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This Week's Tip...
The Awesome Power of Habits - Part One

Last week we explored the idea that you can never get enough of second best. This week we're going to have a look at one of the most powerful forces in human beings. In this article, we're going to look at the power of habit.

The human brain is an amazing tool, capable of running multiple simultaneous processes. Even a skill like driving a car, which many people take for granted, involves massive amounts of “parallel processing”, for instance:

- Keep heart beating - Monitor other vehicles - Set & correct steering - Move limbs independently

- Adjust focal range - Keep a goal in mind - Breathe - Adjust blood pH levels

- Predict behaviour of others - Predict stopping distances - etc

This list is actually just a tiny fraction of the numerous processes that our brains operate with little or no conscious intervention when we're driving an automobile. In fact, the majority of these processes run entirely automatically.

I often shock students by saying “Your unconscious is running the show”. What do I mean by this? That most of what we do each day (over 90% our behaviours) is done automatically by the unconscious mind. 

Before you recoil in horror, consider the benefit of this: it means that most of what we do can be “delegated” to the unconscious mind, leaving our conscious mind free to focus on... what?

What is a conscious mind for?

In their fantastic book, The Power of Full Engagement, Tony Schwartz & Jim Loehr answer this question succinctly: Your conscious minds is for focusing. And the ability to focus your conscious mind is one of the powerful abilities a person can develop.

Why?

Because that's how you build new habits.

Schwartz & Loehr put it like this: each day, you get a tiny amount of conscious awareness to do with what you will (imagine an eggcup full).

You can think of this like a paycheque that you can spend on whatever you like. You can spend it on:

·         Checking your email

·         Looking at Facebook

·         Doing things that are on other people's to-do lists

·         Answering the phone

·         Doing the shopping

·         etc etc etc

Or you can invest it. Invest it in what? 

In building new habits.

As you're probably already aware, habits are powerful. Once something is habitual, your unconscious does it for you. It's virtually effortless. This goes for “nice” habits (brushing your teeth,  working out, meditating, preparing healthy food) as well as “nasty” ones (smoking, watching TV, eating take-away food).

It takes about a month to create a new habit, but once you've created it, you can let it run. Of course, as everyone who;s ever tried to change everything at once knows, there are a limited number of new habits you can create at any one time.

Loehr & Schwartz recommend building one new habit a month.

Personally, I like to eliminate an unhelpful habit & create a new, empowering one each month.

At the moment, I'm looking at ways to increase my energy levels, so last month I stopped drinking coffee (I was up to about 15 shots of Espresso per day). This month, I'm adding a new habit – making fresh vegetable juice every day.

I know that some people don't like the idea of routine (I'm one of them) but it's time to face reality – you are already a creature of habit, whether you like it or not!

Maybe it's time to take control of those routines & rituals & use them to your advantage.

1)         Identify 12 new habits that would transform your life if you added them to your life & did them consistently.

Here are a few ideas:

- Meditating - Studying - Exercising - Working towards a goal

- Eating healthily - Socialising more - Learning a language - Learning a new skill

- Professional development - Learning NLP - Developing your relationships - etc

2)         Identify 12 existing habits that would transform your life
            if you eliminated them.

Here are a few ideas:

- Smoking - Excessive drinking - Drug abuse - Habitual internet surfing

- Habitual email-checking - Watching TV - Eating take-aways - Gossipping

- Shopping / retail therapy - Being disorganised -

3)         Put each list into some kind of order of priority.

The order is of course up to you. For some people, starting with the one habit that would make the biggest impact on their life is the place to start, while other people may want to start with the easiest habit to either build or eliminate. There are benefits to both approaches – if you choose an easy one, it may help to increase your confidence to build/eliminate subsequent habits.

4)         For the number habit that you want to build, make a
            list of the following:

• What will building this habit give me
• What will building this habit cost me
• What does NOT building this habit give me
• What does NOT building this habit cost me

I'll work through these for my new habit of making fresh vegetable juice each day:

What will building this habit give me Lots of energy All my daily vegetable needs Not having to eat tons of spinach etc Feel better in myself Able to get fitter & healthier Healthy complexion Longer life	What will building this habit cost me 15 minutes each morning Need to shop for vegetables 2x per week Discomfort of cleaning the juicer
What does NOT building this habit give me Extra 15 minutes in bed No need to plan shopping Get to stay in my comfort zone	What does NOT building this habit cost me All the potential benefits Self respect Energy to move forward with my life

5)         For the number habit that you want to eliminate, make
            a list of the following:

• What will eliminating this habit give me
• What will eliminating this habit cost me
• What does NOT eliminating this habit give me
• What does NOT eliminating this habit cost me

I'll work through these for my old habit of smoking cigarettes:

What will eliminating this habit give me Extra money Nice breath Clean-smelling clothes Increased lung capacity Greater sense of wellbeing Better health Longer life	What will eliminating this habit cost me Discomfort of craving etc Need to plan to overcome obstacles
What does NOT eliminating this habit give me Something to do with my hands Opportunity to socialise Regular breaks from work	What does NOT eliminating this habit cost me All the potential benefits Slow, painful death £3 per day (I quit in 1998!)

6)         Start brainstorming ways that you can keep the benefits of the current situation (ie. the benefits of keeping old bad habit & not building the new habit).

For instance, when I stopped smoking, I continued to:

• Take a break from work at least once an hour & go outside for a walk
• Socialise with my smoking friends

Don't eliminate a habit until you've found new ways to get the benefits of the habit.

Next week we'll start looking at ways to get leverage on yourself to create new habits & eliminate old ones.

By the way, it's just a few weeks until our 3-day NLP Belief-busting Sleight of Mouth Masterclass. During this three days, you won't just be learning my favourite set of NLP patterns – you'll also be blasting through any beliefs which have been limiting you until now, & helping rocket you into the life of your dreams. The first 10 places have already gone, so click here to avoid missing out & secure your place now.