Five Ways to Break 10 Bad Habits

Bad Habits 

Nearly everyone has a bad habit that they should break. Some people have less than others and some people’s bad habits are more grating than those of others.  Bad habits like excessive drinking, smoking, biting the fingernails, etc., starts slowly and gradually. They jeopardize your health — both physically and mentally thereby wasting your time and energy. 

Bad habits are hard to give up, they are like a comfortable bed, easy to get into, but hard to get out off.  However, you can achieve anything with the right amount of willpower and a realistic plan of action. With persistence and right mind-sets, it's possible to break your bad habits.    

Here are some ideas for breaking your bad habits

1.       Change one thing at a time

It is most important that you don’t try to break all your bad habits, at once. You’re not a superhuman and trying to quit all your bad habits at the same time is probably going to be hard to achieve. Instead, prioritize and choose the habit that you need to change most urgently and then focus on that accordingly.   

2.       Prepare for weak moments

A positive mindset is significant but if you’re not prepared for those weak moments this can be a biggest mistake. Try to remove temptations as that can help you prepare for those weak moments. For instance, clear the cupboards of junk food, keep some distance from friends who encourage you to smoke/ drink and avoid stressful situations.     

        

3.       Set regular reminders

Bad habits are often so deeply ingrained in us that sometimes they can catch us unexpectedly. To help prevent those accidental slip-ups, try setting yourself regular reminders to resist those bag habits.   

4.       Reward your success

The key to breaking bad habits is to make the process as rewarding and enjoyable, as possible. If you are facing difficulty focusing on the long-term benefits of breaking bad habits, then arrange small rewards for yourself as you go along to help keep you motivated. 

5.       Remind yourself why you’re breaking those habits

In order to successfully break a bad habit, you have to be sure of your reason for breaking those habits. Find a solid reason for breaking your habit that really means something to you – such as improving your health, relationship or appearance – and keep your goal in sight. This will help you to carry on and stay strong in moments of weakness. 

10 habits you must quit to be happy

When you quit doing the bad things, you make more room for the things that make you happy. Aristotle, a great philosopher once said, “we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act, but a habit”. However, here are 10 habits that you need to give up in exchange for your happiness.  

• Quit procrastinating on your goals
• Quit talking down to yourself 
• Quit blaming others and making excuses 
• Quit trying to control the uncontrollable
• Quit criticizing others
• Quit trying to avoid change 
• Quit running from your problems and fears
• Quit trying to be someone you’re not
• Quit living in another time and place
• Quit being  ungrateful

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Enemies of Happiness- Procrastination

Procrastination is the bane of life. It is a major problem. The procrastinator losses perspective. He/she tends to do unimportant tasks because either they are easy or to his/her liking. In any case this is a bad habit which must be eradicated all together.

 

Normally one tends to postpone difficult and time consuming projects. In case the project is likely to take a long time you need to decide that you must make a beginning. Long ago I had listen to a training tape where the trainer said that in such cases use ‘Salami Technique.’ Further he described when you look at the Salami it is very unappetizing to look at. But if you cut it into smaller slices it becomes quite palatable. Similarly if we break a daunting task in small pieces we can handle the small parts of the problem and solve it using this piecemeal approach. The best suggestion is that you focus on starting the project rather than thinking about how it is going to be finished.

 

Another suggestion is that you decide that you will devote only 10 minutes on the tasks which you have been postponing. Spend these 10 minutes. You may note down the steps that you are likely to follow. At the end of 10 minutes you should write it down when you’re going to spend next 10 minutes on the same job. Deciding and spending just 10 minutes will not create any kind of pressure in your mind. And that is the best way to handle the job which you have been postponing. After completing every bit of it you can pat your back with any such thing that you love to do. May be listening to your favorite music, watching a TV show, or any such thing. This will reinforce your good habit of taking on the difficult, challenging projects and delivering results with confidence.

 

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Enemies of Happiness 2

Yesterday I had talked about 8 enemies of happiness which resides in human’s body or soul. I had detailed 4 out of these that is anger, fear, jealousy and indecision. If you have contemplated as suggested, am confident that you would have found sufficient relevance of this discussion. Today I shall talk about attachment, hesitation, procrastination and greed. These are also happiness spoilers. Greed if goes unrefined, can cause disaster.

Attachment: Bhagwad Gita advises that any human should not be attached to anything. By attachment I mean you should never have such proximity that separation to that particular object may cause distress. Change is the law of Nature. Everything changes. These changes are bound to bring some objects (including people) close to you and some other away from you. In both situations you have to maintain your poise realizing that this is how life is. It was like this. It is so now. And it will remain the same in all times to come. So for our own happiness we can start practicing non attachment.

 

Hesitation: Hesitation for anything must be avoided. Your expression is important. If you hesitate to express or to take any action, the opportunity lost will never come back.

 

Procrastination: It is malady which inflicts some of us. Postponing tasks or decisions do not allow one to grow. Self esteem is lost and guilt inside the mind grows. Therefore it’s best to eradicate the habit of procrastination.

 

Greed: Greed grows like cancerous cells. Ambition is not greed so therefore both these terms must be understood in their proper perspective. Without ambition you tend not to set your goals and follow them. But greed of any kind mostly takes human to a disasters end. In life, we have example of Hitler. In literature, we have example of Macbeth. The character of Macbeth in Shakespearean play by the same name is nothing but an embodiment of Greed. So banish Greed, altogether!

 

In my next posting I shall talk about ‘Enemies of Happiness’ outside.

Thanks for reading.

Importance of Time Management

The only asset that has been equally distributed to all human being is ‘Time’. Sadly its importance in life is not realized by everyone. But the people who utilize time fully are the ones who are leaders in their respective fields. In fact a good leader will have time for everything that is important to his enterprise.

 

The first step to utilize this fleeting asset is to understand time and how one uses it. The best way to do this is to have periodic time log. Time log will tell you specifically how you spend your time. It will also clearly show where you disburse time more than necessary and where you squeeze more activities due to paucity of leftover time.

 

Let’s take an example of the student giving an important exam. Often times we find the student who doesn’t score marks as per expectation is the one who is unable to make the best use of available time. He/she spends more time on some questions in the beginning. The later questions where adequate time is not available suffer and therefore bring lesser marks.

Likewise in life if we don’t prioritize and plan time; time does not give its full value. In fact a leader should divide his time for various groups of activities in the ratio as under.

Group A	Routine Activities	15 %
Group B	Activities concerning ongoing projects	25%
Group C	Personal development, planning new projects and such enhancement activities	60%

Normally it is seen that routine activities takes 60%, ongoing project 25% and new developments only 15%. This is a serious flaw which the leader should correct by whatever it takes.

Some time ago I had read a novel named ‘Time must have a stop’. The characters suffer because time does not stop.

 

The lesson is learned but through a very hard way.

 

Procrastination and indecision are the two main culprits largely responsible for misuse of time. A leader obviously cannot afford to do this. Therefore he/she must be very decisive. Procrastination, word itself should not be available in his book. Prioritizing should be a matter of habit in all aspects of life be it work, home, hobby or social interactions.

Furthermore, everyone needs to empower himself/herself regarding management of time through training periodically.

 

 

 Modern time planners.

Thanks for reading.