habits – Personal Growth Cafe

August 13, 2019March 26, 2018

Five Ways to Break a Bad Habit

Let’s face it: we all have a bad habit or two that we would like to get rid of!

Whether it be smoking, biting our nails, overeating, or a host of other afflictions, it may be easier to eliminate it than you imagine.

With a little perseverance, willpower, and determination, you can be free from that nasty little habit!

Here are five strategies that can help:

1. Commitment. Make sure this is something you truly want to accomplish.

It’s wonderful to “talk the talk,” but you’ll need to back that up by “walking the walk” as well.

Be honest with yourself.

Do you truly believe that this is the right time to kick your bad habit? Remember, it has to be done for the right reasons.

Don’t let yourself be pressured by others.

Search your soul and be certain you’re doing this for only one person – you!

It’s your time and energy you’ll be using to make your goal a reality, so make your decision carefully.

2. Start a journal. Jot down every time you practice your bad habit.

This isn’t to be used as a punishment, but to give you more of an idea when your undesired behavior is occurring, so that you can better devise ways to break it.

Include your thoughts and feelings that precede or accompany the behavior.

This can give you an idea if you’re doing this when you’re under stress, bored, tired, and so on.

Though it may seem time consuming at first, recording these thoughts and actions can be a wonderful tool to speed up your success in breaking the habit.

3. Choose an alternative behavior.

This behavior can either remind you of your desire to quit or be a permanent replacement of your bad behavior with a desirable one instead.

For example, a friend of mine once put a rubber band on her wrist when she was quitting smoking.

Each time she had the urge to light up a cigarette, she would snap the rubber band on her wrist instead.

Naturally, this was only temporary to remind her not to smoke.

Some more ideas are to take a walk, read a book, sing a song, or cook.

Any activity can be used as an alternative behavior.

Of course, you don’t want to replace one bad habit with another one, but anything that can redirect your focus works well.

4. Start a replacement schedule right away.

Start immediately replacing your bad habit with your alternative, but a gradual shift may work better for you than a complete change.

You may want to start with once a week, then maybe twice week, then three times, until you’re consistently practicing your alternative behavior instead of the bad habit.

Remember, this won’t happen overnight, so please practice patience.

People learn different behaviors at a different pace.

Don’t be discouraged if your best friend stopped smoking in three weeks and you’re on your fifth week and still craving a cigarette.

5. Don’t keep this a secret. If you’ve made the decision to break a habit, tell others.

This is the time when you need the support of your family and friends to help you be successful.

Whether you succeed or not, you’ve taken a major leap in a positive direction.

That’s why it’s so important to share what you hope to accomplish with family and friends.

Those who love you will be there to encourage you, offer support, and help you wherever they can.

Breaking a bad habit can be difficult, but it isn’t impossible.

Use these techniques to make your journey easier, then celebrate your accomplishment when you’ve succeeded – you deserve it!

How can you enlarge your vision today?

What are your plans for making your vision a reality?

Talk about that in the Personal Growth Cafe Community!

Also, as your gift for taking this to heart – and this is profoundly important… to us ALL – go to UnitingPlanetEarth.com/ignition/ and do the Uniting Planet Earth 7-Day Quick-Start Ignition Program… and Allow it to Transform Your Life.

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June 4, 2019March 22, 2018

My habits support my vision.

September 20, 2018January 31, 2018

I can neutralize bad habits with good food, exercise, and healthy living.

October 6, 2017October 10, 2017

I create positive habits in my life.

A habit is a pattern of behavior that is an automatic response or action. This happens after doing a particular routine for a length of time until it becomes natural.

I have had many habits in my lifetime. Today, I choose to create constructive and positive habits.

By focusing on healthy and productive routines each day, I begin to create positive habits. Nourishing my body with healthy foods every morning is a healthy habit I maintain each day.

Setting aside time each day for self-reflection and prayer has also become a positive habit in my life.

My character is made stronger by positive habits. These habits have become a part of me. I am a stronger and healthier person because of my healthy routines.

I continue to create healthy behaviors and habits leading to my positive transformation and growth. I become healthier as I practice my healthy routines.

Today, I honor my existing positive habits and continue them because they are a part of who I am.

I create more positive behaviors and continue doing so until they also are a part of who I am. In doing so, my patterns of behavior continue to be constructive and healthy.

What are your healthiest habits?

How have you created new positive habits?

Talk about that in the Personal Growth Cafe Community!

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August 30, 2017September 26, 2017

Seven Habits – Seven Days: Boost Your Self-Confidence in One Week

The benefits of a healthy amount of self-confidence are many. When you’re self-assured, it’s easier to achieve your goals, others are naturally drawn toward your charisma, and you feel more comfortable in any situation.

Life is easier with self-confidence. Do you wish you had greater self-confidence?

Luckily, increased self-confidence is just a week away!

Add these easy habits to your daily routines and feel the difference:

1. Be a sharp dresser.

Wearing torn, old, or faded clothes negatively affects your confidence. Research shows that dressing well can boost your self-esteem.

* You don’t have to spend an enormous amount of money on expensive designer outfits. When shopping, be frugal but buy nice clothes. You’ll have fewer items of clothing, but the ones you have will bring you confidence each time you leave the house. The key is how you feel in an outfit.

