Life Coaching Tip For Changing Habits - Part 2

So then following on from yesterdays post, how do you form new thoughts or more to the point how do you maintain them?

 

Firstly, you have to want to change. By that I mean it’s not usually enough to want to want to, you need to actually want to. Make sense? What do you mean no? Ok, seeing as it’s you and you are having a tough day I’ll explain what I mean.

 

People often come to me and say they want to give up smoking. I then ask them why? Usually that generates a look of horror akin to if I’d asked them if they could spare a kidney seeing as they have an extra one there is a positive reason why we undertake any action even if sometimes it isn’t immediately apparent, and that goes for smoking too. Until you accept that there is an upside to a habit that you’d like to break then you will struggle with breaking it because you are in conflict with your unconscious mind. After all, if there really were no upside you wouldn’t do it. So you may want to give up because you know it’s healthier to not smoke but that is wanting to want to. A real desire to stop is a different proposition altogether and most people recognize it when they feel it.

There are numerous ways to try breaking habits including timeline therapy, hypnotherapy, acupuncture etc but if you also use the following process you will infinitely improve your chances of success.
First and foremost, tell set a date for your new behavior to start. Write it down in your planner and stick to it.
Tell everybody and anybody that means anything o you what you are planning to do and back yourself so far into a corner that the merest indiscretion will cause severe discomfort.
Stat talking in positive language. You are not trying to give u, you have given up. You’re not trying to lose weight you are moving towards your target weight. Just dump the word try!
Make a list of what you have to gain from quitting and post it where you see it everyday.
Make a list of what you have to lose if you fail and promise that you will read it whenever you feel the urge to backslide.
Visualize yourself every night as the person that you want to be. Do this before you even start the change process. See what you would look like. Hear what you would sound like and feel what you would feel like. Really take time to savoir the new you!
Finally, if you slide back use that as a learning experience and not an excuse to beat yourself up. Look at why you had a brief slip and start again even more determined to be the person you want to be!

 

 

Keep in mind is that 90 day period that you are aiming for. Far too many people fall back just when they are about to breakthrough but I know you’re the kind of person that would do that, right? ;-)

Enjoyed this post? Please share it!

Digg it | Stumble it |

 

Comments are closed.