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Some habits are useful. Others are simply comfortable.
At work, we often repeat processes because they feel effective. We might check email constantly, allowing alerts to interrupt our workflow. We might use a paper to-do list because it seems to give us flexibility and focus. We might file our emails into a complicated filing system because we believe it helps us find things quickly. But these are often stories that we tell ourselves because our habits feel comfortable. Unfortunately, comfortable does not always serve our productivity.
Some habits genuinely serve us. They help us focus, make better decisions and complete valuable work. Others simply satisfy us. They feel familiar, keep us busy and allow us to avoid the discomfort of changing how we work.
The difficult part is telling the difference.
A useful question is: What result does this habit produce?
If checking email constantly leaves important work unfinished, the habit may be satisfying your desire to feel responsive while your priorities wait. If a weekly meeting continues because it has always been there, it may be providing routine with little value. If your task system requires you to check five different places to work out what to do next, it may feel flexible while quietly adding friction.
Attending training is an opportunity to question comfortable habits.
When we attend a training program of any sort, it gives us a valuable chance to examine these habits, but attending is not enough.
It is easy to hear a new approach and immediately explain why it will be difficult to apply in your role, your organisation or your particular circumstances. Some concerns are valid. Sometimes they are simply the mind defending what feels comfortable.
The real value comes from attending training with an open mind and a willingness to test something different. Question each idea, then give the useful ones a fair trial before returning to the familiar.
Next time you attend a training or learning event, evaluate each idea against your current ways of working and ask yourself, ‘Does my current habit serve me or satisfy me?’
Your habits shape your working day. Make sure they help you move forward and produce the results that matter, not merely help you feel comfortable where you are.