MBA2553 Three Habits That Changed My Life & Business in The Last 10 Years

0:05Hey everyone, welcome back to the$100 MBA show. I'm your host, Omar Zinhome, and in today's lesson, I'll share the three habits that changed my life and business over the last decade. These aren't magic tricks or overcomplicated routines. These are just three things that I committed to doing consistently and made all the difference. I'm going to break them down and explore how small daily habits can drive long-term success. Here's the truth. When we hear the word habits, we hear boring, right? This is boring, right? But the truth is that the habits that I've built over the last 10 years really define and are the reason why I've had any success.

0:49And it's because it's a habit. It's not just a task that I do. It's a behavior that's ingrained and just becomes second nature over time. And because it's second nature, I get to do it consistently. I get to get momentum. I get to grow in those areas of my life. When something becomes a habit, it kind of runs on autopilot and it no longer requires the extreme willpower it needs to get it done or just to get it started to get the habit kind of rolling away. Today, I'm going to share with you how three habits reshaped my personal and professional life and how you can adopt them as well. The first habit I call pick and stick.

1:32okay picking something to work on and sticking to it right now how many things do i believe you should pick and stick to well i think no more than three i find the sweet spot is three any more than three it becomes overwhelming and it's actually quite hard for you to get any traction and momentum and improvement over time if it's more than three let me give you some examples this podcast is an example. I've been doing this podcast regularly without skipping a beat for the last 10 years plus, okay, since August of 2014. So I just decided I'm going to choose the medium of podcasting to be my thing, to be my content, to be my kind of area where I'm going to improve, my dojo, basically.

2:21I'm going to say every time I go to this podcasting mat, I'm going to get better every single time. I'm going to improve. And I'm going to keep doing it for as long as possible, right? I don't have an end date. I'm just going to keep doing this for the rest of my life. And by picking and sticking to something, I got better over time. And the show improved. And the show got popular and grew. And so many opportunities opened up. And in a lot of ways, I outlasted my competition. The people that started a podcast the same time I did no longer publish. They're not around. They didn't stick. So this is a good example of how picking and sticking gives you a fighting chance of success.

3:03So you might be wondering, what were the other two things that you picked and stuck to? Well, the second thing was I really wanted to become a better public speaker, a better communicator. And I knew that it would help my business, whether it's on webinars or on sales videos or on stage when I go to conferences or on this podcast. So I chose to continue to give myself a chance to get better, whether it's reading books on public speaking, whether it's being able to take public speaking courses or seminars. I'm actually going to be attending a public speaking training next week. So I continue want to invest in it.

3:39I'm choosing public speaking as a skill I want to get better and better at because I feel like it will benefit me in multiple places. And the third thing was focusing on creating one valuable product. For 10 years, I built a software company called Webinar Ninja that got acquired recently by ProProfs. And that was my one product. I wanted to create a great webinar software. And that's all I focused on to create a great product. And I really didn't have anything else for sale in my businesses. Just one product that really delivers on what it says is going to deliver. Now that I sold that business, my main product is this, the$100 BA.

4:18And that's the only thing I focus on because I really believe that if you focus on one product and deliver it and make sure that it's high quality, it's going to do all the work for you. It's going to be easy to sell. It's going to be easy for you to market. You're going to get referrals. You're going to people giving you testimonials. And it's so easy to get distracted by new products and new ideas and new business ventures. But for me, I chose to pick and stick with those three things, the podcast, public speaking, and one valuable product. This is what I found. Spreading yourself thin dilutes your efforts, meaning that you could probably benefit by just concentrating all your efforts on just a couple or three things max, maybe just to get started one thing, right?

5:00Everything is focused on that. And therefore, all your efforts, all your energy, all your resources, all your connections, all your money, all your power is focused on that. And therefore, you have a high likelihood of success if you're focused. So here's an action step for you. Write down one to three. It doesn't have to be three. It can be one to three things you will pick and stick to to move your life forward, to move your business forward. It's going to be tough because you're going to have to eliminate everything else. So pick and stick was my first habit that changed my life in the last decade.

5:34The second habit is reading every day. Books have literally changed my life. I have a library of physical books. I have a library of audio books on my phone. I have a bunch of Kindle books in my Kindle. I love them in all different formats. Literally, if I look at all these books, I look at these books that I've read over the last decade, all these books that I've read, I just flashback to stories and learnings and how to impact myself and my business and how it really steered me in the right direction, whether it's autobiographies or self-help books like this one from Arnold Schwarzenegger or ones about focus and working on what's essential, like Essentialism by Greg McKeown.

6:14There's so many books that I absolutely love. They're like something I'm really passionate about because they're the best value for money. I mean, a book is like, what,$10,$15,$20, even sometimes a dollar on Kindle. What great value for what you get. I got new perspectives. I was taught new skills. It keeps me up to date what's going on in the world. It keeps my mind sharp. Like I mentioned, many of the strategies I've used in my business, in my life, have been inspired by the books that I've read. And listen, when I say read daily, you don't have to read a ton. You can read 30 to 40 minutes a day.

