Get rid of your BAD habits - substitute BAD habits with GOOD habits

Bad habits keep us from going forward in life. They prevent us from becoming Great... They force us to simply rationalize by saying "I cannot do this because...". It all would have started with just one bad habit.

Take for example - you may be having a habit of "spending more hours at work". When you spend more hours at work, you won't have time for yourself. You may not be able to prepare your food at home. You'll start to dine outside, a lot. On top of that, you won't have time for a regular exercise. You'll start to gain more weight and become obese over a period of time. Having spent a lot of time at work, whatever little time you get over the weekends will be spent in relaxing - mostly by watching television, or movies. You will not find time to read good books. You'll start to assimilate hundreds of other bad habits.


Clinging on to bad habits is simply there in our genes. After all, we all originated from monkeys, right?! Monkeys have the same problem too. Do you know how hunters trap monkeys? Monkey hunters use a box with an opening at the top, big enough for the monkey to slide its hand into. Inside the box are nuts. Thee monkey grabs the nuts and now its hand becomes a fist. The monkey tries to get its hand out, but the opening is big enough for the hand to slide into, but too small for the fist to come out of. Now, the monkey has a choice. Either let go off the nuts and be free forever or hang on to the nuts and get caught by the hunter. Guess what the monkey does?! The monkey hangs on to the nuts and get caught.

Stephen Covey, the author of the famous book "Seven habits of highly effective people" says "substituting a bad habit with a good habit" is an easy way to get rid of bad habits. Habits always come in series. So, try to bring in just one good habit into your life. It will trigger a chain reaction. It will create a ripple effect. In a few months, you'll be surrounded by a bunch of other good habits. You don't have to wait till New Year to take a resolution. You can do it today.