by Rick Baker
On Sep 15, 2011
The Habit Changing Formula
BAD HABITS + [NEW THINGS + STRENGTHS] = GOOD HABITS
As you know, I seek simple.
I try to boil things down to manageable volumes.
My main philosophy is,
People Only Do 3 Things: Good Habits, Bad Habits, & New Things
Related to this philosophy,
- People are creatures of habit, so the two types of habits consume most of the time…people spend 95% of their time doing habits and 5% of their time doing New Things. That’s what we think.
- Successful people are successful because their habits enjoy better-than-average alignment with their goals. As Brian Tracy explained so clearly, “Successful people are simply those with successful habits.” Good Habits are successful habits because Good Habits move a person toward a goal.
- New Things are the best bridges to take to get from Bad Habit paths to Good Habit paths [and the opposite is true…but, of course, not beneficial]
- New Things become potent bridges for change when they are combined with Personal Strengths
Also related to this philosophy, we agree with the famous opera singer, Jerome Hines, who said:
“The only proper way to eliminate bad habits is to replace them with good ones.”
We add a couple of nuances to that solid advice…
- There are only two ways to eliminate Bad Habits:
- they can replaced with Good Habits and
- they can be replaced with New Things
- Often it is difficult to remove Bad Habits by simply replacing them with Good Habits…put another way it is tough to go cold turkey and often when we try to go cold turkey on a Bad Habit.
A link to the first Thought Post on
Good Habits, Bad Habits, & New Things [
check out the video]