Thirty Days Makes A Habit

Sometimes we need a little inspiration to help kick start the journey to reach our goals.  This is one reason I have become a big fan of TED.

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to "Ideas Worth Spreading" in the areas of:  Technology, Entertainment, Design.  The organization sponsors two annual conferences -- the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh Scotland each summer.  In addition, TED hosts the award-winning TEDTalks video site.  The motto on their website is:  "Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world".  And they live up to that motto. 

On the TED website you can watch such videos as:  Steve Jobs (Apple) giving an awe-inspiring commencement speech, "How to Live Before You Die", Elizabeth Gilbert (author of "Eat, Pray, Love") talking about "Nurturing Creativity", or, Salman Khan (Khan Academy) suggesting "Let's Use Video To Reinvent Education".  I watched all three of these and they truly are "inspirational".

I recently came across one video that I especially found helpful.  It was a video by Matt Cutts on how "thirty days makes a habit".  Essentially, Cutt's hypothesis is that if there is something you really want to achieve in your life, doing it consistently for thirty days will make it become a habit.


Try Something New for 30 Days
By Matt Cutts

This works for both positive and negative goals.  For instance, if you want to make flossing your teeth a daily habit, just setting the goal to do this consistently for 30 days.  Likewise, if you want to stop biting your nails, consistent progress for 30 days would soon have you kicking the bad habit. 

So how does this work?  To answer that, first we need to think about what happens during the goal setting process.  Many times, we set goals for ourselves that seem too big to actually achieve.  So, no sooner do we write them down, then we begin telling ourselves they can't be accomplished.  We are our own worst enemy.  Psychologists suggest we censor our inner critics by making a 30 day commitment.  A commitment to do something temporarily doesn't seem quite as hard as a commitment to permanent change.  Any deprivation you perceive will only be short-lived and at the end of the 30 days you can always go back to ways things used to be. 

For me, my biggest 30 day success story was giving up TV.  At that time in my life, I was on verge of starting a new business and I needed to find a way to fit a new business into my already busy life.  I was working full-time, plus I had a newborn baby.  Someone suggested that if I REALLY wanted to find the time to launch my business, I should consider giving up my evening television watching.  Ouch.  That was the time I set aside to unwind and snuggle with my new baby.  Not too mention, I had my whole week planned out according to when my favorite TV shows were on.

I opted to try it for just 30 days.  I have to be honest and tell you that it was really really hard.  I missed that  downtime.  I even had to add in new things just to help me break the habit.  Instead of turning on the TV after dinner, I started taking my baby out in his stroller for a walk.  I made big pots of tea and sat in the kitchen (where there was no TV) doing my work each night.  I also asked my family members to support me, by either not watching TV, or watching it in another room.

At the end of 30 days, my business was starting to grow.  I began to see how it just might afford enough of an income that I could quit my job and stay home with my son.  Two years later, I achieved that goal.  Sixteen years later, I still don't watch TV.  And interestingly enough, no one in my family watches TV on a consistent basis either (well, except for my hubby, who loves football).  Thirty days made a good habit for not only me... but the rest of my family too.

So I hope you will consider watching some of the TED videos and become inspired enough to set some goals. Once you do, try the thirty day plan and see if it works for you too.

Young Entrepreneurs Part #2 - Creating Apps

When I was a child, I used to watch a show called "Kids Say the Darndest things".  Most of the vignettes were humorous little anecdotes meant to display the innocence of children.  While kids still say the "darndest things", today children have become less innocent and much more sophisticated.

For instance, take a look at Thomas Suarez, a young entrepeneur who lives in Los Angeles, California.  Now when I say "young", I'm not kidding.  Even though this kid is an experienced computer programer and app developer, he's only in the sixth grade.  When I think back to when I was in the sixth grade, I think my biggest accomplishment was riding my two-wheel bike.

Thomas Suarez was recently a featured speaker at the TED conference (October 22, 2011) in Manhattan Beach, California.  In his talk, he explains “A lot of kids these days like to play games, but now, they want to make them”.  He also presents the frustration kids face when they are looking for adult mentors - especially in an age where kids seem to know much more than the adults. “It’s difficult because a lot of kids don’t know where to go to make a program”.  He explains; “If you want to learn to play soccer, you could go to a soccer team; if you want to learn how to play the violin, you could go to a violinist; but where do you go when you want to create an app?”

Thank goodness for Steve Jobs and the folks at Apple, who put the building blocks in place to help launch this kid's dream.  For a fee of $99/year, the IOS Software Development Kit, allows kids (and adults) to create and sell computer applications directly through Apple's App Store.

Lucky for Thomas, his parents decided to back him and paid the fee so he could become an official app developer.  While I don't know how much revenue this Young Entrepreneur is actually raking in, during his talk he does mention what he's done with the profits, so he's obviously earning something.  Just like so many other entrepreneurs, Suarez is already mentoring others.  At school he created an "App Club" that meets at lunch.

 

After learning about Thomas Suarez, I thought about my eldest son and realized how fortunate he is to already be taking online classes that focus on both Technology & Entrepeneurship.  These are truly 21st century skills.

Several years ago I read a powerful book on homeschooling called - And the Skylark Sings With Me.  In this book, the author, David Albert, makes a great case for the role of "community based learning" in your homeschooling  journey.  After reading that book, I knew that try as I might, **I** could not teach my children everything.  In order for my kids to truly succeed, I would need to find them "mentors" in the subject areas they are passionate about. Which is exactly why I decided to enroll my children with Hi-Tech High.  Through that program, my children have been exposed to an incredible array of educational resources and mentors.

When we follow the path of home-based learning, I believe we raise our children to be independent thinkers - which is a key characteristic of entrepreneurs.  I have always believed that the homeschooled children we're teach today - will become the business leaders of  tomorrow.  Faced with a our current economy, where so many people are unemployed, I think we have to admit that the old model of "when you grow up - you'll get a good job with a big corporation" no longer works.  Therefore, if kids at the age of... 16, 14, 12, or even 10, can incorporate an entrepreneurial mindset now, they're already gathering the tools they'll need to succeed in the future.