Holly Ransom: Designing Your Habits for Success

One of our favourite quotes from James Clear’s “Atomic Habits” captures the ethos of personal growth: "With the same habits, you’ll end up with the same results. But with better habits, anything is possible."

Nobody knows this better than powerhouse thought leader Holly Ransom, once named among Australia's 100 Most Influential Women by the Australian Financial Review and nominated by Sir Richard Branson for Wired Magazine's 'Smart List' of Future Game Changers to watch.

The moderator at Growth Faculty's recent events Atomic Habits - James Clear LIVE, Holly will run a follow-up masterclass on Tuesday, October 10 "Design Your Habits for Success". Here we look at how habits help to shape Holly's success.

Mastering Our Goals With Better Habits

Author of "The Leading Edge," Holly is expert on what it takes to succeed and grow. She says the notion that ‘we are what we repeatedly do’ is "a tangible and pragmatic way to master our goals, without expending significant money, time or even willpower in the process.”

Given her own success, it's worth looking at how she goes about mastering her own goals.

Three ways she works to achieve them have included:

Chunking

Holly likes to break her routines into “minimum viable habits” (what James Clear calls atomic habits).

“The brain appreciates it when we can chunk routines down into a series of small, attainable habits – it gets to take a break! And that’s our chance to slide behavioural change in,” she says.

Humans like to be consistent, says Holly. “We like ticking off the list, showing we’ve made progress.”

Voicing a newly committed habit out loud

Holly says that, as humans, we are subconsciously strategic about the self we put forward to the world. So, telling someone about a new habit makes us accountable for sticking to it.

Or, as James Clear puts it, "Once your pride is involved, you’ll fight tooth and nail to maintain your habits."

Holly points to research out of The Ohio State University that found that people tended to be more committed to their goals after they shared them with someone who they see as “higher status,” or whose opinions they respect.

She adds that a Dominican University study found that more than 70% of participants who reported their progress to a friend were successful in goal achievement (compared with only 35% of participants who kept their goals to themselves).

Morning and evening rituals

Holly’s morning and evening habits are published for all to read on her website, perhaps helping her stay accountable (see above).

In the mornings they have included:

·       a daily focus on the personal values she wishes to live by

·       iterative realignment on both short and long-term goals

·       routine exercise and meditation

In the evenings they have included:

·       a brain dump to transfer everything she has to do tomorrow to somewhere tangible so that it’s no longer on her mind

·       the Grateful app to help trigger a sense of humility, perspective and contentedness

·       her MVH of reading one chapter of a non-study, non-work book each night 



Design Your Habits for Success

James Clear's in-person events for Growth Faculty set out the art and science of building habits.

His famous concepts, such as the 2-minute rule (starting new habits in just two minutes to ensure they are not intimidating), the habit stacking method (pairing a new habit with a current habit), and the importance of environment over motivation, have already set many on the path of positive change.

But what happens after you've started? How do you maintain momentum to ensure that the habits you form lead you to success?

This is where Holly's transformative workshop “Design Your Habits for Success” comes into play.

Drawing on her own research and experiences of using habits to achieve personal growth and success, Holly will not just offer more insights but provide a collaborative environment for attendees to share, learn, and grow.

Habits and Good Leadership

For emerging leaders and senior leadership teams alike, habits are the foundation stones.

In this complex, changing world, resilience, adaptability, and consistency are essential traits for leaders and they are not qualities one can 'switch on' when the situation demands. They are habits, cultivated over time, refined through experiences, and strengthened through conscious effort.

Holly's techniques, from helping leaders create habit-friendly environments to cultivating a growth mindset, are invaluable tools.

So, if you are looking to truly transform, to understand how to apply James Clear’s concepts around habits to achieve greater success, and to connect with like-minded individuals on the same journey, "Design Your Habits for Success" is a masterclass not to be missed. 

Growth Faculty membership means you have unlimited access to our live virtual and on demand events so you can learn the latest thinking from the world’s brilliant minds. 

As well as your free access to the replay of the livestream of Atomic Habits - James Clear LIVE, all members get discount tickets to in-person events including Adam Grant LIVE - WorkLife Reimagined. Some ticket categories already sold out. (See our line-up of live virtual and in-person events).