomes almost automatic. Not all habits are automatic. Not all habits become easier with time. And that's why those that might do that, I always say, well then it becomes a practice. Because that's the hard thing, right? Common sense is not always common practice. And that's why so many people of great potential Fail to realize it is because, you know, they're just trying to get by on the easy habits, those tiny little habits that they don't even have to think about that just make their life supposedly better over the long term. But if you ever studied behavior change or been responsible for helping people enact it over a long period of time, you realize that most people, it's really hard to develop a disciplined and deliberate practice, to keep revisiting the fundamentals and making them better and better and better. It's why health tends to decline over a period of time, because people get excited at the beginning of the year, and then throughout the year, that effort wanes because they know it's the hat. They know what to do, go to gym, eat healthy, sleep well, meditate, practice wellness routines. But then over a period of time, if it's not an easy habit, it goes away. And even the hard habits that they take on don't last longer because they lose willpower, self discipline. That's why we say habits can then become a practice. Because you know what? When it is hard, when it is difficult to keep enacting, that's when it becomes a practice. That's why yoga at advanced levels is really a practice, not just a class you show up to. It becomes a way of life. It becomes something that you deliberately commit to and invest in and believe in and work towards and give striving effort towards. So first it's an intention, then it's a behavior, then a habit, then a practice, then mastery happens. So it becomes a second nature. It becomes more natural. Even if people look at it and go, gosh, that's so crazy, that's so hard that you can do that. For you, yeah, it's still a challenge. You still have to get into flow. And yet it's become a second nature. It's who you are. It's. Tony Hawk is a skateboarder. You know, after that much repetition that many times, it's just the natural way you are. I had the blessing of getting to know and being mentored a little bit and doing some great business with the late, great Larry King, one of the great communicators of all time. And his ability to interview anybody at any time about any topic, it was remarkable. He had conducted 60,000 plus interviews. It just became who he was. But I know holding Tony Hawk or Serena Williams or a Larry King or an Oprah Winfrey or other famous names up, that can seem out of reach for us mere mortals. But the reality is you've already developed a second nature. You already have a way of conducting. It's your strengths, it's your style. It's how you show up in the world. And if you didn't know it, it began as intention, then a behavior, then a habit, then a practice. And it's who you are today. So the good news is either you showed up who you are today, it's the second nature of who you are today and how you go through the world was intentional and conscious, or it was just a series of reactions. Stimulus, response, stimulus, response, comparison, comparison, comparison, trying to fit in, trying to fit in, trying to fit in, trying to please, trying to please, trying to please. And you kind of became an amalgamation of reactions. Or you're developing yourself now with real intention. And you've done that before and over and over and over again. Now, wherever you're at on any of these topics, the good news is it first begins with an intention. Set an intention in your journal today for the type of person you want to become, the type of behaviors you want to see yourself doing, the habits you want to follow, the difficult practices you want to stick to, who you would be proud of if that was who you just showed up as second nature. What would you be like? Who in an ideal world set that intention today? Capture in a Journal the most successful people I've ever met were incredibly intentional about who they became. The act of becoming was a conscious, deliberate effort, wasn't easy, they didn't get it all right. They weren't always in integrity. They were certainly not perfect. It's just that they made the honing of the self a practice. And that practice, repeated over and over and over again, became a second nature. What was natural and easy to who they were. And now you meet them and they are just so abundantly, authentically, spontaneously and exactly who they are that you don't compare them to anybody else. They stand out all on their own as an identity of themselves because they consciously work towards and willed into this world their unique and beautiful and divine spirit. Hey guys, it's Brandon. I'm jumping in here real quick. First, I want to make sure you've gone to progressmode.com to join the newsletter because I have a resource for you related to this episode and I have an upcoming meetup with my private group, Ultra. If you've ever liked to be in a private group with me where I help you get more progress towards your passion projects or to build your business or your brand in a bigger way, just go to progressmo.com, click on Private Group to Apply to see you can get into ultra and we can take it to the next level by getting in person and meeting up virtually once a month online as well. Just go to progressmode.com let's talk about a commitment to change today and what does that really look like? Because, you know, we all at some point say, gosh, I wish my life was maybe more, a little more joyous. I wish I felt a little more alive. I wish I had better relationships, I was a better leader, contributor, caregiver, family member, teammate. We all say, I wish I had more abundance in my life, a greater ability to be productive or influential or even just, I don't know, happy and fulfilled. We all at some point say, things must change. I want to change. I want to be better. I don't want to go through what I've gone through the last couple years. I want even more. I want greater growth, I