Habits

By: Ben DeGeorge

You are what you do.

Many people think of the word "habit" and immediately think of the bad things that they do on a daily basis. I used to suck on the collar of my shirts and chew off the ears of batman figurines. I remember pretty consistently being told by stern parents, "Stop it! That is such a bad habit!"

From the start we associate this word with bad things.

It's rare to hear someone say to others or think to themselves, "That is such a good habit! Keep it up. You always do that well."

Let me get a bit abstract here. Everyone has an equal number of imaginary "habit points" that they can apply to either good, bad or neutral habits every day. The people who end up doing huge things in the world end up putting their points towards good things.

So, stop focusing on your undesirable actions, focus instead of increasing the number of good actions and decisions that you make every day. Through that, you can push the bad ones out of the picture.

Another pretty amazing thing to do: Tell your friends, colleagues or family members about their behaviors that you like and respect on a more consistent basis! This will reinforce the positive habit, making sure it happens again and again.