Why Do Bad Habits Feel So Good?

And Why Are They So Hard To Break?

An old Chinese Proverbs says: “Habits are like cobwebs first; Steel cables last.”

If you make good habits, good habits will make you. This bit of wisdom has been around for centuries. We are all creatures of habit…Aristotle once said “If we are what we repeatedly do…Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”

Think about it in this manner: Have you ever been driving and been engaged in a conversation with a passenger or become deep in thought about an event going on in your life? Have you ever “woke-up” and thought “I don’t even remember the last few miles!”

While your conscious mind was distracted and attending to the conversation or deep thought your subconscious mind was driving your car…slowing down and speeding up, using the brake and turn signals and watching for on-coming traffic. Research shows that the subconscious mind is 1 million times more powerful than the conscious mind.

Habits are formed deep within the subconscious mind…and they can be your friend…or your worst enemy. Good habits make our life easier, our bodies healthier, our relationships better…but as we all know bad habits can be very destructive to our lives.  Habits become ingrained through repeated actions… and habits good, bad, or neutral are difficult to break.

Habits Die Hard!

You become a servant to your habits…as stated before “We are what we repeatedly do.”To change, or break, a habit first you must identify the habit and become self-aware that you have the habit. To effectively break a habit we must learn to break the cycle which causes the habit…mere will power and resistance to the behavior, without a deep shift in thinking, simply will not work.

Secondly, you must accept and own the habit: Take responsibility for the behavior and the underlying thinking which feeds it. What is the subconscious thinking that gives the habit its power over you?

Ask yourself these questions to help “own” a habit:

When I behave this way I feel…..

Before I behave this way I feel….

After I behave this way I feel….

How frequently do I repeat the habit….

The advantages to this habit are….

The disadvantages to this habit are….

My reasons for this habit are….

The key is turning this data into meaningful knowledge and an acute awareness, and then use it to intelligently establish new patterns of behavior…or new habits. Self-defeating habits tend to build on one another... so take on your habits one at a time…losing a few bad habits can help make your good ones even stronger!

“Successful People are simply those with Successful Habits” – Brian Tracy

Eddie Brown

www.ICU-Coaching.com