“Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired.”     -Jules Renard

You finally make it home from a long day at work.

Not just a long day, but a tough one. Murphy’s Law had proven true and everything that could go wrong, did. Repeatedly.

As you enter your home your mind is flooded with a To Do list of everything that requires your attention. There is an exam to prepare for, a paper to be written, a treadmill waiting to be used and a home that is in desperate need of a good vacuuming.

And all you want to do is collapse on your couch and escape into some mindless TV show until such time as your stress level lowers itself to something resembling normal.

You analyze all your choices and hit the couch.

Some people call this lazy. Some call this procrastination. I call it habit.

We all know (and sometimes hate) people who, in this exact situation, enthusiastically throw themselves onto their treadmill and work up a sweat, before tackling their homework assignments, cleaning their house, and studiously preparing for an exam they confidently know they will ace.

Break the Habit

The only differences between those two types of people are the habits we’ve ingrained into our behaviours through diligent, dedicated practice, perfected over many years.

Almost all results in our lives come from those things we do repeatedly. As a Habits Coach, much of my time each day is spent working with my clients to assist them in developing the habits they need to transition from where they are to where they want to be.

An old axiom tells us that old habits die hard. I don’t believe this to be true. I have learned, from working with hundreds of clients, that old habits don’t die hard, in fact, they don’t die at all.

We can’t get rid of old habits we can only replace them with new ones and as we diligently do those things necessary to create new habits, the old habits shrink in size and seek out deep and dark crevices in our minds in which to hide while they wait for an opportunity to pounce and recapture their former territory.

Contrary to what many of us have been taught, and consequently believe, habits are not formed by what we repeatedly do, they are first formed by those things we believe to be true.

I always marvel at the remarkable results achieved when my clients transform the way they think about themselves and then adopt new behaviors consistent with their new mindset.

I firmly believe there are no lazy people in the world. There are no procrastinators. But there are those whose belief driven habits are consistent with the behaviors we have learned to label as lazy and procrastinator.

Aristotle said “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence therefore is not an act; it is a habit.”

It is not my place to correct Aristotle, but I do think that what he meant to say was “We are what we repeatedly think.”

John Dryden said, “First we make our habits, then our habits make us.“

There is a precise process to follow if we wish to acquire new habits and if you are seeking different results in your life you should call me.

I know a really good Habits Coach.

Till we read again.