Oh Those Pesky Bad Habits, Part I

One of the things I ask every new coaching client to examine is their everyday habits. Why? Basically because good habits strengthen and empower. Negative habits weaken and harm. While positive habits add to our lives, negative habits simply detract, derail and disempower us from truly living a quality life experience; physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. They are time wasters, energy "suckers" and affect us much more than we are consciously aware of.

Available in two flavors, positive and negative, and two sizes, small and large, we need habits to manage our lives effectively. Positive, daily living habits help simplify our lives and free up the thinking space in our brains to focus on "frying the bigger fish" that life and business serves up every day. Imagine how much time and energy would be consumed if you had to think through each and every step involved in such daily living habits as getting out of bed in the morning, brushing your teeth and drinking a cup of coffee. Time would be sucked up at an alarming rate and you'd make it to work by noon (if were lucky!) absolutely beat from all that thinking!

Now that I have your attention, I think this is a good place to throw in a few words about positive habits to give them equal billing! I promise this article is really about taking care of those irritating, time robbing negative habits. Just indulge me as I digress for a moment!

Have you ever heard someone say, "Well I just gotta do something to change this positive habit of mine?" My guess is no! Positive habits just don't grab our undivided attention in the same way as negatives ones do! Our modus operandi appears to be "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" . Yet we really do need to stop and take the time to conduct a "quality control inspection" of our positive habits. What we fail to realize is that we are missing a great opportunity. The chance to find out what really is working in our lives, what we do specifically that keeps it working for us and determining if there is room for improvement to make it even better. Creating a quality assurance program for your good habits actually can enhance your life tremendously!

Schedule some time to sit down and write out a list of all the positive habits you have from the tiniest one you can think of to the ones you are most proud of (these are often the ones that may have been negative habits in the past). This little exercise helps with developing the motivation towards tackling some of the less desirable habits you have and wish to change. Explore these good habits for clues!

Your next step: Read "Oh Those Pesky Bad Habits, Part II"

Copyright 1999 Dr. Sharon House, Master Certified Coachnnn