How to Change Habits

On Sunday 30/3/2014 we had a very useful discussion regarding managing CHANGE in life. The subject was how to inculcate good habits and how to ward off, the bad ones. Each participant was advised to identify 10 good habits of their friends, colleagues or of family members which each wanted to imbibe in their own personality.

At the same time they were also asked to identify 5 bad habits of their own which each wanted to give up. Besides, what efforts have been made so far to give up the bad habits were also to be explained? Since it was a Speech Training Session, the participants were supposed to detail clearly each point with examples.  These examples could be chosen from their own lives or those of others known to them. A heartwarming open and interesting discussion led to a number of conclusions.

First of all it’s necessary to understand how habits work. A habit is a kind of repetitive behavior for which you don’t think. You don’t have to apply your mind to check up anything before you take action. Let’s examine with some examples. If you wake up at a particular time, you don’t need any alarm to remind you. Taking bath and getting ready is also done as a matter of habit. If you were to check the time you take for getting ready everyday it will be more or less the same.  Taking your breakfast fast is also a habit which need consistent efforts to bring about the desired change.



Does it mean that we cannot change our habit/habits which we want to change? No, it doesn’t. We certainly can with required will and efforts. However some habits can be changed by once own efforts, where as some others require professional help. But in both the situations one needs to adopt a systematic approach. First of all we must state clearly what new habit we want to adopt. It’s always better to write in your journal in clear terms. For example, if you have wanted to go for a morning walk but habitually you get up late, you can change this habit. After writing in your journal about your decision to start doing for a morning walk regularly you must fix up the date for starting. The first few days you may have to use the alarm which will wake you up at a particular time. It’s necessary not to laze around after the alarm. Just get ready and go for a walk. It is said that it is normally take 21 days to form a habit.

Now I give another example. If you suffer from stage fright and you cannot speak to a group by standing up, you need a professional help. You also require a firm determination that you will overcome the stage fright because it is impeding your progress. Further, you must carefully select the professional. It is like going to the right doctor for getting the ailment eliminated. With appropriate efforts and continuous practice one can definitely overcome the bane of stage fright. In today’s environment, it is necessary. In colleges you have to give presentations, and wherever you work, once you are in a senior position, you need to give presentations to your bosses.



Even if you are an entrepreneur and doing your own business, you need to motivate your staff and for this also you need great confidence. Besides, you must not have any fear of facing the people from the stage.
In my next posting we will take up how to form some other good habits.

Thank you for reading.

Power of Social Media

Social media as it is commonly known is the virtual platform where lots of people are found at the one place. Think of a busy railway platform or an airport waiting lounge for that matter. Lots of people gather there waiting for their train or flight. Availability at one place of a class of people who travel either by train or by flight is an opportunity. It is for the media specialist to use this opportunity. To use the opportunity to say something, to communicate to the gathering. The opportunity can be used to influence people, to enable them to know about the products an advertiser wants to sell. There comes the media man who is the go between. And we see lots of hoardings, glow signs etc. at this places.



Both these places -  the airport and the railway station have some limitations. The number of people found together on these sides will be limited. So there can be limited opportunity to influence the gatherings. There are two types of gatherings – those who travel by train and those who travel by air. Depending on the advertiser’s product profile outdoor media can be sold to the specific advertiser. Prospective users profile gets defined.
  

Now, let us look at the virtual platforms or the social media. There are no limits.  No limit of space, the town / city or country, and no limit of cast, creed or race. Yet visitors to these virtual places can be grouped. By their likes and dislikes, by their age, by their educational aspirations, professions, hobbies etc.  Because the virtual space has no limits the social media is growing exponentially. The growth of the social media is its growing power. So its no wonder that Facebook bought What’s App at an astronomically high price.



Now, with the hand held devices its accelerated development and pervasive nature is its natural attribute. So be prepared to spend more time on social media.

Thanks for reading,