Hey, it's Rachel Cook, your modern mentor. And today, we're going to talk about some of the

work habits and routines that it may be time for you to rethink. Sometimes the things we think

are serving us are actually holding us back from something bigger and better. So let's talk about

what routines you may want to question and how to make change happen.

My dad has always been a runner. So when I graduated from college, determined to bump up my own

fitness, I took up running, because in my family, fitness was running. Two years later,

slim and grumpy, I had an epiphany. I hate running. I had defaulted

to running as a means of fitness just because I had never stopped to question it. But in 2003,

I joined my first gym and a whole new beautiful world opened up to me. Today, I do everything at the

gym, except run. And I'm fitter now than ever.

Sorry, Dad. The point is that sometimes we hold on to assumptions about the way things are or should be.

We stick with routines and habits, not because they're true or good, just because we've never

questioned them. And sometimes those old

assumptions can get in the way of our best results. I see people doing the same thing in the

workplace. We do things on autopilot out of habit, but it's time to stop and question some of these

defaults. Today, let's talk about the most common habits that have us stuck and the tactics we

can use to break out of them. The first is saying yes to the meeting. When a meeting request comes in,

chances are you check your availability, and if the time is open on your calendar, you accept,

right? I was guilty of this for years.

But what if we asked better questions?

Instead of just asking, am I available?

What if you tried asking, do I think that whatever's on the agenda for this meeting

...