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Getting Rid of Bad Habits
Bad habits can get in the way of your success. For instance, if you pro-crastinate your work, you will always scramble to get it done by the deadline. Smoking can cause health problems and make it tougher to get your work completed. Eating the wrong foods can sap your energy levels and can also lead to eventual health problems.
Because we only have a set number of hours in a day, bad habits can block our ability to have good habits. This means you need to break the bad habits before you can take on good ones, in many cases.
Don’t try to quit all your bad habits at once. Be selective and choose the easiest ones first. Give it some time to convince yourself the habit is completely broken before moving onto the next. Don’t dwell on the fact that you got into that habit. As long as you take steps to break it, just move on. You’ll be better off.
Choose good habits over bad. This can be easier said than done, but, if you put some effort into it, you can make it happen.
Don’t beat yourself up if you revert to your old ways on occasion. It’s likely you have been doing those habits for years so they will creep up on you from time to time. It’s natural and you should pick up where you left off.
Some habits, like smoking, may need a bit of extra help in breaking them. You should discuss options with your doctor if it is health-related. Seek out alternative solutions such as therapy or hypnosis if you have tried to stop and cannot.
Concentrate on positive aspects of your life. This will help you realize that bad habits are getting in the way. If you want to run a marathon, but you smoke, this may give you the motivation that you need to stop. Once you begin training for the marathon, you will see that smoking is going to prevent you from meeting that goal. It is always easier to break habits when you have specific goals and those habits keep you from accomplish-ing them. When you reach those goals, you can feel good that you gave up the bad habits and accomplished the goals at the same time.
Making Affirmations Part of Your Success Routine
Some people pass off affirmations as nonsense. These people believe that saying positive statements about yourself will have no effect on your suc-cess. Often, these same people are ones stuck in a rut and wonder why they cannot get ahead in life. Affirmations work because they change the foundation of how you think.
You do have to believe in affirmations for them to work, however. If you are skeptical, and you just start repeating positive statements because somebody else told you it works, this may not get you far. Although, just the act of saying them can alter your brain patterns to take on more posi-tive thinking.
It does take practice and consistency. Don't expect to say a few positive statements for one day, and then expect to be transformed a few weeks later. The brain doesn't work that way. Besides, we have had a lifetime of negativity permeate our conscience that it's going to take more than a few sessions to break through.
Being skeptical will make it difficult to consistently use affirmations. This is especially true since they won’t start working until you have been prac-ticing them for a while. In our society of expectations for instant gratifi-cation, it’s simply easier to give up.
Start off your affirmations with simple statements. You could try, “I de-serve living a good life.” Or, you could make it even simpler by stating, “I am successful.” Sometimes, projecting what you want and acting as if it’s already happening can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you say you are successful, you will become successful by continually repeating this affirmation. If nothing else, ask yourself what can you lose? If it works, you have something you desire, i.e., a better life, etc. If it doesn’t, then you can continue living your life as you always had. But, do give it a try, and don’t give up too soon.
People find setting up a schedule for their affirmations works well for them. You will have to experiment to see if that works for you. There is no right or wrong answer. Sometimes, the hardest part is getting started. Pick two affirmations and use them for thirty days. Evaluate whether you feel different after consistently using these. If you still feel as though you haven’t changed, pick different affirmations for the next thirty days. Keep doing this until you feel positive changes are happening with your thoughts.
Steps to Break Through Your Fears
Our fears can be a big inhibitor of our success. We can have a fear of fail-ure, which causes us to never take risks. While not all risks are good, we have to take some to get ahead. There is also the fear of success, which can be even more debilitating because it tends to be subtle. When we get to the point where we are getting close to succeeding, we pull back out of fear of what lies ahead.
Sometimes, traumatic experiences can put up walls that keep us from succeeding. This is a difficult situation and can take a long time to over-come. Some people never get through it. Often, it’s because they don’t seek out some form of help. For some, simply talking to loved ones may work. For others, the trauma is so deep that they need professional help.
Most people fear the unknown. They have problems stepping outside their comfort zones because doing so exposes a part of them they may not be ready for. If you are offered a promotion at work, you may feel you are not ready. If this fear gets too strong, it can affect your ability to per-form well in the new job.
One way to break through your fears is to create a routine that includes the activities you fear. Remember when you first learned how to ride a bike. It may have taken you several tries. The concept is similar here. Set up a schedule for the activities you fear and give them a try. Allow your-self to fail as long as you give yourself permission to try it again the next day.
Talk to others who have gone through what you fear. Make it a routine to talk to different people. Ask them how they got through the fear. Most people will be glad to offer advice on how you can do the same. By setting up routines with the activities you fear, you start to break down your barriers within your mind. It is a process, and you will likely fail. When you get on a bike now, it’s second nature to ride it. This wasn’t always the case. You simply kept going with determination and what was difficult became easy over time. It’s the same with any fear. Keep working on it every day until it becomes second nature. After you master it, you will look back and wonder why you thought it was so diffi-cult.
Success Routines Begin with Belief
Before you set up any routines for success, you need to accept what you are doing and believe in yourself. For instance, if you are stuck in a dead-end job, and believe you should be doing something else, setting up rou-tines for success won’t help much. You need to evaluate whether you want to continue down that path or to seek alternatives.
Many people believe they have no choice and continue with their current situations. They feel their prospects are limited. Perhaps they didn’t go to college, or if they did, the degree they hold is no longer valid, etc. In most cases, however, the limiting beliefs are the only thing that is hold-ing them back.
This is especially the case with the internet. It’s never been easier to start a business online. Or, you can start a business helping offline and traditional businesses. You can train yourself in just about any subject. Creating a website can show potential customers you are serious about taking on this new business. This can be the answer to not having experi-ence.
Actively maintaining a website or blog can show potential employers your dedication towards your new career. So, even if you don’t want to start a new business, you can find a job in your new career by being proactive. Your blog becomes your proof of work. It also helps show yourself that you can do it, which strengthens your belief.
Once you have defined a new path, it will be much easier to come up with success routines to make it work. But, don’t do this alone. Read about others who have done what you are trying to accomplish. You can also find training modules online that can give you the right ways to get started. Many governments have divisions dedicated to helping citizens find work or create new businesses. There may even be funding available for you to tap into.
