Part 1: Highlights & Round-Up
Where we've been up to this point with our goal of living a more balanced, focused, and healthy life!
Welcome back to the Graham Friendly Newsletter! I hope your summer is off to a productive start!
If you follow us on Instagram you know that we’ve just finished a month+ long trip back to Washington where we explored parks, lakes, oceans, pools and hung out with all of our family and friends!
While it was a trip we’ll never forget, we sure are glad to be back at home and getting back to our routine.
As busy as we all are, I know not every email gets opened nor every newsletter read. So, every few months we’ll do a quick breakdown to get everyone up to speed on what we’ve been exploring! Maybe you can use the round-up as a reminder to get back on track yourself…
Over the past few months, we’ve explored a variety of topics aimed at helping you build better habits, set and achieve meaningful goals, and boost your productivity through smart mindset shifts.
In this recap, we’ll highlight the key takeaways from our first couple months of blog posts, organized into three main themes: Habits and Routines, Goal Setting and Achievement, and Mindset and Productivity.
Habits and Routines
The Anatomy of a Habit: Focuses on building habits by starting with the desired identity and using James Clear’s framework from “Atomic Habits” to replace bad habits with good ones. “How do I create a purposeful habit?”, this is a great place to start!
Good Routine, Great Habits: Highlights the importance of maintaining a good routine to develop great habits. We work through practical tips like habit stacking, making habits attractive, easy, and satisfying, and tracking progress. All necessary to make your purposeful habits stick.
Morning Routine: Here we provide tips for creating a productive morning routine, from preparing the night before, starting the day with physical activity, and incorporating personal growth activities like reading or meditation. Great days start in the morning!
Goal Setting and Achievement
Good, Better, Best: Outlines a goal-setting framework where “good” represents making any progress, “better” is achieving a middle ground, and “best” is the ideal outcome. Placing an emphasis on the value of progress over perfection when setting goals.
Kicking the "All or Nothing" Mindset: Discusses how reframing goals can lead to better outcomes by setting goals that align with personal values and identity, leading to more sustainable motivation and success.
Goal, Grief, Gratitude: Explores the interplay between setting goals, experiencing grief when things don’t go as planned, and practicing gratitude to maintain a positive outlook. Emphasizes acknowledging setbacks while staying focused on overall progress as a great way to clear your mind before your head hits the pillow!
Mindset and Productivity
Confidence Backlog: Here we discuss creating a “confidence backlog” by listing past successes to boost confidence and motivation when tackling new challenges. Keep this list close when you feel like you’re not capable!
Saying "No" by Saying "Yes": Highlights the power of saying “no” to make room for more meaningful “yes” opportunities. In this blog we walk through prioritizing commitments so you can focus on what truly matters.
The Anti To-Do List: In this blog we cover keeping an “anti to-do list” where you record daily accomplishments to shift focus from what remains undone to what has been achieved, fostering a sense of progress and accomplishment.
As we usually end each blog, now is the time to take action!
If you are struggling with sticking to your habits or simply creating great ones, having trouble setting the right goals or achieving the ones you have, or not being productive due to the wrong mindset, reread that section above.
The summer months are as busy as any. No better time to find it in yourself to construct a good routine and build great habits!
Sam & Graham