Is your habit a hurdle in your success?

Written by our GBO Hong Kong Member Shalini Bindal, Professional Certified Coach (PCC – ICF). https://www.kaleidoscope-workshops.com

While it’s worthwhile to have our habits under control irrespective of whether we are self-employed or not, when one is an entrepreneur, changing habits has an additional reason which goes beyond just being self-disciplined.

As entrepreneurs, we are the ones who decide how we organise our day and how we spend our time and energy. With great flexibility comes great responsibility. It’s no longer just about meeting targets and deadlines set by someone else or for someone else; there is so much more. The more you give to your enterprise, the more you get. And then there are other pillars of life one needs to take care of too. As an entrepreneur, it’s not about changing a habit, it’s about becoming the person you want to be. It’s about giving the world what it needs. It’s about realising your dreams.?

Most articles and books talk about similar things when it comes to changing habits: make it a part of your routine, do it consistently and do it for a few weeks. Bang! The change is yours.?

Logically speaking, this should work. However, my personal experiments and professional experience as a coach, tell a different story. Even after deliberate practice and conscious efforts, very few changes stick. The moment one lets their guard down, old habit comes rushing back. To create sustainable change, we need more than just automatically doing something.

Research has shown, humans are emotional beings. When we set “dry” or quantitative targets such as a number of days or lists of things to replace a habit, they feel like data to our brain. It’s boring.?

On the other hand, when we can tell a story of what we desire, who we are as a person and how we want to be perceived by others, such narratives enraptures us, motivates us and drives us to go over and beyond our self-imposed limits.

So, the KEY to changing a habit is to link it to a strong desire that you have. If you can make that connection, routine and deliberate practice will follow effortlessly. When practicing something becomes effortless, it easily fits into a routine and ends up becoming sustainable.

If you have started on a habit-change mission, here is a quick self-test for you to check if your change will be sustainable and change into a new behaviour. All that you have to do is ask yourself:

What desire will I be fulfilling when I change this habit??

As you answer, notice how detailed your answer is. What kind of energy do you feel as you answer? Are you able to visualise the new you? The more detailed and visual your answer is, the higher the chances you will be consistent despite hurdles, temptations, and failures. This is how new habits and behaviours are built and sustained.?

Bringing about change in habit means changing an existing behaviour. The old habit was not created in a day or two. We would have done it enough number of times to create neural pathways in our brain, mapping out an autopilot reaction. We continue with this route because it’s easy, regardless of whether it’s right or wrong.?

To change this and create new positive behaviours, trials and failures should be expected. As the new habits start shaping, new neural pathways will start forming. The narrative you create for yourself gives you the willpower and drive to achieve the success you wish to achieve.?

Each time a temptation strikes and wants to take you back to your old habit, remind yourself why you’re doing this, get up, dust yourself off, and try again! Little by little, you will begin to improve. In six months, you will look back and be amazed by how far you’ve come.?

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Photo Credits: John Cameron, Tengyart and Nick Fewings on Unsplash