Give Bad Habits the Boot!

Think about it, most of life is something we do out of habit. From the moment, our feet touches the ground when we wake up to the actions of the entire day, be it skipping breakfast (major fail) or  rushing headlong through traffic, to the daily grind. These habits literally consume most of our actions.  Unprepared for the day and woke up on the wrong side of bed?  Grumpy is what we get.  These unconscious thoughts determine our entire day, days, weeks and months.  Our character is developed and the projected personality eventually relates to the bigger issues in life. Embracing bad habits determine the path that we will follow in life. No dedicated schooling studying times? A less than perfect progress report will impede the footsteps to tertiary education. Smoking literally is a drag (pardon the pun!) and decreases your life span, performance will not be at our optimum best. Tried and failed? Little things, little habits good and bad,  all impact on our health, financial worth, lifetime partners and life choices.

What do we do to curb this destructive path? Why break the bad habits, off course. Easier said than done, I hear you mutter? True, I am not a smoker. I do however, have other negative habits. BREAK the bad habits that are injurious to health, or affects self esteem, such as negative thinking or indulging way too often in that bacon/cheese/double whopper burger with  fries and onion rings AND unlimited soda!  Remember that bad habits often have a snowball effect, it is a magnet for more destruction.

Breaking theses habits is what we have to do.  Richard O’ Connor, Author of Undoing Depression calls it the “Rewiring” process.

1. “Break Bad Habit
2. Overcome Addictions
3. Conquer Self Destructive Behaviour”

The trick is not to do it just because a colleague or friend is. YOU will have to do it because YOU want to do it.  Once that mental switch is made, once that ideal image is fashioned in the mind, it is really simple.  Imagine your success in your mind’s eye.  It is MIND over MATTER. Make no mistake, having habits are necessary and vital. Bad habits, however needs to be broken by changed behaviour.

Sometimes one is not even aware of negative behaviour.  Once awareness sets in, the “Preparation” stage follows.  For success, mental awareness must be underscored by “Action” for about 21 days., maybe less. That long? No, not if you break in down in hours and days.

Forget new year’s resolutions, forget about starting next week Monday, next Month, Next Year.  Let us start now. Let us help each other achieve excellence in our lives.

Work hard to change. Picture the change. It will not be easy but I guarantee, it will be worth it.  

Any bad habits you have are yours and yours alone. Blaming other people or situations for your bad habits will do nothing to help you overcome them.  Perhaps circumstances dictated your habits? Delve into your psyche and searching for answers. We are responsible for the choices we make, the habits we make. Help though can be found.  Look up coaches, support centres or media information eg , Dr Stephen R Covey. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, 1989. For inspiration, read  Roy Lennic’s post you are the only person you can count on. 

Scratch the negative emotions, talk yourself into feeling positive. Look in the mirror and have a heart to heart with yourself.  What is it you want more than anything else out of life?  Travel? Think big, think of the bonuses of cashing in on the advantages of your medical plan.  Use those to points to move towards those goals.  How did you feel previously at that office party? Social butterfly or wallflower?  Compare yourself against your counterparts, sieve the worst and work on the best of yourself.  One thing that works for me is a journal. Likewise track your progress and create measurable objectives. Once you have reached a milestone, don’t wait for a date, take yourself out, indulge. A spa session, a smaller sized dress or a week away, you have earned it.  Commit to yourself.  Create your mission statement, your vision statement.  When the curtain closes on your life, what would you have achieved? Goals are essential for satisfaction and happiness. Set those goals, stay focused and kick it out of the ballpark.

Remember to eliminate negativity, both internal and external. DO not feed the negative thoughts and feelings about yourself.  Feeling critical, let it be constructive. Do NOT say, ugh, I can’t do this, this is not for me. No. Banish those harmful words. As for the external negative elements, remove yourself from the situation as best as you can.  This is not for your colleagues or friends at the pub. Be firm and walk away rather to a support group and a more helpful situation. This is your Game Plan to achieve success, however measured it may be. It adds up. I know of a gambler who became so engrossed in that way of life, he neglected his health, business and family.  Home was just a place to go to until the next fix. Once, overcome at losing a vast sum of money, he parked off, lost, disorientated. Thoughts of suicide filled his mind. Fortunately, his mobile phone allowed for him to tracked in time.  Came home to a barrage of insults from his wife and diminished respect, loads of credit card debt and a weakened immune system that had to be sustained with various steroids.  Eventually, the steroids had side effects. More ailments and finally death.  In the meantime, he left behind a materialistic wife with money issues. She pled constant poverty whilst she feathered a private nest.  Psychologically, she was ruined.  The kids had lost a doting dad.

So yes, there will be setbacks, sometimes it will feel like a conspiracy. It is how the setbacks are dealt with. Suggest revisiting the game plan, adjusting the mindset and re-evaluating the goals.  Do not allow a little hiccup to spiral downwards. Success will be imminent.  Once the plateau has been broken, and bad habits decimated, acknowledge the journey.

To persevere and move forward, surround yourself with positive living with affirmatives. My favourite line and my personal winner is, “fake it till I make it”.  I have loads of inspirational messages on my phone, pictures that just give me that added push to not sinking into despair especially after being robbed at gunpoint.. I refused to be defined by what transpired. That was my hiccup.

Tailor make your affirmatives, stick it on your computer monitor, let it be your background on your phone, your whatsapp status, whatever works for you but be like the Nike ad and “Just do it.”  You are your most valuable asset, you got this, it’s only a bad habit.  Break it, kill it, bury it. Declare it openly, honestly, feed it, commit to it, succeed and honor it.  Train today, reap tomorrow you can you know!