The call on your time and energies as a leader in your work place is probably becoming increasingly fierce. Have you found yourself doing the some unproductive things over and over again? Maintaining these unproductive habits will cost you time, money and potentially your health! Maybe even your business or career!
During our lives, we all develop unproductive and counterproductive habits that keep us from moving most easily and quickly toward the achievement of our vital goals. Often, in the fast-paced environment in which we live and work we don’t even see these habits! To live a balanced, bountiful and beneficial life and engage in a long-term, satisfying career, ridding yourself of your unproductive habits is an important investment in your own well being. Helping staff members on your work team do the same, is an investment in their well being and enhanced productivity and profitability for your company.
I urge you to take the initiative, and help yourself, your staff and your colleagues take the initiative to assess the status of unproductive habits that may be thwarting personal productivity. I urge you to commit to redirecting the time and energy spent carrying out unproductive and counter productive habits toward more appropriate and goal achieving actions.
Here are some proven and tested tips you and your staff members and colleagues can implement to begin redirecting this costly wasted time and energy toward more productive actions by replacing unproductive habits with worthwhile habits.
UNCOVER AND FACE THE FACTS REGARDING YOUR UNPRODUCTIVE HABITS - We all have blind spots and often fail to recognize our own unproductive and counter productive habits at home and work. We also frequently fail to see the depth of impact the unproductive behaviors are having on ourselves as well as others. To get a reality check, record everything you do and the time you spend doing it for one week. Check your actions and the time you spend doing them against your vital life and work goals. If you have the courage, share what you discover with trusted others and ask for their feedback about the habits you have listed and if they observe any others.
HONESTLY ASSESS THE LONG-TERM COSTS OF YOUR UNPRODUCTIVE HABITS - Don’t try to fool yourself. Recognize the true costs of an unproductive or counter productive habit over time. By taking a high integrity look at the impact of these habits on your relationships, your reputation, your budget, or your health. This will give you a “wake up” call and some motivation to diligently dump these habits as soon as possible.
LOOK FOR AND DROP THE “EMOTIONAL HOOKS” AND ILLUSIONARY BENEFITS - Many of us are fed emotionally in some way by our unproductive habits. That’s why they have become a habit, they are emotionally rewarding in an illogical way, but serve an important purpose in our emotional lives. To kick the habit you need to find and substitute a productive habit that fills that emotional need.
KEEP THE HABIT UNTIL YOU ARE SOLIDLY READY TO DISCARD IT - Avoid letting others push you into thinking you need to change a habit. It is better to wait until you mentally and emotionally desire the change in habit. Being truly committed will keep you from failing in the change effort because of a halfhearted attempt. Making halfhearted attempts at changing unproductive habits only entrenches them and postpones your growth and well being in these areas. Commitment first, then focused action!
FOCUS ON THE BENEFITS OF A NEW, WORTHWHILE HABIT TO REPLACE THE OLD - We always need to replace an old behavior with a new behavior, not just try to erase the old. It is the same with habits. Identify the opposite behaviors from those associated with your unproductive behaviors and make them your behavioral goals.
BE PATIENT AND KEEP TRYING TO DEVELOP THE NEW HABIT - Don’t assume you can just do it now. When you slip, don’t give up and remain focused on the benefits of the new habit you are developing. Take one step at a time, one affirmation at a time and eventually the old unproductive habit will atrophy.
GET AN ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER AND COACH. You will master new, productive habits and atrophy unproductive and counterproductive habits more quickly and easily if you have an accountability partner and coach. A good coach gives you honest and regular “on course” and “off course” feedback during the time you’re transition from one habit to another. Having a coach puts a positive encourager and person who cares about your successes by your side. We all need positive people who cheer us along as we grow and change.
FREQUENTLY REINFORCE AND CELEBRATE YOUR INCREMENTAL SUCCESSES - Develop a list of meaningful, positive reinforcements or rewards that you enjoy. The more relevant and related to the new habit you are developing the better. Keep them as simple as you can so you can easily enjoy them in frequent and timely ways. When developing a new behavior or habit to replace an old one, it is critical that you maintain a frequent schedule of positive reinforcement until the new habit or behavior is nearly mastered. When mastered, you can lessen the frequency and just reinforce yourself occasionally to keep yourself conscious of the habit and to keep the habit active.
How To Remove And Replace Unproductive Habits - To learn more about this author, visit Millard MacAdam's Website.
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