First of all, this is not going to be about breaking bad habits. It's going to be about replacing bad habits. If you insist on breaking bad habits then I’d suggest you use good-old-fashioned interrogation tactics like tying them to a chair, depriving them of water and nourishment, shining bright lights in their eyes, and beating them into submission. But, breaking bad habits - that’s a topic for another day.

About replacing Bad Habits…

If you want to replace your bad habits then the first step is to understand everyone has habits. Then you must understand, one way or another, everyone fills up all the time in their lives. And, for the vast majority of people the time available to them [the time in their lives] is filled with habits – habits of thought and habits of action.  People's time is for the most part filled with either thoughts or actions...nothing more, nothing less.... just thoughts and actions. 

To the extent people’s thoughts and actions are aligned with their long-term goals the thoughts and actions are ‘good’. To the extent people’s thoughts and actions are not aligned with their long-term goals the thoughts and actions are ‘bad’. At least, that's our definition. 

Should you be thinking, right now, that some of your thoughts and actions have nothing to do with long-term goals then you must conclude those questionable thoughts and actions are ‘bad’, because chances are very high they are ‘bad’ [rather than ‘good’]. In those rare instances when you are trying something ‘new’ – when you are experimenting with new thoughts or actions – you should see those thoughts and actions as ‘new things’…’new things’ waiting to be categorized as ‘good’ or ‘bad’.

Regardless, you are primarily a creature of habits and most of your thoughts and actions are either ‘bad habits’ or ‘good habits’. For most people, ‘bad habits’ outmuscle ‘good habits’ and consume most of their owner’s time…for some reason, it is easier to slip into and to repeat habits when they are on the ‘bad’ side of our long-term goals.

Generally, ‘bad habits’ consume the vast majority of people’s time. That’s why the vast majority of people fail to achieve their claimed long-term goals.

For successful people, good habits occur for a sufficient amount of time to bring about the achievement of long-term goals.

When you consider your time, your thoughts, and your actions this way you can quickly see that success happens when people are able to keep their ‘bad habits’ under control and maximize the amount of time they spend doing ‘good habits’.

The key, as most self-help gurus confirm, is the learn how to replace your ‘bad thoughts’ with ‘good thoughts’.

The framework, is described above:

• Set some long-term goals because, without them, you will have no ‘good habits’
• Monitor your thoughts and classify them as either ‘good’ or bad’
• Work at replacing your ‘bad thoughts’ with ‘good thoughts’. This will require much practice…more than learning to ride a bicycle…more than mastering piano playing…more than pumping up 18” biceps. After all, we are talking about your wonderfully-complex brain here.

Have you noticed technology is a double-edged sword?

Technology makes our lives easier by automating tasks, which reduces our manual processes and workload. Yet, technology is presenting a whole new set of workplace complications.

To function properly, computer technology [including off-the-shelf software] demands very specific actions. Put another way, technology is rather unforgiving. We learned this in the early days of card punching…one small typo ruined the software program. We called that problem something like garbage in, garbage out. Garbage out today appears in the form of error messages or (worse) unannounced problems, for example, problems hidden in the logic of Excel file cells.

Unannounced Garbage Out - have you seen that at your workplace? Do you see your off-the-shelf software spitting out little and big errors that surprise you because they strike you as violations of common sense? When you see this sort of garbage out do you think to yourself, "How could our people make errors like that?”

As the sophistication of off-the-shelf software continues to expand [exponentially], have you noticed your people making far more errors while doing relatively-simple tasks?

…like an error epidemic has attacked the basic processes at your workplace.

Have these computer garbage out errors become the norm at your workplace?

Do your people seem resigned, accepting garbage out as if it is a necessary evil of the workday?

Have you noticed that?

Have you noticed your production sputtering and grinding to an unproductive, unprofitable, painful crawl?

Have your clients noticed your production is flawed and pitted with errors?

Have you noticed your people getting carried away with and by technology?

If so – what steps are you taking to fix that problem?

Many people talk about doing the right thing.

Many people talk about doing the right thing at the right time…that’s even better.

There seems to be a consensus: when we do the right things at the right times we gain advantage…we grow…we meet goals…we succeed.

So – we understand WHY there is value in doing the right things at the right times.

And – much time and effort has been spent exchanging ideas about WHAT are those right things, WHO should do those right things, and WHEN are those right times.

However – one major piece is missing…the HOW.

For example – has anyone ever presented to you the opinion, “Before you can do the right thing at the right time you must think the right thing.”

And, in reaction to that statement you may have thought, “That’s a bit of a confusing thing to say.” And, you may have asked, “Can you explain that comment?”

And following more discussion you understood…

Most of the time we think without thinking about thinking. Our minds are bombarded by unplanned, haphazard thoughts. And, haphazard thoughts frequently are the causes behind our actions.

Considering the extent of unplanned thoughts, it is no wonder we often fail to do the right things at the right times.

That is the first part of the problem.

The second part of the problem: When we have not done the right things we think about how to justify our flawed actions. We know, at least subconsciously, we are ‘making excuses’ for our haphazard thoughts/actions. And, we know we are ‘making excuses’ for not doing the right things at the right times. And – everyone around us knows this too.

When personal growth [of any form] is desired, it is important to embrace the power contained in, “Before you can do the right thing at the right time you must think the right thing.”

When change is personal growth [of any form] is desired, it is important to embrace the power contained in, “Before you can do the right thing at the right time you must think the right thing.”