The Thinking Behind The Tweet

Habits exist in loops of brain circuitry.

[Or, at least, that's a description that allows us to understand and address Habits.]

With each repetition, a Habit becomes more ingrained...the Habit groove or rut becomes deeper and deeper. While it may seem this applies more to Bad Habits than to Good Habits, we must not underestimate the force of the good. We must understand the grooves and ruts of several Habits are 'overlapped' and 'intertwined'. Good Habits support one another in positive grooves. Bad Habits support one another in negative ruts.

To escape a Bad-Habit rut we must focus our attention and interest on making a single, small side-step. That's the way to get out of a Bad Habit rut.

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

Sometimes they replace combative ways with kindness; sometimes they replace softer ways with assertiveness.

Other times they improve their voice, vocabulary, and body language to improve their communication style...adding clarity and power to it.

Great leaders are attuned to their habits, both the good ones and the bad ones. They choose to replace their bad habits with new things - adding good habits, habits proven to deliver positive results.

Beyond everything else, the greatest leaders are masters of self-awareness and self-control.

And they know leadership is an ongoing series of thought-and-action choices. So they define thought-and-action boundaries for themselves and they work continuously at living within those thought-and-action boundaries.

The Thinking Behind the Tweet

Dr. Jonathan Haidt described people’s behaviour using the following metaphor. People behave as if they are Riders on Elephants on Paths. Riders are our logical side. Elephants are our emotional side. And, Paths are the situations we face. Elephants are tough to control and they get worried or frightened easily. Also, Elephants cannot jump…over hurdles. So, when we design Change we must do it in a way that helps Elephants get over their fears.