TJ Walker (host of "The Habit Influencer") argues that mindfulness — living in the present — is the most useful mindset for habit formation. Drawing on Eckhart Tolle’s popularization of mindfulness, Walker contrasts unhealthy fixation on the past or future with focusing daily on present actions (habits). He gives practical habits to illustrate the approach (e.g., dictating/ writing 500–1,000 words each morning, posting short daily videos to multiple platforms) and emphasizes that consistent daily habits matter more than fantasizing about distant goals.
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The Habit Influencer.
Dictate/write 500 to 1,000 words first thing in the morning.
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This is the Habit Influencer. This is the show where we talk to you about all the latest information, insights, techniques on how to have positive habits in your life, habits that will give you more fulfillment, better health, better career, better personal relief. The mindfulness approach to Habit Building. Eckhart Tolle made the whole concept of mindfulness extremely mainstream in America. Oprah Winfrey has endorsed him and gushed over him, had him on her show many, many times. His seminal work, the Power of Now, got so many people in America and around the world to really try to enjoy the present moment. Now. Tolle is a fascinating character. He had, by his own estimates, something like a breakdown where he just sat on a bench for a year and a half in his native country in Europe, reflecting, thinking. And he came up with his, in some ways, radical philosophy. In some ways, it's building on Eastern philosophies, which is that the only time we really have is now. The past is gone. You can never go back to it. The future is always going to be the future. You can't live in the future. The only time we can actually live is right now. And that's sort of the point behind mindfulness, which is this idea that you need to stop, enjoy what's happening right now, think about what's happening now, reflect on what's happening now, and it can be as simple as being aware of the breath going in through your nose and out of your mouth and trying not to think about 50,000 other things. Emails, texts, coming up, the to do list next week. Simply enjoying the present moment. The reason this resonates with me so much when it comes to thinking about habits is, to me, that's what habits are. Habits are about the present. So many people, when it comes to improving themselves, they either want to talk about their past, they want to go to their psychotherapist and talk about how their mommy or daddy did this, or he was rude and it's past, past, past, past, past. And some of that may be helpful. I'm not in any way knocking psychotherapy, but I do think if you spend the majority of your time fixating on the past, you're not actually living a life. The other extreme is so many really ambitious people who spend all of their time in the future. And this can start in high school. People say, well, I'm not going to enjoy high school now because I have to get good grades to get into that elite Ivy League university. And then they get into the Ivy League university, they think, well, I can't really enjoy time here. Make friends do fun things because I have to get straight A's in order to get into this elite law school or business school or medical school. And then they get into the elite professional school. So let's say they get into a top law school and now they tell themselves, well, I can't really enjoy life now or have real friendships or have romantic relationships or anything else because I have to kill myself to get the law review to get in the top 10% so I can work at the most prestigious, highest paying law firm. And then that works. And now they're 26 years old or so and they're in this law firm now they can start living right now. They can live in the present. No, because if you do all that work, all that does is set you up to work 15 hours a day at that law firm doing billable hours. So then you think, well, if I just pay my dues and just kill myself for the next seven, 10 years, then I'll make partner, then everything will be great. And then finally, age 35, sometimes 40, you become partner. Where did life go? Your entire life was spent in the future. Now you may have had to cultivate certain good habits to do that. The habits of hard work and the habits of focus. I'm not denigrating those at all. But if you spend your whole life working for the future, you have no present. You've destroyed so many aspects of what makes for fulfilling life. You haven't created joy, you haven't really experienced leisure. You don't have the maximum benefit of relationships with friends, family, romance. And that is the big problem if you don't take a more mindfulness based approach to life. Of course I want you to think about the future, but the majority of your time, I believe every day should be spent on your daily habits. So if you want to be a best selling New York Times author, don't spend all your time visualizing your name in lights and your name on that page that says you're the best seller of the week. Certainly do it once. But then on a daily basis, you've got to focus on writing. Or as I like to do, dictating. People use the term writing. What I mean is I dictate. So first thing every morning, rather than tell myself I'm going to be a New York Times best selling author, I'm going to be rich and famous. No, I focus on writing 500 to 1000 words first thing in the morning. Not just dictation, it's a habit. In the moment I'm thinking about what are the most important ideas I have and I like doing it then because there's no email to mess with. I don't look at it. Then there's no calls. It's often like this morning it was 5:30am and I can just think and I can be in the moment. That's why I like this idea of even if you're turned off by mindfulness, even if it sounds like a bunch of frou frou crazy touchy feely, crystal gazing hippies sitting around humming and that's a turn off for you. Strip all that away and there's still something there about focusing on the here and now. As Tolle mentions, as Zen Buddhist mentions, we can't really change the past, we can't ever really change the future completely because the future hasn't happened. But we have 100% control over now. The actions you take now. What's another word for actions you take now? Habits. That's why I like mindfulness. That's why I believe it is so important for you to take a mindfulness based action approach to your habits. Don't get so caught up in well, 16 months from now I'm going to have 300,000 views to every video I do focus on. Did I make the best video I could possibly make today? That's what you need to do. That's what I did this morning. 8:30 in the morning. I made a simple video to share with all of you and I forgot what it's about already because I make them every single day. But I made it and then I shared it with 10 different social media platforms. That's a habit. That's a habit. You can do. That's a habit. Anyone can. We can't all be social media stars and have 10 billion viewers. I don't have that. But every one of US can share one idea seven days a week, 15, 20 seconds a day with thousands of people. If you just take 15 or 20 seconds to make one video and then post it on a dozen or so social media sites for free. The power of mindfulness will keep you focused on what matters most. Your daily habits. That's about all for now. But if you like this and you want to see more, please follow me on any of the links you see below. I'm TJ Walker. See you soon.
