Goal Setting Life-Hack: Leverage Your Password

by Scott - 5 Comments

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One of the most important things we can do to achieve our goals is to write them down on a regular basis. But this means adding a new, time-consuming process to our workflow.

A practice I’ve found effective, is to routinely change my email password to something that’s indicative of my most important goal (at that point in time). Do you want to be the top salesman at your company? Change your password to “topsales.” Trying to lose 20 lbs? Change your password to “20lbs.” For email, it helps if you require entering your password every time you sign in.

Life-Hack
 

This is a simple practice that inserts the process of goal-affirmations into your existing workflow. When you apply this to something used as frequently as email, regularly affirming your goals shifts from a chore to a necessity.

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Another venue I like to implore the password trick is my gym-lock. I use a letter combination lock  3-4 times a week. Every time I go to the gym, I’m reminding myself of my current goal at least twice (8x a week!).

Achieving the goals we set is far more likely if they’re continuously top of mind. This trick is a great way to inspire that without requiring a significant behavior change. 

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Do you like Life-Hacks like this? I started a Google Group where we collectively share them. If you’re interested in joining, you can sign up at HackingNYC.com. For you inbox defenders, you can expect 1-2 emails every 2 weeks.

 

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5 comments, add to the conversation.

  1. KevinRoche

    I really like this idea. However, using plain words like “topsales” makes for a very insecure password (and probably wouldn’t even be accepted on most sites). A recommended practice is to turn a phrase into an acronym like “I want to be top salesman” becomes “Iw2bts” but I wonder how much that would diminish the goal-affirmation process if you’re typing in something that appears less meaningful?

    Reply

    1. ScottBritton

      That’s a good point I never thought of. A good potential solution is to spell the words incorrectly. I.e “TpSales1”

      I’ve never had someone hack into an account using this, but definitely good to consider. Thanks for pointing this out

      Reply

    2. Michael Harry Scepaniak

      Instead of using these goals as your entire password, append them to the
      end or insert them into the beginning of your existing password(s).
      Doing this actually makes your existing passwords _more_ secure, simply
      by virtue of them being longer.

      Reply

  2. Pingback: 4 Things that Help Me Create Habits | Life-Long Learner

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