It’s so easy to get carried away with the activity and forget the reason for it.
A man says to his wife, ‘how can you say I don’t care about you and the kids any more? I spend so much time working hard so I can provide for you. I have given you everything you need – this house, the cars, the vacations…. What more do you want from me?’
It’s also easy to become overly sucked into religious activities. You can very easily slip into that state where you find that you are spending so much time and energy on the work of God but are neglecting your personal relationship with the God of the work. I remember a song from back in the days that said ‘do you really love the Lord? Or you’re just busy for Him’.
Hmn…
Every now and then, we need to stop and think about what we are doing and why we are doing it. What’s the reason? What’s the cause? What exactly are we trying to achieve? Then after answering these questions, go further to check if we are still on course and that we haven’t lost hold of our reason.
As different things compete for our resources, attention and affection, the need to evaluate the priorities in our lives from time to time becomes more critical.
My kids love to go swimming. It took a while but we eventually worked this activity into our weekly family routine and now the process is seamless. It’s been said that the average time required to change a habit is about twenty one days.
It’s interesting to see how easy it is to determine the positive habits you need to develop. The hard part usually is finding out what your negative habits are and this is because we are often in denial or we just don’t realize that something we do so easily and frequently is breaking us instead of making us. So it’s necessary to ask your friends, colleagues, bosses, mentors, and other role models who know you well enough for feedback on the habits you need to change.
To complete your list, look out for the trending habits in the feedback you receive. Once your list is ready, all you have to do to determine the successful habits you need to develop is flip it. So if the negative habit is lack of exercise with the consequence of associated health challenges now or in the future, the positive habit would be regular exercise with the benefits and reward of preventing those health challenges, looking better and feeling better.
But the most important thing here is ACTION! No action, no change… No change, no gain. Decide on three actions that will support each positive habit and get to work right away. Strike the days off on your calendar as you progress or find some other positive way to keep yourself motivated. It’s also important to pace yourself. Develop a new successful habit a month or a quarter… settle into it, appreciate the benefits and then take on the next one.
And if you decide to work on reading more, as a new positive habit, consider making The Power of Focus by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Les Hewitt the first book you read.
Once upon a time, I used to read all sorts of books. Then life happened and I had to narrow the scope of my reading accordingly. Well I found this one book and someone said ‘if you only read one book this millennium… the Power of Focus should be it!’ So I’m making room to read it and to share. It’s by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Les Hewitt.
Did you know that life doesn’t just happen? It’s about choices and how we respond to situations. So if you’re happy with where you are today, you can give the credit to the good choices you made in the past and your positive response to even the worst of situations. The fact is consistent choices lay the foundation for your habits and your habits will determine your future and the quality of your life.
Something to keep in mind is this – Negative habits will breed negative consequences while successful habits will create positive rewards. So, if you don’t like the results you’re getting in your life today, you have to make certain changes.
Think about it. How do you want your life to be and what successful habits do you need to develop to give you that result?
Need help? Here are a few successful habits – Daily meditation/prayer, planning ahead, spending quality time with your family & people that are most important to you, eating healthy, regular exercise, being on time for meetings and appointments, paying your bills on time, listening more, showing appreciation and so on.
We use cookies to enhance your experience while using our website. If you are using our Services via a browser you can restrict, block or remove cookies through your web browser settings. We also use content and scripts from third parties that may use tracking technologies. You can selectively provide your consent below to allow such third party embeds. For complete information about the cookies we use, data we collect and how we process them, please check our Privacy Policy
