Habits and Career Portfolio
Three stories that stood out for me recently:
Forming and sticking to healthier habits, such as exercising regularly, remains a challenge for many. That’s why the results from this new extensive study involving more than 60,000 participants published in Nature are so interesting. The study tested 52 incentives to exercise that ranged from “free audiobook for gym use to cheery instructions from researchers to reframe exercise as fun. In one incentive, for example, the members earned reward points worth about $1.75 every time they visited the gym; in others, they shared their workouts with friends on social media, signed a fitness pledge to show up regularly or agreed to reflect after each workout on how it had affected them. Each group included at least 455 participants. Each intervention lasted a month.” Previous studies have been less rigorous and small scale and that makes the findings from this one so much more interesting. The study was designed by behavioural scientists Katy Milkman (whose book How to Change I reviewed here) and Angela Duckworth. The results according to this NYTimes article surprised everyone. For example, “encouraging people to view workouts as fun would get them to the gym more often, but that group showed only a minuscule increase in gym visits.” The most successful ones (increasing gym visits by roughly 15%) were when participants were either given monetary rewards (>two dollars for every gym visit) or reward points. The takeaway techniques were summarised as below:
Plan a reasonable workout schedule;
Program reminders of that schedule into our phone or with an admonitory spouse or training buddy; and
Find small ways to reward ourselves when we exercise as planned. Drop a dollar into a bowl for every workout, for instance, and let the proceeds mount.
Year-ends are usually a great time for reflection including on the career journey so far. That’s when I came across this HBR article by April Rinne on how to build a career which brought an interesting perspective on how to plan one’s career. As the title says, an approach should be to build, much like an investment portfolio, a career portfolio instead of career path which revolves around ‘a singular pursuit (climb the ladder in one direction and focus on what is straight ahead)’. The author advises that a career portfolio should look beyond traditional paid jobs to include your personal achievements as well where you have created value, for example in freelance or volunteering roles. “A career portfolio gives you a unique professional identity that evolves alongside you…Your portfolio should also include experiences and capabilities that are customarily left off your resume, yet fundamentally make you, you,” writes Rinne. When I started reflecting on mine I thought of myself as a business builder, strategist, an innovation and partner scout, travel writer, painter, habits coach, and a meditator. I am now taking Rinne’s advice on drawing this network on paper so that I can figure out which of my identities power others. For instance, my travel writing has clearly supported the role of a strategist by helping me communicate complex ideas simply, yet effectively. This is one exercise I am looking forward to during the Christmas break.
Finally, I really enjoyed reading this profile (via Tim Ferris’ newsletter) of Steve Young, a footballer, who I had never heard about earlier. Despite that it makes for a useful read for it again touches upon how to build a career. While pursuing his football career, Young studied law and finance, but after retirement transitioned to a role of a leading partner in a private equity firm. What makes the profile relevant is Young’s (or rather his father’s) uncanny ability to see two steps ahead that helped him build mastery in a complete different field than sports.
A quote that I came across:
Personal epiphanies feel great, but they fade within weeks. Upon having an epiphany, make a plan and start actually changing the behaviour.