want greater experiences. I want greater wealth and health. And I don't know sometimes how to get there, but I'm going to share with you today exactly how to do that. Because it really always comes down, in my opinion, to the same five things that if you really want to change and improve your life, first and foremost it begins with a declaration or a decision that you must make self improvement a way of life. You just say, finally, enough of, you know, enough with my randomness. I need a plan. I want to stick to it. I want to, I want to create good habits. I want to consistently feel good. I want to consistently exude who I really am. I want to consistently have a positive mindset. I want to consistently be able to be resilient and bounce right back up after those days of hardship or of judgment or the, you know, negativity out in the world. No, consistently I want to feel good and I want to strive for great things and I want to succeed. That's the decision to make. Self improvement way of life. Everything starts from there. Not, I like to, you know, just change once in a while on a birthday that ends in a zero or you know, once every New Year's, I kind of get serious. No, you say, no, this is who I'm going to be. I'm the person who constantly gets better. And when you make that simple declaration that today is a different day, that today I'm going to invest in myself, today I'm going to make that decision to make self improvement way of life, everything changes. That's literally why I made our tagline of our taglines here at Growth Day is just that, make self Improvement a way of life. That's what Growth day gives you. The second thing that I think is fundamental is that you have to discern the habits that matter the most. See, some of you guys know I'm a complete dork on this. I'm one of those personal development geeks. So you might call me a self help junkie. You can call me, you know, just one of those, you know, one of those spiritual seekers. You can call me a personal development lover, whatever you want to call me. All I know is I've spent 20 years of my life trying to find out what is it that makes people happy and successful over the long term. What is it that allows some people to climb up higher than other people who are equally hardworking? What is it that that really makes a difference in people's well being and health and relationships? And what I learned is that comes down to the high performance habits. Real change happens when we make a decision to make self improvement way of life. Real change happens when we develop the right habits in our life that actually lead to results. Real change also happens, as we know from all of psychology and goal attainment theory, when we set goals, when we record those goals, when we set deadlines for those goals, when you generate subtasks or action items for those goals, and when we keep all of our goals in one place. That's why I love goal planners. I used to write all mine out. Now I just use the plan section here in Growth Day in the app. But that is fundamental. There is no question that recording your goals, setting deadlines and creating subtasks for those and keeping it all in one place. And guess what? Looking at it, receiving notifications about it or reminders about it is a game changer. Whether you use Growth Day or something else, it's a must. Next area that we all need mentors. Oh my gosh, we all got to have mentors. People who help us see maybe a different way of life. I bring up mentorship specifically again in this framework for change and making change stick because so many people won't actively like create this. I curated it here in Growth Day Pro. But I know that many people, they don't. They kind of randomly listen to a podcast here or there. They kind of randomly listen to a YouTube there. They kind of once in a while will be drug along to some event with somebody else. But they don't put together their dream mentor list, their hero list, their positivity list, their list of people who can give perspective and live encouragement. I think that's important with Mentorship. The other thing we know you need is to set up a community. Again, making change stick is going to require you to seek out always ever increasing quality of community of the people that you connect with and talk with and are encouraged by and that you share with vulnerably on a consistent basis. This is your framework for change, guys. I mean listen, whether you're here with us in the future or not, listen, you want real change, it's going to come down to these things. A decision to make self improvement way of life. Developing and cultivating the habits that move the needle. Setting goals, deadlines, subtasks, and looking at those goals all the time. Making sure that you gather a mentor group, groups of people, I mean just picking up to 10 people who you follow, learn for, study their training and focus on specifically personal development, teaching so that they can take your life, whether it's your career, your personal life, your relationships or your health, to the next level and then ultimately gathering up a community. I think that is so critical just by listening to this. I hope it reminds you of a few things about your change journey, reminds you a few reasons to sign up for Growth Day Pro, because I think getting the mentors is everything. This needs to be the time of year that you commit to living an extraordinary life. Not just at New Year's right now, just commit to the next 12 months. It's going to be an amazing next 12 months of your life. Really. Just see that and feel that and sense that and know that something great in your future is there. If you will build yourself up and ready yourself for it. If you'll do the work now in your personal development, later on when you're challenged, when it gets harder, or when you finally reach that opportunity of that moment where all your preparation and luck and cosmos and faith all comes together in that moment where you're truly called to or you're ready because you did the work. Every day is a great day to grow. I love doing it with you every day.