Breaking Habits is too Hard!

I have heard women say” this is how I am!” If you are Happy that is wonderful!

Congratulations. You are among the few who can say that most of us are struggling in one or several life areas such as Health, Romance, Career, Money, and Family Relationships.

Our habits are either helping these areas or hurting them, we all have habits: good, bad, and ugly.

Habits are a fundamental part of human existence; they become ingrained after years of doing the same things over and over again. Breaking habits is a journey of self-discovery. They put boundaries on our days and give us a structure to work within, sometimes to our detriment. They put boundaries on our days and give us a structure to work within, sometimes to our detriment.

Habits are what you do every day from the time you wake up, till the time you go to sleep and they can be hard to change; even when they do not serve you and are causing so many problems in your life.

We have to be conscious of their existence first and then observe them see what effects they are having on our lives. If you choose to focus on your habit by putting in the appropriate time and energy, you can change them.

Habits can cause unnecessary stress in your life. 

NOTE: Your Habits are either bringing you joy or pain so NOW is the time to make a CHANGE this Workbook will help you do that CLICK HERE for more info.

Once you discover what your habits are then you have to consider if they are preventing you from getting what you really want. But first, you have to know what you really want and most of us do not know what that is. If, after your evaluation, you decide that you need to change one or two of your habits, the following tips will help.

 Tips for Breaking Habits:

1. List your known bad habits. Open your Companion Journal and write down all your discovered behaviors then put a C next to the ones you want to change.

2. Pick only two to work on at a time so you don’t get overwhelmed.

• If you find that two is too much, then just do one; preferably the one that’s causing the most damage in your life. Next, write down why you need to change that particular habit.
• For example, maybe there has been a project that you have been wanting to complete but you do other things instead and never get to it.
• So your habit is avoidance and procrastination. Why are you avoiding this project? If you can figure that out then you are on your way to changing this habit. 
• Learned from life’s lessons by right down your past mistakes so you won’t repeat them. 

3. Now that you are consciously aware of a particular habit that is holding you back from getting things done. The next step is:

• So in the case of avoidance and procrastination, when you want to accomplish a particular task, schedule a time to start working on it and give yourself a deadline date.
• For instance, for the next three Saturdays from 2 to 4, you will organize your closets, do one task toward completing a project or write one page of your new novel.
• Make sure you complete your task by your deadline rather than constantly pushing it back.
• If you are still struggling with this habit, then a deeper evaluation will be necessary.
• Counseling or coaching is usually helpful at this point because behaviors that you are not aware of can be pointed out to you.
• If you procrastinate then you may be afraid of failure or more likely success. Perhaps you need a stronger motivator to get you to follow through on what you desire. 
• Ask yourself if what you are doing is really being fueled by an inner passion or something someone else wants you to do.

4. Get motivated!

• Finding the motivation to eliminate or change habits may be difficult, however, think about it this way, if your life is not going the way you want it to, then something must change.
• If you want to lose weight, in most cases there are only two ways: change your eating habits and start exercising.
• A lot of people have health problems related to weight but that is not enough motivation for some to change their habits.
• Don’t let illness be the motivator because then it may be too late to make the necessary changes to save your life.
• You have all the power you need inside you just have to decide to access it.

5. Be Patient.

• Realize that change happens over time; there is no quick fix.
• Yet in order for that change to happen, you need to work on it daily.
• That’s why I suggest you only pick one thing so you will not get overwhelmed.
• Being overwhelmed may cause some people to throw in the towel, if this happens, life can become very stressful as your unhealthy habits take their toll.

Habits control our lives and as humans, we have a tendency to justify our habits so that we don’t have to deal with them or change them. If you can find a good enough excuse that will solve the problem at least on the surface, you will continue that habit.

But, unfortunately, habits have unforeseen long-term consequences that may not show up for years.

For example, some people have a smoking habit and for years there are no consequences until one day a cough starts.  Once a cough becomes painful and they visit the doctor only to discover there is a serious problem.

Habits dictate our successes and failures in life and affect us in ways we cannot possibly imagine. Habit programming is hidden deep within, automatically driving our behaviors without us ever having to think about it.

So what habit are you ready to break?