Scaling Your Personal Life

2014 was an amazing year of growth and learning for me and the Perfect Search team. I’ve become a happier person, which I’ve been able to achieve more by mindset and less by action.

I’ve recently taken a different approach to improving my lifestyle. In the past, I would continue to have a mental battle with myself to help motivate me to be better. Now I’ve decided to find permanent, scalable solutions, not quick fixes.

Here are 2 examples of my attempt to find permanent solutions in the past few months:

1. I’m a flawed guy – and messiness is one of my biggest flaws.

My bedroom always has clothes everywhere, and try as I might I just can’t maintain the habit of keeping things clean. My typical routine when my place gets messy is to debate whether I should hire a cleaning service or not. But beside the fact that it’s pretty expensive, it also means I would have to pick my clothes up since most cleaning services focus only on cleaning and not organization. I needed an affordable solution that offered me both.

Instead of using an expensive cleaning service, I found TaskRabbit to be a better solution because it’s a more affordable option that rates people not only on cleaning ability, but also ability to organize. I wanted someone who is naturally organized, and when the woman I found through TaskRabbit arrived, I could almost sense that organization was a passion of hers. This solution has worked out well for me and now I don’t have to worry about things being left out - it will get taken care of.

So while I’m still a messy person, I’ve found a solution that guarantees my life will be organized and mess-free. Just don’t ask me about the dating world. OYYYYYYY!

2. I don’t work out.

Actually, this is a bit exaggerated - let’s say I work out every couple of weeks. Recently I began to dig into the cause of why I don’t work out more. My gym is in my building (yup - it should be that easy), I have enough time to work out, I’m educated in how to work out and I’m not ashamed to be in the gym. Hmmm…I kept thinking about this and the answer came down to accountability. No one will know when I don’t attend - this is often the real reason people hire trainers, do classes, or sign up for group fitness.

So I thought about hiring a trainer but didn’t like the cost associated with it. While I was still debating my trainer decision, one Monday morning at 8 AM in the gym I ran into a friend who lives in the building. I told him about my struggle and asked if he works out enough. He said, “No”. I replied “Me and you, 8AM, everyday!” We didn’t even mean that we would work out together, we just would push each other to go to the gym.

That Monday night after work I had a client dinner, which turned into drinks, and more drinks and….let’s just say it was a night. The next morning while I laid in bed I received a text at 8 AM that said, “Heading to the gym”. I struggled with what to do at that point….I wasn’t in good shape, but if I didn’t go the day after we agreed that could be a blow to our entire agreement. And so I went. In thinking back it was amazing how strong the accountability piece was - I went from someone who would wake up fully rested and skip going to the gym to someone who had a horrible hangover but could still go to the gym. Our agreement even would turn into a competition at times when either of us would make up an excuse.

It’s been about 3 months and my gym habit has completely changed. I don’t need to rely on my buddy anymore and I hope to continue to build this habit as my strongest. Ultimately, I know getting exercise is the most important thing I can do in any given day.

Are there aspects of your personal life that you've found scalable solutions to? Share with us in the comment section below, email us at [email protected], or tweet us @Perfect_Search!