Habits are Easy; Change is Hard
by Colle Davis
Our lives depend on habits. Bathing, shaving, doing our morning routines, preparing for work or play, eating, exercising, and all the other practices we indulge in to get through the day. We are complicit in our habits. They are our lovely and warm, supportive friends we don’t have to think about.
The idea of change is scary, revolting, irritating, and not fun. Wait, what if a change was both fun and valuable? Does seeing change in that light feel better or at least acceptable?
Are you willing to make your life more exciting and lucrative by adjusting one or two tiny behaviors this week? If so, keep reading; if not, please stop. The road ahead is strewn with work, frustration, failures, and other unpleasant results and feelings. You have been warned.
Pick a habit that has a low impact on you. A morning one is the easiest because morning rituals are the easiest to see and change. For example, do you always wash in the same sequence when you bathe? Do this instead. Using your non-dominant hand to do the washing. Confusion will arise even when using the ‘wrong’ hand. Once you start, everything will feel weird, like work, and you are not sure you covered everything. Or a different routine starting from another place on your body—same weirdness.
An aside: The only thing you can fully control is your breathing. Everything else is subject to outside forces.
Exercise: Take a deep breath, hold it for ten seconds, breathe out, keep the out-breath for ten seconds, and resume breathing normally. A more advanced and powerful exercise is to hold your breath for ten seconds both in and out for three to five reps. With each outlet of breath, relax deeper and allow yourself to be at peace.
Breathing is the only thing you can control. Practice how you breathe. Use this exercise when you are ready to go to sleep. It puts your control in your breathing instead of all the stuff flying around in your head. Control is the name of the game.
Here is the sig line on my email stating what I’m talking about here.
“Change is never painful; only the resistance to change is painful.” Buddha
“Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image.” Native American Proverb
“We get to choose who we let into our weird little world.” Robin Williams
Most of my work involves senior-level leaders with the talents, abilities, skills, and contacts to achieve their current position. My job is to help them polish those, leverage themselves, and be seen as more powerful and able to quickly and elegantly accomplish their desired outcomes.
