Turn Your Habits into "Have-its"
| Category: Personal Development For Marketeers | Date: 2002-05-02 |
When you hear the word "habit", what kind of image comes to mind? Is it negative or positive? Chances are, if you are like most people, the image that comes to mind is negative. You see a picture of a person who indulges in various excessive behaviors. Bad habits are easy to spot. They can destroy bodies and businesses.
In networking, it is the not so obvious habits that can keep most from achieving success. Solomon said, "Catch us the foxes. The little foxes that spoil the vine." You see, "little foxes" destroy grape vines by chewing them off at the root. Indeed, it's the "little foxes" or seemingly small habits, that cut the "vine" of success off at the root. Procrastination, watching too much TV,taking too much "time off" are all habits that can derail your business before it ever gets off the ground.
There have been many books, talks and tapes on the subject of "The habits of highly successful people." In a nutshell, they all say the same thing, "Look at what successful people do consistently, develop those habits and success will come your way." In other words, if you spend more time developing good habits, the bad ones will give way. Accentuate the positive!
A habit is like a winter coat, It is something you either put on or take off, depending on the situation. Obviously, if it's 20 degrees outside, you need that coat, but if it's 80 you don't. A habit is the same way. If it's killing or stunting the growth of your business, you need to take it off. If it will make you successful, you need to put it on. So how do you change? It's actually very simple. Do an examintation and make the appropriate changes. Here are the steps to follow when turning habits into have-its.
1. Identify: Examine your life and determine what negative habits are holding you back. Is it procrastination? Watching too much TV? Fear? Also look at what positive habits you must develop that will make you successful. Is it making more contacts? Using your products? Following the system? Negative habits have to go! Positive habits must be developed and strengthened.
2. List: On a piece of paper, make two columns and list all of your habits, negative and positive. Then prioritize them according to which ones you feel your business would benefit most from developing or losing. This list should include any personal traits that you feel project a poor image.
3. Commit to change: Once you have identified the habits you need to change, begin the process. It is not a good thing to try to change everything at once, so look at your prioritized list and pick the one or few that you are going to work on first. You will find that there are things you should learn NOT to do and some you must learn TO do. Bear in mind, that depending on what "expert" you listen to, it takes from 21 to 30 days to develop or break a habit. Therefore, when you've identified the habit(s) you are going to work on, be prepared to make at least a 30 day commitment to your changed life pattern. Once the new habit is developed, it is no longer something you work on, but something that just happens, every day.
3. Reward: Once your habit of success has been developed, you will begin to see the reward for your hard work. Enjoy it, but don't get lazy and complacent.
4. New Action (Continued growth): Go back through your list and identify the next most important habit(s) you must develop, and begin working on them. If you sit back and wallow in the reward stage, you'll never go any farther.
In summary, developing successful habits is a repeating process. You must constantly identify, commit to change and receive the reward. If you concentrate on changing all your habits to successful ones, then you will change your life pattern of habits into "have-its"!
Cathy Fothergill, Copyright 1999, revised 2000
About the Author
Article by: Cathy Fothergill, Copyright 1998. More articles and resources for writers, webmasters and home business owners can be found at: connectionteam.com Need edification, information and motivation for yourself and your team? Subscribe to: You Plus Two! YouPlusTwo-subscribe@topica.com
micorcat@livingston.net
http://www.connectionteam.com
In networking, it is the not so obvious habits that can keep most from achieving success. Solomon said, "Catch us the foxes. The little foxes that spoil the vine." You see, "little foxes" destroy grape vines by chewing them off at the root. Indeed, it's the "little foxes" or seemingly small habits, that cut the "vine" of success off at the root. Procrastination, watching too much TV,taking too much "time off" are all habits that can derail your business before it ever gets off the ground.
There have been many books, talks and tapes on the subject of "The habits of highly successful people." In a nutshell, they all say the same thing, "Look at what successful people do consistently, develop those habits and success will come your way." In other words, if you spend more time developing good habits, the bad ones will give way. Accentuate the positive!
A habit is like a winter coat, It is something you either put on or take off, depending on the situation. Obviously, if it's 20 degrees outside, you need that coat, but if it's 80 you don't. A habit is the same way. If it's killing or stunting the growth of your business, you need to take it off. If it will make you successful, you need to put it on. So how do you change? It's actually very simple. Do an examintation and make the appropriate changes. Here are the steps to follow when turning habits into have-its.
1. Identify: Examine your life and determine what negative habits are holding you back. Is it procrastination? Watching too much TV? Fear? Also look at what positive habits you must develop that will make you successful. Is it making more contacts? Using your products? Following the system? Negative habits have to go! Positive habits must be developed and strengthened.
2. List: On a piece of paper, make two columns and list all of your habits, negative and positive. Then prioritize them according to which ones you feel your business would benefit most from developing or losing. This list should include any personal traits that you feel project a poor image.
3. Commit to change: Once you have identified the habits you need to change, begin the process. It is not a good thing to try to change everything at once, so look at your prioritized list and pick the one or few that you are going to work on first. You will find that there are things you should learn NOT to do and some you must learn TO do. Bear in mind, that depending on what "expert" you listen to, it takes from 21 to 30 days to develop or break a habit. Therefore, when you've identified the habit(s) you are going to work on, be prepared to make at least a 30 day commitment to your changed life pattern. Once the new habit is developed, it is no longer something you work on, but something that just happens, every day.
3. Reward: Once your habit of success has been developed, you will begin to see the reward for your hard work. Enjoy it, but don't get lazy and complacent.
4. New Action (Continued growth): Go back through your list and identify the next most important habit(s) you must develop, and begin working on them. If you sit back and wallow in the reward stage, you'll never go any farther.
In summary, developing successful habits is a repeating process. You must constantly identify, commit to change and receive the reward. If you concentrate on changing all your habits to successful ones, then you will change your life pattern of habits into "have-its"!
Cathy Fothergill, Copyright 1999, revised 2000
About the Author
Article by: Cathy Fothergill, Copyright 1998. More articles and resources for writers, webmasters and home business owners can be found at: connectionteam.com Need edification, information and motivation for yourself and your team? Subscribe to: You Plus Two! YouPlusTwo-subscribe@topica.com
micorcat@livingston.net
http://www.connectionteam.com
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