New Years Resolutions – Three Characteristics of a Habit

At the World Juniors in Vancouver, I was contemplating this blog and thinking about the habits these young men must have developed in order to play at this level.  

Here we are, ending a year and beginning a new one.  This can be a time for reflection and an opportunity for change and new beginnings. It’s that time of year when lots of us contemplate making resolutions. In the book titled Making Habits, Breaking Habits, the author Jeremy Dean talks about three characteristics of a habit. These are:

Three Characteristics of a Habit

1. We are only vaguely aware we are performing habits. This makes sense, think about brushing your teeth, or driving a car.  We are often thinking about other things while we perform these habits. Jeremy Dean says “Habits allow the conscious part of our minds to go a-wandering while our unconscious gets on with those tedious repetitious behaviours.”
2. A habit is emotionless. Feelings we have while performing a habit have less to do with the habit itself and more to do with what we are thinking about while we perform the habit.  Habits themselves are not stressful.  In a study conducted for the book, it was only when participants switched to non-habitual behaviours that stress levels increased.
3. Habits are strongly rooted in the situations in which they occur. In other words, we tend to do the same things in similar circumstances.  It’s the connection between the situation and behaviour that causes habits to form in the first place.  To emphasize this point, think about the last time you moved, or started a new job.  Things you used to do naturally, without thinking you had to put thought into.  New situations cause us to get out of “autopilot” which forces our conscious mind to keep asking now what?, what do we do now?

New Beginnings

This is where change can begin. 

When we choose to change our habits that we perform automatically like watching TV or checking our emails every few minutes a world of possibility can open up.

We made the decision to get out of our comfort zone by shifting how we spend our time. Educating ourselves about how to become successful affiliate marketers is a choice we made. Disruption is all around us and our traditional recruitment business was changing every day. It was clear, we chose to take control of our future rather than have disruption and change take control of us. 

The Solution

The solution was Six Figure Mentors, an educational program and community of like-minded people just like us, all searching for time and financial freedom the traditional business world didn’t offer. As you reflect on 2018 and contemplate what 2019 can bring, we encourage you to give your “autopilot” a break and take the time to get out of your comfort zone and check out the same videos that opened our eyes to a new world of possibilities.

We look forward to working with you in 2019 to help move you towards the life you have always imagined.