Bust that habit - fast
This morning, I read a post from somebody on Facebook, quoting the theory that it takes 21 days to create a habit. That, in itself, is not an issue as its a widely held belief and often stands up to scrutiny. What really drew my attention was that a "coach' took that post to task, saying that it takes far longer than that because people lose interest and how difficult it is to coach people with "bad habits" and such expectations.
Well EXCUSE ME a moment here. First off, why is a professional coach using such a negative mindset - and in public - about their skills and about their clients? Secondly, that statement was actually NOT accurate.
So, here is MY take on this. A 'habit" is a programmed behaviour, often learned because it has, at some stage, been a useful one (the unconscious mind loves to help us by adopting learned behaviours and programming them in) and has persisted. Sometimes that behaviour no longer serves us and so we perceive a need/desire/choice to change it. Some examples of this are:
Sleeping late
Eating the wrong foods (comfort eating)
Too much screen-time
Way too much time on social media
Couching out with Netflix
Physical habits (often comfort mechanisms)
Etc - I'm sure you can add many
The GOOD news is that you CAN remove the unwanted habits and you CAN install new ones. This can be done quickly too - never mind the 21 days.
The process is one of identifying the behavioural "pattern" that you choose to change, checking out the gain you get from it, isolating the "trigger" moment and then associating a new pattern with that trigger. It doesn't take endless hours of therapeutic intervention either.
I've been coaching individuals and teams for twenty years and I've facilitated a huge number of clients in doing just that.
If you've got a habit you want to change, talk to me. I can help.
