Today I am introducing a new feature here on Urban Monarch, a column on being productive and getting what you want out of life. Being someone who constantly manages many projects (like what you’re reading right now), self employment, lengthy vacations, and a relentless social life, organization is at the core of my every day habits. It’s also something that I constantly refine and find better ways to achieve results.

Today’s topic is about the personal frame I take in my everyday choices and how it helps me create new behaviors and powerful daily patterns. Regardless of the activity, the frame I take is that my actions are always affecting the habitual nature of a behavior pattern. Everything I’m doing is actively strengthening the propensity to repeat the same action.

When I’m engaging in an activity I ask my self, “Am I enforcing a positive behavior or am I enforcing a negative behavior?”

Dissecting how this works, first I will define a frame. When I use the term frame, I’m borrowing a concept from NLP (a self help psychotherapy model.) The idea of a frame is that you are actively defining an outcome. Much like a picture frame surrounds and defines a photograph, a frame in NLP surrounds and defines a goal. The goal in this case is increasing the amount of positive behaviors.

The second piece of this involves a false dilemma. A false dilemma is a rudimentary argumentative tactic in which two, often polarized, choices are presented as the only solutions. The classic example is, “Either your with us, or against us.” In reality, it may be that you’re apathetic, or have third and different view. However, phrasing the question in this manner forces the recipient to choose a side.

Taking both of the pieces together, I am actively defining a goal and then enforcing the behavior patterns. The result is a check, a reminder question to ensure my activities are in line with my intentions.

Looking at something as simple as waking up early in the morning. When I oversleep, I’m enforcing the behavior of sleeping through my alarm clock. When I awake at the dedicated time, I’m enforcing the behavior of waking up early. I’m either enforcing a positive behavior, waking up early, or enforcing a negative behavior, over sleeping.

…And every time I ask myself this question, I’m enforcing the positive behavior of reminding myself of my intentions.