Posts Tagged ‘creating habits’

I have a cat that bites me every time my hand gets near her head, sometimes daily. Her name is Gracie, and I put up with this because she is special, in that she’s been abused.

Gracie found us as an adult, hungry and cold. I saw her sleeping in a corner of the barn on the concrete floor. She seemed to be tame and very sweet, thin; obviously abandoned. The biting thing took me totally by surprise, and drew blood. But when you look closely, you can see she’s blind in one eye, and both ears look to be shaped by pinking shears. Small wonder. This had to have been done to her as a docile kitten, and it kills me.

So, I take my chances. Every day, Gracie rubs my knee as I kneel down to feed her. Staying glued to my leg, she looks up at me sweetly with her one eye, and purrs as I pet her back and stomach. But if I forget and get too close to her head, she gets me every time. And then she draws back and looks to say “Are you going to make me leave now?”

Like Gracie, we all such creatures of habit. While Gracie will probably never change, sometimes I think it’s just as hard for us humans. Ideas are introduced or episodes occur in childhood that we never forget. They replay over and over, even though we may not realize it. This affects how we think and who we chose to be around as adults.

So the question of the day is, what are you replaying in your head that is holding you back from your goals?

Was it your idea, or someone else’s? And, is it really the truth?

It’s interesting to me that one would not think of letting someone else come into their house with a big green garbage bag and dump it all over the living room floor.

Yet we let other’s “dump” into our brains, almost on a daily basis. I’m not necessarily talking about the wealth of people on the internet, although it certainly applies. This is a little more targeted, although it does include our internet friends.

The five people we interact with every single day, that are in our “circle” have the greatest influence on our success or lack of it. People we work with, we live with, we listen to, we visit.

“Well, you know that’ll never work…”
“Total waste of time.”
“No one’s doing that…”
“It’s always been done this way.”
“You can’t…”
“It’s not…”

This can be family members, a spouse, boss, co-workers, friends, anyone else we consistently let into our daily world.

One of the things I love about the internet is chancing to meet bright, interesting people.

Comments and conversation that challenge you to think and explore, make you laugh or smile…that’s the sort we need to be around, follow, interact with and learn from.

On the other hand, people who churn out a constant negative stream on the internet or in real life need to be pulled back from. Even well meaning family.

Now we all know this, but when you’re actually in the situation, it’s hard to do.

If you are what you think about…wouldn’t it be best to surround yourself with those that challenge you in a positive way, and cause you to become the best version of yourself?

So the next question is, is the “habit” you currently have worthy of you and your goals? Has it held you up or pushed you forward? Do you hit the replay button simply because it’s familiar and easy?

A new habit takes at least 60 days to become engrained in us. If we are going to make excellence a habit, we have to guard closely where we go and who we listen to and who we allow in our living room.

So change the tape, and change the people if you have to …

“Of course it will work.”
“Excellent use of my time…”
“I’ll blaze a trail …”
“Let’s try something new…”
“I’m ready…”
“It absolutely is…”

Your goals are worth it, and so are you!