How To Change Bad Habits

Let's say you have a bad habit. You continually do the bad habit. Your bad habit is cemented in. What do you say to yourself about the bad habit? *That's just the way I am.* *I'll never change.* *This is the way my life will be from now on.* *I can't change. This is how my friends see me. If I change they won't like me anymore.* Well, if that last one is throwing you, you need to think about it and decide what really is important. That you keep your bad habit and your friends, or you change your habit and take a chance on your friends.

Regardless, if you can think, you can change.

Liken yourself to an old plow horse. The plow horse went down the row every day. He didn't stop until he came to the end. When he came to the end, he turned around and went back the same way. There was no changing that plow horse. That was the way he was.

Well, one day, the farmer bought a new acreage. For whatever reason, it was longer. The first day, the plow horse would start to turn around early, so the farmer saw that he had to take control. He had to keep the plow horse going until he got to the end. Every day the farmer had to go out and walk the plow horse all the way to the end, then turn him around, walk him to the other end, and repeat the process.

The farmer had to do it for how long? Just until the plow horse caught on. Once the plow horse got into the habit of going until he reached the end of the new acreage, he did it.

Think of your brain as the plow horse, yourself as the farmer. If you want to stop a bad habit, you need to stop it and replace it with a good habit. If you habitually reached for a second brownie, now habitually reach for a glass of water. If you habitually reached for a cigarette, habitually reach for a glass of water. Whatever you habitually reach for that is bad for you, substitute habitually reaching for something that is good for you.

If you have a bad habit of putting your middle finger up when you are angry, habitually put up your whole hand and just look at it. Make a point to habitually smile at it.

If you have a bad habit of saying bad words that are out of your mouth before you realize it, add to them. They are already out there in the air, just continue going. Start out with adding tometooandjumparope. Then get creative, so much so that the word or words are already covered up and no one knows what they were in the first place.

If you have a bad habit of hitting people, even in jest, make it a point to hit *air.* Decide now you are never going to hit people again. Make it a habitual habit never to hit people again.

Take this NLP Technique of the Week and use it to your advantage. See all the great things you can bring into your life, and share that knowledge with others. Let me know how it works at mailto:jan@tameyourbrain.com nn~~~~~~~~~
Copyright 2001, Jan Tincher, All Rights Reserved Worldwiden---------------------------------------------------------------
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