It’s that time of year where we set our goals and resolutions in the hope that this year will be better than the previous. The aim is that we will improve and come out more successful and transformed than ever. This is a great way of thinking, and many people will achieve great things this year. I’m going to suggest a new way of thinking about how you can improve yourself and get much better results than ever before, if you’ve tried every year to make big changes but they haven’t paid off this could be the silver bullet you’re looking for!
There is no way to deny that setting goals is a very effective method for getting results, and of course it does work very well when correctly implemented, however setting goals and achieving them can be challenging for many people. The important thing is that you see progress, because once you start to see and feel your own progress you will find it easier to set and achieve your goals.
Write down 3 negative habits
I recommend you write down the 3 habits that you feel are negatively impacting your life, it doesn’t matter what those habits are, if they have a negative impact on your success then write them down. You will probably have much more than 3, don’t worry it’s great that you are now recognising them for what they are, this is the first stage of empowerment.
Habits can be great when they help you excel and progress, when you repeat an action enough times it starts to form into a habit which is the point you feel compelled to do it even when you don’t think you should, this means your habits have control over you. If you replace these negative habits with positive habits, then you will become more successful.
Most of us have many negative habits, it could be something more detrimental to our health like smoking or drinking alcohol, or maybe it’s quitting or buckling under pressure, it could be that you don’t follow through on your plans or achieve your goals on time. Have a good think and list those negative habits you feel are impacting your success, it’s important to be critical, honest and realistic. It may help to ask people around you, as often people close to you already recognise these habits but don’t let you know about it because they don’t want to be critical or upset you.
Note the habit
Once you have your list, I want you to recognise when these habits appear, what makes you feel inclined to perform the habit, it could be stress, tiredness or maybe it’s when you have spare time. Once you list what triggers the action, I want you to start being aware every time the desire to perform the habit comes up, and instead of doing it I want you to note to yourself “Habit” and then move on without taking any action.
At first this will be very difficult, but acknowledging the habit is important, and then moving on without acting on the impulse trains your animal brain that you no longer wish to perform this habit. It will take time, but over the first few weeks it will gradually become easier to control these impulses until eventually they will no longer arise.
Through taking control of your negative habits you will transform yourself, this will make a big impact to your success. Once you get these negative habits under control, you can begin to replace these negative habits with positive replacements – this is when you will see the biggest changes to your success.
