Written by: Aden Eyob, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
In the words of John C. Maxwell, 'You'll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.'
Let me guess, you have some but not serving you? As an entrepreneur, developing healthy habits is vital for success as it determines your schedule, productivity, and overall wellbeing. But what happens when you have unhelpful patterns that create a stuck state and stagnation in your personal growth and, ultimately, your business?
The everyday unhelpful habits of entrepreneurs include procrastination, risk aversiveness, micromanagement, chasing perfection, and lacking self-care. Do you find yourself in this predicament? Perhaps it’s putting off the budget review once again, delaying critical decisions for fear of failure, perfecting the pitch deck for the 100th time, micromanaging your team for lack of trust, or the classic working round the clock at the expense of your health because if you are not on the clock, then you are losing valuable time and money. Sound familiar? Whatever your scenario maybe, if it's not serving you or your team, then it’s up for bad habit review.
The Science Behind Your Bad Habits
Did you know that 43% of daily behaviors are performed out of habit? Shocking, I know. A habit at its core is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and operates without your conscious awareness (at the sub-conscious level). As such, a bad habit is, in essence, an undesirable behavior pattern that can negatively affect you and your business.
According to Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit, every habit begins with a psychological pattern called a 'habit loop' comprised of cue, routine, and reward.
Cue or reminder is the trigger that kicks off the habitual behavior
Routine or behavior is the action you repeatedly take in response to the cue
The reward is the benefit you gain from doing the behavior, both positive or negative. Note that this factor drives your habits.
Let's put this framework into practice. For example, a procrastination habit loop could look like; you have to complete an unpleasant task, say a financial review (reminder), this immediately makes you want to distract yourself with something less taxing, like scrolling through social media (behavior), in turn, you feel a temporary sense of ease and happiness (reward). Or a lack of self-care habit loop can look like you wake up tired from working late again (trigger), you immediately grab coffee (routine), you feel a temporary sense of alertness (reward).
In short, the habit loop is a formula that your brain subconsciously follows: when I see a REMINDER, I will do BEHAVIOR to get a REWARD. So the key to changing a bad habit comes with understanding and interrupting the loop, which leads us to the topic of how to go about effectively changing your undesirable habits.
3 Steps to Train Your Brain to Break Bad Habits
1. Acknowledge habit: the first step in changing behavior is awareness. When you accept that there is a growth point, the solution will be easier to bear. Next, acknowledge your bad habits by writing them in a journal and ending it with a released statement. For instance, I recognize my habit of procrastination, and I release it in exchange for productivity.
2. Draw your habit loop: the only way to know your habit loop is to spend time understanding it. Why not map out your habit loop in your journal or whiteboard? sometimes having a visual representation of the unhelpful habits serves as a trigger and self-accountability for initiating change.
3. Get NLP Support: Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), facilitates the change between your old habits and new habits by replacing unconscious thought patterns and unwanted behaviors with positive thoughts and behaviors that you desire. NLP techniques for bad habits such as anchoring, submodalities, swish techniques, and Time Line Therapy are all techniques that speak directly to your conscious-subconscious levels to create harmony. In essence, NLP allows you to take control of your mind so that your bad habits are eliminated in as few as 10minutes. As a certified NLP practitioner, I would love to support you in your desire to freeing yourself from unhelpful patterns and on the path to growth and success.
Food for Thought:
In the words of Aristotle, 'Excellence is an art won by training and habituation.’
What’s one unhelpful habit will you break today?
For more mindset tips, tools and inspiration, check out my book, The Book on Mind Training: The Secret for Positive Living on Amazon.
Aden Eyob, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Aden Eyob is a leader in mindset. She is the clinical neuroscientist and author, The Book on Mind Training: The Secret for Positive Living. She is the founder and CEO of Mind Medication, a fusion of neuroscience-psychology and spirituality-based mindset consulting and speaker service that helps you uncover your why to unlock potential and free limiting beliefs to achieve the impossible. Her clients include CEOs, entrepreneurs, and celebrities—her mission: a world free from limiting beliefs.
