You don't need 21 days to change a bad habit. You need to just STOP and become acutely aware of what's happening and PURPOSELY look to do something differently.
People act like changing is a hard thing. It really isn't. It's a matter of how sick and tired are you of getting the same bad result?
Pictured above is me with a can of my favorite drink Red Bull! I freaking LOVE Red Bull. But the problem is that I don't need to be wasting money on Red Bull drinks when I go out.
I recognized my pattern of this spendy behavior right away. Whenever we go on a road trip or we’re going somewhere, we stop at a gas station and I get a Red Bull energy drink.
They just taste so damn good!
But it’s a bad habit to get engaged with feeling the need to buy Red Bull every time we stop at a gas station. I just don’t want to be spending that kind of money when I get gas.
So I decided to recognize my triggers, patterns and results and I got rid of that habit fairly quick. It’s hard… but I did it.
Another story I’ll give you is a story about how I had a problem with procrastination and consistency.
I used to be a HEAVY procrastinator. I’d leave hints to the very last minute and then whip up some work like a worker bee on steroids.
But it wasn’t until I lost my job in 2015 that I decided, “enough is enough.”
My friend Travis told me that people usually make a change out of inspiration or desperation.
And it holds true to EVERYTHING.
I made a change because I was desperate to achieve a different result in life. I desperately needed to succeed and I wanted to do something that was going to give me a much better and different result.
So I decided to do things completely different and take different actions.
That was it. It wasn’t an “Aha Moment.” It wasn’t like a beam of light came out of the sky and I was awakened. It was simply that I changed a few things and was purposeful about getting different results.
TRIGGERS
Do you know what triggers you to commit to your bad behavior? It’s usually your environment which then triggers your thoughts process to NEED something which ultimately makes you do the bad deed.
I used to know someone who said she needed to stop smoking. I’d tell her that you need to just recognize when you smoke, why you feel the need to do it and replace that set of behaviors with positive reinforcement.
This doesn’t mean that she would’ve magically kicked the habit of smoking but it most certainly means that she’s stopped and thought about what actually is triggering her need for a cig.
PATTERNS
Everything you do in this life has a consistent pattern. No matter how random you’d like to be or how spontaneous you think you are, everything you do has a rhythmic pattern.
When you understand your pattern of habits and when these things occur, you’ll have a higher awareness of how to identify when something will happen.
My smoker friend found herself smoking before she got into work and right after she got off work. It seemed as though it was a stress reliever of sorts. It’s not like she could smoke ON THE JOB as she never seemed to crave one during work.
This is significant because now she knows her pattern and when her bad habit is going to occur.
Being diligent about changing the pattern of actions and replacing the behaviors is the challenging part for most people.
The bad habits WILL ALWAYS give INSTANT GRATIFICATION whereas good habits produce DELAYED GRATIFICATION.
Since we live in a world of instant gratification, it’s hard for most people to wait just a little bit to get what they want.
RESULTS
This is where you can find out whether your habits are providing the feedback that's necessary to make progress in your life. You’re not going to solve all your problems in one day and you’re not always going to have all the solutions in one day.
The key is to MAKE PROGRESS.
Making progress means that you’re moving forward even though you haven’t reached your ultimate goal.
I told you about my bad habit that began last week. I will always want a tall, cold Red Bull whenever I stop at a gas station. But that’s one habit that I certainly do not want to allow to become a part of my life.
Are you having a hard time getting motivated to kick some bad habits? I’ve got 101 of my best and motivational quotes in an ebook on sale today! Buy it and use these quotes to get you working to superior levels and achieving superior results! ⤵️⤵️⤵️⤵️
Stay positive,
Fred
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