There’s a lot in the air these days about habits and rituals for personal success. Recently, a popular meme circulating the Internet challenges writers to contribute their top "Simply Successful Secrets" – the 5-10 daily habits most responsible for their success. The result is an interconnected web of blog posts providing a wealth of best practices. Common threads include exercise, love, reading, and slowing down through various means including naps.  (See my previous blog post on this.)

People are hungry for a combination of ritual and productivity, joy and success.

Productivity guru, David Allen’s, best seller Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity is #75 in Amazon’s sales rank and is widely talked about in both corporate and non-corporate circles. I had to read the book after 2 CEOs, a marketer and a magician all recommended it to me. The wide appeal of this system has spawned a productivity empire: software solutions, seminars, courses, keynotes, articles and more books.

In the May/June 2007 issue of Motto magazine, Laura Howard West describes rituals for a better life as "…the desire to consciously design little moments and pauses in the day where you can relax, reconnect to what’s important, tap into your inner wisdom and re-energize with positive life-giving, creative energy." In Motto’s survey of corporate employees, enjoying a cup of coffee tops the list of personal joy rituals. Other popular rituals include: visualizing positive outcomes, reading inspirational books and magazines, hugging your kids, and stopping work on the computer to look out the window.

What are your joy rituals? How do you consciously design your own best practices into your daily life for maximum impact?

Get ready to Walk the Talk!

Walk the Talk* is akin to a check list of the little actions that add up to where you want to go and who you want to be. It is not another guilt inducing "to do" list. Rather Walk the Talk is an evolving document meant to help you identify daily habits, tied to your top values, that will move you forward. It’s more about your attitude and "being" than "doing’, yet the results are still measurable.

In this exercise, start with your top 5 life values. What values are non-negotiable in your life? For example: family, integrity, continuous learning, human connection, etc. Now think about your vision for the future and your goals. You may wish to focus on one major goal at a time, writing each at the top of a fresh page.

Now, for each goal, go down your list of values. Identify a habitual action to take that contributes to reaching your goal while honoring the value. Make it a specific, measurable action that is really compelling and resonant with that core value.

For example, Barbara has the goal of increased health and fitness with a 10 pound weight loss by the end of the year. Here’s what her Walk the Talk for that goal looks like.

Goal: Increased health and fitness with a 10 pound weight loss

Value: Family

• Walk the Talk: Play actively in the park with my children at least 4 times a week.

Value: Continuous Learning

• Walk the Talk: Sign up for an 8 week class with a nutrition coach

Value: Human Connection

• Walk the Talk: Walk or run with a workout buddy 3 times a week

Value: Honoring body and health

• Walk the Talk: Drink 8 glasses of water a day (throughout the day)

Value: Creativity

• Walk the Talk: Make up my own healthy recipe each week

With this list, Barbara knows when she achieves her Walk the Talk actions. They are specific with tangible outcome or frequency. Although it may take some conscious effort at first, these actions are not likely to burden Barbara because they tie into her key values and passions, like cooking. She will get enjoyment from integrating these habits into her routine.

Attempt to have at least one Walk the Talk action for each Value, but feel free to add more. If you get stuck here are some questions you might ask yourself:

What would give you joy once you achieved it?

What practices would give you satisfaction if they were a regular part of your life?

What do you want more of? Less of?

What actions are thrilling or even a little scary to contemplate?

Once you’ve created your Walk the Talk list, it’s time to integrate these best practices into your life. Review your list each week and score how many of the actions you’ve incorporated. Over time you’ll find yourself enjoying some satisfying new habits.

Start Walking Your Talk this month and let us know how it goes!

* This exercise is an adaptation of the Walk the Talk system taught by The Coaches Training Institute.