2. Think positive.

Each time you notice a negative thought about yourself, switch your focus to something more positive. Negative thoughts drain your self-confidence.

* For example, if you have a thought about not accomplishing all of your goals, you can counter it with what you have accomplished. Have ready answers for any negativity.

3. Speak slower.

This may seem like a strange way to increase your confidence, but research shows that those who have higher self-esteem talk slower. Learn to speak slower and pause more often. Your words matter and you don’t have to rush them to express yourself.

* People who are not confident in their words or themselves tend to speak very fast.

4. Volunteer more often.

Volunteering can raise your confidence levels in multiple ways:

* Volunteering can increase your skills.

* It can show you that others value your work and ideas.

* It can also help you understand your strengths and weaknesses.

* It gives you the ability to give back and earn gratitude from others. You’ll feel better and appreciate life more.

5. Start a healthy habit.

A healthy habit such as exercising on the weekends or eating a fruit at breakfast is an excellent way to boost your self-esteem. You’ll be able to feel confident that you’re following through with your goals.

6. Focus on your body language.

Are you scared to raise your head and look people in the eye? Are you frightened to stand up straight and walk with confidence? Your body language shows the world your confidence – or lack of it.

* Mimic strong body language even if you’re not feeling confident. By looking more confident, you’ll start to feel this way.

7. Make lists.

There are several types of lists you can make to increase confidence:

* The first is a list of your accomplishments. Dig deep and include all of the rewards, ribbons, and other prizes you’ve won. Include things from both the past and present on this list.

* The second list is the things that you’re grateful for right now. This list will show you that you have many things in your life that matter and make you happy.

* Post your lists in a prominent place in your home so you can see them on a consistent basis. If you incorporate these habits into your daily routines, you’ll enjoy increased self-confidence very quickly. The longer you follow these strategies, the greater your new-found confidence will grow.

How does self confidence help in your life?

How can these habits be useful in your life?

Talk about that in the Personal Growth Cafe Community!

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June 13, 2012June 18, 2012

How to Use Habits to Reach Your Goals

One of the keys to reaching a new goal is to have habits in place that support that goal. If your current habits are counter-productive, you’ll need to change them or run the risk of coming up short.

How do habits help you reach your goals?

Suppose you have the goal of running a marathon: if you don’t already have the habit of running regularly, you’re unlikely to be successful until you can adopt that habit. Running regularly can help you attain your goal in several ways, including getting you in great physical shape and strengthening your endurance.

Developing supportive habits can be easier than you think and far more powerful than you can imagine!

Identify the Habits You Need

Before you create new, positive habits, you’ll want to figure out which habits will help you attain your goals. For every goal, there are habits that can practically guarantee success. Reflect on your goals and what actions you can take to help bring them about.

Consider these attributes for the habits you want to implement:

Look for daily habits. Habits you practice each day are much easier to put into place and keep than those that are less frequent.
Keep it simple. The more complex the task, the less likely you are to stick with it. If you really do need to implement a complex habit, start with a simpler version and then add more complexity later.
Be specific. It’s not enough to just specify what you’re going to do; include the how, when, and where as well. Time is always critical when creating a new habit. Be sure to specify a precise period of time in which you wish to implement the new actions.

So “I’m going to exercise 1 hour per day” is inadequate. “I’m going to swim from 6-7 am, Monday through Friday at the YMCA” is more like it. This has enough detail to be quite clear about what you want to accomplish and includes the how, when and where.

Prepare for Interference

There are usually obstacles to creating new habits and behavioral patterns. Try to figure out these possibilities ahead of time so you can eliminate them as soon as possible.

For example, if you’ve decided that you’re going to eat a healthy breakfast every day, get rid of all the breakfast junk food in your pantry and freezer. That junk food is an obstacle to successfully implementing your habit.

The obstacle might be time interference. Maybe your partner doesn’t usually leave you alone for 30 minutes every night so you can meditate, write, read, or whatever it is you want to do towards your goal. Simply let them know ahead of time that you need be undisturbed during this time.

Look for More Supporting Habits

When you determine supporting habits that will help you reach your goal, consider going even deeper into the details to find habits that will help you accomplish your other new habits.

For example, if one of your new habits is to make it to the gym every morning by 6:00 am, you can develop several supporting habits to help you establish this habit, such as:

Get out of bed by 5:15 am.
In order to get up at 5:15 am each day, you might need an additional habit of always being in bed by 10:00 pm.
Another supporting habit might be to pack your gym bag the night before.

These supporting habits are monumentally important. Take time to think about what additional habits you can develop to support your efforts.

Enjoy Automatic Success

Once an action becomes a habit, you’ll do it automatically, without having to make the decision to do it each time. In other words, you’ll automatically move forward, day after day, toward achieving your goal until you reach it.

Just as counter-productive habits can keep you from success, supportive habits can practically guarantee your victory. So consider the habits that will best support your goals, put them into action on a daily basis, and enjoy your new success!

Make sure you’re effectively using your power to manifest everything you want. Do the “Crash Course on Creating Your Ideal Life” video training for free at the Personal Growth Cafe.