High Functioning Habits

February 19, 2020

For years, I wondered what made some people better at managing their time, their resources, and their issues than others?  After a year of Podcasting, where I discuss not living in regret and creating high functioning habits, it occurred to me that I had habits that seemed to waylay many of the issues in my life and allowed me to adapt to my circumstances more quickly.

Living a successful and happy life at a high level is an inherent desire in everyone but often we self-sabotage because we have bad habits that are hindering our success.  We try but fail at keeping up with these habits because we have neglected the essentials of managing these habits

Had I recognized in my own life what in fact was working–and how I was addressing situations that, at the time I thought I was attacking with sheer force of will–I would have found the pattern sooner and realized I was often naturally implementing a new habit whenever something was put in my way.

A habit is a hard thing to break, so you might as well have good habits to carry you thru because once a habit is in place it’s a lifestyle and you never think about what it took to get you there.  You don’t really remember the pain, just the results. 

Habits for being High Functioning, I believe, are not to be generalized because they are specific to individuals. We have to aim at realizing the behaviors and the triggers that will spur you to discover the habits you need to implement to (make and/or) keep you highly functioning as a human. Quite a number of these high functioning habits are generic to everyone, and are, therefore, attainable, e.g., healthy feeding. The issue here, however, is not the feeding in itself but the habits you need to introduce and implement in your daily life and activities to ensure you are eating more healthily. In that regard, they may not be the same thing for everyone.

Having high functioning habits is a road of discovery, it is essential to learn what triggers you, how you must manage them, and discard those that are to be avoided. For instance, I have a son who is Bi-polar, although we were not clear on what was going on with him for a long time until his mid-20s. By the time he was 30, he had a big melt down, had to leave work, started counseling and medications. During the counseling sessions, he discovered how to cope with the triggers, how to make better decisions and how to function in certain situations.

Learning to react rightly and take specific actions to put in place certain things that prevent meltdowns are all lessons in having high functioning habits. Sometimes, the most practical way is to shorten the meltdown episodes such that, if unavoidable, they last for shorter periods of time. For instance, it was a HUGE win for me when my Fibromyalgia had a flare up that didn’t last the week but only kept me in bed for a day. Sometimes, all that may be required is to take a nap; accept that you need it. Hence, I can engage in productive work for 6 hours daily rather than staying off work altogether for three years. These types of paradigm shifts in my mentality and therefore, developing new habits, has allowed me to be at my best in spite of what life has thrown at me; and this is the modus vivendi of high functioning personalities.

In a nutshell, we can, optimistically, guarantee ourselves sufficient energy to keep us functioning optimally and productively in every avenue of our daily lives. High functioning people are deliberate about these habits, and we find them around us with lots of energy, confidence, intelligence, competence. They are not easily influenced negatively, have a direction and are usually good time managers. It’s about recognizing fully what needs to change in your life, choosing the change, learning what you need to learn and then implementing those changes.