As an entrepreneur, I can assure you that the habits you develop will have an important role in the success or failure of your company. In fact, I’d go as far as saying that some of the most successful business owners in the world have made a habit out of just that: success. It’s true; you can develop habits that are more conducive to a sustainable career in whatever industry you prefer. However, you can’t have the good without the bad. For as likely as good habits are to help you, bad habits can bring you down.
Fortunately, bad habits are not permanent and can essentially be eliminated. To that end, ridding yourself of a bad habit will make your career more successful and productive. It is one of the simplest ways to get ahead in any industry. If you’d like to learn how you could rid yourself of any bad habit that may be preventing you from realizing the success you deserve, I encourage you to keep reading.
Before we can work on breaking our bad habits, we must first identify where they originated. The only way to eradicate the habits that are impeding on our progression is to trace them back to where they stem from. Having said that, bad habits are typically the result of two underlying factors: stress and boredom.
If you can pinpoint the things that may cause you to stress just a little bit more, or even the things that can make your bored, you may be able to determine where you picked up your bad habits. It makes sense; we are more likely to develop bad habits as a coping mechanism for these two things.
Having said that, once you identify the problem, you have to know how to move forward. It is important to note that your intent should not be to remove the bad habit, but rather to replace it. So how do you do that?
How To Remove A Bad Habit
1. Replace It With A Productive Substitute
As I previously alluded, habits typically develop when we are confronted with situations that are out of our control. Again, both boredom and stress are great examples of things that can bring forth bad habits. However, if you can pinpoint where your habit came from, you can just as easily replace it with a substitute, preferably a more productive one. To do so, you need to be preemptive and plan ahead for when you may encounter a bout of stress, or whatever is to blame for the bad habit you are intent on ridding yourself of. In other words, what are you going to do the next time you feel stress coming on? If you plan ahead, you can determine how you will react to it. The key is to replace the habit – whatever it may be – with something that can help your business. That way, any time you revert to your habit when “situations” arise, you will put yourself in a place to improve your position.
2. Eliminate Triggers
Again, a bad habit is the result of unfamiliar situations. However, those situations are far from inclusive. Often times, habits coincide with a predetermined set of triggers, or something that will initiate the habit you intend to break. For example, if you tend to over eat, having a box of cookies in the house could be a trigger. A trigger is something that could set off your habit. Therefore, eliminating any potential triggers could reduce the chances of reverting back to your old ways. Do yourself a favor and avoid any triggers that could lead you back to any habits you want to break.
For many people, the environment they have created in their work place could be as big of a trigger as anything else. As a real estate investor, I recommend creating a workplace that is more conducive to what you intend to accomplish. If you have a bad habit of watching too much television, don’t put a T.V. in your office.
3. Team Up
Truth be told, ridding yourself of a bad habit is a lot easier when someone is there to help you. Teaming up with someone provides you with a very important tool that you can’t get anywhere else: accountability. Working in tandem with someone to break a bad habit is made easier when someone else is holding you accountable. The simplicity behind this idea is ingenious; if you are afraid to let anyone down, it will only make your drive to quit a bad habit that much stronger. Understanding that you are not the only person facing adversity, and that someone else is in your corner is a powerful motivator.
4. Surround Yourself With Positive Influences
Some of the most successful investors in the world have acknowledged the benefits that coincide with a powerful circle of influence. To that end, there is no denying the impact people around you have. In fact, there may not be a better way to mold yourself into what you want to become.
By no means am I suggesting getting rid of your old friends, but don’t neglect the opportunities that come with entertaining likeminded individuals. Make an effort to make new friends that share the same goals and drive as you. Not unlike the previous item on this list (Teaming Up), surrounding yourself with positive influences can hold you accountable; something we already discussed is a powerful motivator. However, outside of motivation, you will be able to partake in whatever your circle of influence deems important. You will find that if you surround yourself with the right people, your actions will start to mimic theirs. And if you have assimilated into the right group, those actions should certainly help you break any bad habits you may have developed from previous relationships or work environments.
5. Expect To Fail
This bit of advice is not so much to discourage you, as it is to give you confidence. The pressure that can rise out of the fear of failure is too much for some people to handle. For all we know, it is enough to lead to another bad habit. But I am here to assure you that failure is acceptable, as long as you are willing to get back on the horse when things don’t go your way. In fact, the sooner you accept failure as an inevitability, the sooner you will feel less pressure to rid yourself of the bad habit in question. Even something as trivial as this can remove a lot of weight from your shoulders and allow you to focus on what really matters: turning your bad habit into a good one. So instead of punishing yourself for making a mistake, simply plan for it. Everyone can get off track from time to time. The real key is to have the persistence and drive to want to change your habits.
In the end, it is the habits that make or break the entrepreneur. The more you do to rid yourself of those habits that hurt your production, the better off your business will be.
