Identifying and Replacing Habits
Every habit that you have began at one time as a choice you made. Once you have identified the habit that you would like to change, then the next step is to replace that habit. It is important to realize that a habit cannot be eliminated; it must be replaced with another habit that is hopefully a positive one.
Choices
Self-sabotage is a habit as well as a choice. Success is a habit as well as a choice. Insecurity is a habit as well as a choice. Confidence is a habit as well as a choice. Every habit began as a choice and through repetition became a habit. We all have habits, some of them positive and others not.
Habits are initially created through your thoughts and are reinforced through repetition combined with past experiences. Everything you have experienced in your past has made you the person that you are today. Your past experiences have given you your present self-image.
Fact
Even when you play the victim game by blaming, justifying, or complaining, that behavior began with a choice and through repetition became a habit. You can also make a new choice of being responsible for yourself and through repetition can rid yourself of being the victim.
Anything can become a habit through repetition. Some of the habits that you have created through repetition might be riding a bicycle, driving a car, saying “bless you” when someone sneezes, typing, and maybe even taking off your hat when you enter a house. Through continued repetition, just about anything, whether it is positive or negative, could become a habit.
Where Is Your Focus?
Two people who had the same opportunities can have entirely different habits due to the choices they made. They could be the exact same age, enjoy the same hobbies, attend the same schools and get the same degrees, live in the same city, and even work at the same job. Even with all these similarities, one can create a habit of being angry and living a meager life while the other can create a habit of being rich and happy. Yes, being rich is a habit that begins as a choice.
Essential
Rather than looking at situations in your life as problems, look at them as opportunities. Think about how you can approach this new opportunity to learn something, grow from it, or maybe even help someone. Break it down to see what positive can come from it and accomplish it the best you can.
What can make these two people so different, even after having lived virtually an identical life? One of the most evident differences would be in playing the victim game. One obviously decided to be the victim, allowing life's situations to control his life, while the other decided to take 100 percent responsibility and take control of his life. There is no such thing as a truly successful victim.
Desire
In order to replace a habit, once it has been acknowledged, you must have a desire to change. Although self-hypnosis will be the strongest help you may have ever had in your personal progress, it will not be successful by itself. Self-hypnosis is not a magic spell; it requires a strong desire or commitment on your end as well.
How can I buy into something when my goal is so far away or huge?
If a goal is too big to seem attainable right now, all you need to do is break it down into smaller goals. Once you attain the lower increment, simply proceed to the next portion until you have finally accomplished your goal in its entirety.
Here is where the buying-in principle comes into play. In order to change in any area of your life, you must be able to believe that the change is possible. You must be able to imagine it. In other words, if you wanted to run a marathon but have difficulty running from your front door to the mailbox, then you have not satisfied the buying-in principle. If you cannot imagine yourself doing something, there will be no change.
