Kevin Bemel ·
Why Good Habits Won't Get You to Your Goal
Living intentionally – how challenging is it? On the one hand it seems like it should not be that difficult. You decide what you want to do, get a clear view of your goal, and then take steps to reach it. Yet if it were that simple why all the advice on life design and motivation? Here is a bit of research.
The Boy Scout’s Slogan, “Do a Good Turn Daily,” is designed to instill a conscious, lifelong behavior in scouts. Does it work? I conducted a poll through a LinkedIn group to which I belong. I think it is fair to say that since the members are Eagle Scouts they represent a group of people committed to the lifelong pursuit of this behavior. Out of 51 respondents, two-thirds said they consistently do a good turn daily while another 29% said they do so sometimes. Only 3% said they do not.
Here is the rub. Several people commented that doing a good turn daily should be done habitually, not consciously. Others thought it should be done intentionally but admitted they could not always find an opportunity.
Although unscientific, it is interesting that even though the respondents appear to have been Eagle Scouts for at least ten, and in some cases as much as 40 years, even for those committed to consciously abiding by the slogan they did not always do so.
When talking about this with a friend, I noted that as a chaplain since my job is to do good turns, I am challenged every day to find someone outside the realm of my work for whom I can do one.
My conclusion: living intentionally never becomes a habit. While you will become more self-disciplined, like most worthwhile undertakings being purposive is a deliberate, daily, even hourly activity. But as many of the respondents in the poll noted, the power of this small, daily act has enormous benefits.
Question – Do you have a daily activity that you have done for many years and if so how has it changed you?
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