6:51You can split it up sometime in the morning when you're waking up having coffee, maybe a little bit before you go to bed. And you can do 30 minutes easily if you're going to the gym, walking on your commute, listening to an audiobook. And I'll be honest with you, there are some days that I don't read. Like I'll skip a day by mistake, I'll forget, or my routine is kind of out of whack. But it's okay, just pick up where you left off tomorrow. Oh, I just realized I didn't read yesterday. I'm going to pick up one of these books and read a book over lunch. or I'm going to listen to a book while I'm going to the gym today and working out.

7:24Here's your action step. Commit to reading every day, even if it's just 20 minutes a day. If you skip a day, it's okay. Pick up where you left off the next day. Don't beat yourself up. Make it a part of your morning routine or your wind down routine or your folding laundry routine like I do. I mean, let's just take a moment to think about what is a book actually? It's a condensed volume of great information from somebody who's experienced that has been there, done that. Whether it's their life story, like an autobiography, or it's an actionable book, like how to implement a marketing strategy or how to hire your team members on your team, whatever it might be.

8:00Tony Robbins says success leaves clues. That's why I love reading biographies of great accomplished people, athletes, musicians. One of my favorite books of all time is Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain about a popular famous chef or Andre Agassi's autobiography, Open. Or like I mentioned, Shoe Dog by Phil Knight. Phil Knight, who's the founder of Nike, his memoir. So there's so much you can learn by somebody just cataloging their experience, what they went through, what they had to go through to become successful. All right. So we talked about picking and sticking, reading daily. Third one, probably the most challenging one out of all three.

8:39OK, and you're going to say, what, really? That really makes that big of a difference? Yes. And that's daily exercise. You might be thinking exercise, how's that going to help my business, right? I can understand it makes me feel good, you know, it's good for my health. But what is that going to do for my business? So much. Let me get started by telling you that exercise is the one thing you have total control over. And yet, it also impacts everything. From boosting your creativity, from giving you energy levels that you need to be able to work a little longer sometimes, to improving your focus, to improving your confidence.

9:17Okay, let's talk about that for a moment. How does it improve your confidence? Well, when you go and exercise, let's say, for example, you go for a run or you go to the gym or you do any kind of exercise consistently, whatever it might be. When you do this consistently, you prove to yourself you are capable of being consistent, total control, and you're able to do things when you don't feel like it, right? That's a part of business, by the way. The second thing is you realize that I can actually get better, right? This is totally in my control. If I go for a run today, it's a little hard. Tomorrow's a little easier.

9:50I might be a little sore, but that's okay. Next week, I'm feeling better. A month later, I feel like, wow, I'm a new person. Two months later, three months later, you're feeling like an athlete. You're training your mind that, hey, you can change. You can improve. You are capable of great things. For me, the reason why I exercise is because I use my mind most of the day working on my business. so I need to use my body when it's time to wind down and relax or time for me to get ready for the day or whenever you want to exercise the point here is that exercise is also a good way to have balance most of the day if you're an entrepreneur you're using your mind constantly making decisions thinking working right you need balance you got to use your body too so your body gets neglected if you don't exercise but if you exercise your body gets what it needs and therefore fuels your mind.

10:42It's like a cycle. It's like a flywheel. So what you want to do here is understand that exercise is not only helping you be healthy and look good and cut down on fat and all that kind of stuff. It also is going to help you become a better entrepreneur, a better thinker, a better leader, a better worker when you need it most. So action steps, schedule your workouts, put it in the calendar, even if it's just 10 minutes a day. If you don't exercise at all right now, 10 minutes is going to make a big difference, right? Even if you go for a brisk walk, go for a jog, go to a class if you like, go into classes, go to yoga class.

11:19But here's the key. Treat it as a non-negotiable, as a part of your team. Treat it just like you have to pay a bill. Treat it like you have to do this like your business and your life depends on it. Because the long-term truth is it does. What I've learned is that you're going to pay now or you're going to pay later. It's best for you to pay now, put in the time now, invest now. So you can one, be more productive in your business, but two, as your business grows and start benefiting from the business, you start making some money, start having a better lifestyle. You get to travel, you get to enjoy.

11:52You can do that with your health because you've invested in it along the way. Habits are powerful, not just because they instill consistency, they're actually just the foundation of everything else you achieve, right? The reason why you're going to be successful is because of what you do every day. So I encourage you to think about what habits you want to choose. Just choose three that are actually going to change your life in a big way. We're going to make the most impact. You could take mine if you want, the pick and stick, you know, reading every day and exercising every day. They worked for me pretty well.

12:27And hey, they could work for you. They definitely can't hurt. Thanks for tuning into the$100 BA show. If you got something out of today's episode, why not subscribe? Subscribe on any podcast app, whether it's Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or if you're watching on YouTube, subscribe to our YouTube channel. You'll get our next episodes automatically. We publish three days a week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. Habits are hardest when they're getting started. So actually have a timeline for yourself. Have like a deadline where you say, okay, I'm going to just do this no matter what.

12:59I'm going to pick up this new habit for at least 21 days. I find that 21 days actually is the deadline where it just becomes second nature. It's much easier past the day 21. Day 22, it just feels natural. So if you just commit to 21 days, and again, you could break it down. If 21 days feels long, just like, I'm just going to do this for three days in a row. And then if that feels good, I'm going to go for another three days, then another 10 days. And you just keep on adding to it. So that way you have that momentum. Take tiny steps that lead to a big difference. Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in the next episode.