Can You Create a New Habit in 21 Days?

“Fake it ’til you make it.” We’ve all heard the cliche for approaching something that seems out of reach. There may be some method to the madness of that approach.

But have you ever given much thought to what it takes to bridge the gap between where you are now and where you want to be when it comes to eliminating old habits and forming new ones?

Success is habitual.

We have all witnessed those who seemingly achieve amazing feats over and over. Think of Tiger Woods, Michael Phelps, Michael Jordan. What allows one person to be an automatic peak performer every day without fail while others experience failure after failure? Most likely, the achievers have created and practiced success systems, habits and rituals that serve rather than detract from their goals.

If everything affects everything, which is, of course, true, then it pays to take a holistic look at the current habits and patterns in ALL areas of your life, at work, at home and at play.

You cannot change what you don’t acknowledge so it pays to get real and be brutally honest with yourself so you can finally align your habits with your dreams.

How to Create New and Empowering Habits

1. Identify your current habits, the good, the bad and the ugly. You have probably practiced many of the same habits throughout your life without realizing it. Keep a pen and paper handy throughout the day to capture habits as you become aware of them. From the moment you wake up to the moment your eyes close at night, most of your thoughts, words and actions are habitual. Write them down on paper. If you get stuck, ask others around you what habits they notice in you. This might take a few days.

2. Once you have identified your dominant habits, identify the source of those habits. Most of your habits were programmed into you at a very early age without you even realizing it. Many of your habits come from observing your dominant parent or caregiver. If you are habitually late, perhaps this trait was modeled for you by someone you admire. Not always but often enough. From the brand of car you drive to the brands of food you purchase, many of these habits were modeled for you and you practice them subconsciously.

Here are some common negative habits:
reading the newspaper first thing in the morning
vegging out, watching tv all evening
going to bed too late
hitting the snooze button every morning
cleaning obsessively
exercising excessively or not exercising at all
eating fast food frequently
saving money or not saving money
excessive credit card debt
choosing toxic relationships
not reading self-improvement books
not setting goals
procrastination
having many started projects and none finished
impulsiveness
dishonesty
infidelity
hoarding
negative self talk
criticism of others
complaining
depression
worry
blame
smoking
overeating
sugar addiction
skipping breakfast
workaholic
alcoholic
overcommitting to things because you can’t say no
etc.

Often you can look at your parents, examine their habits and see them in yourself. <gasp> I know I do on both the positive side and the negative side. They’re there alright. This exercise is not to judge others or yourself. It is simply to identify. This is especially important if you have children because your current habits are likely to be modeled by those who look up to you. What habits and traits do you want to instill in them?

3. Next to each habit you identified, decide which of these habits are empowering and which habits are disempowering. An empowering habit serves your greater good. It usually serves the greater good of the people around you too, those whom you love and care about. A disempowering habit does not serve your greater good, in fact, it likely detracts from your life.  Disempowering habits are roadblocks to your dreams.

Next to each empowering habit, draw a smiley face :)  Next to each disempowering habit, draw a frown :(   There is no neutral.
4.  The best way to eliminate an old disempowering habit is to replace it with a new more empowering one.  Next to each disempowering habit, write down a description of the opposite habit you want to replace it with. 

For example, if you come home after a long day’s work and turn on the television vegging out mindlessly for hours while your belly magically grows, perhaps an evening walk with your mate is what’s called for. Perhaps instead of reading the newspaper each morning and being bombarded with negative news and advertisements, perhaps you will opt to replace it with reading a chapter of a personal development book or listening to an audio while you prepare for the day. Instead of surfing the net, perhaps you want to write a few pages of that book you’ve been putting off. If you’ve been hoarding to the point you barely have a path to walk through, perhaps some purging and organizing is in order. If you habitually criticize your mate, perhaps you can create a new habit of focusing on what’s great about them. If you were a habitual procrastinator, you could become a habitual action taker.

5. Prioritize which habits you want to tackle first based on their importance to your life. Write #1 next to the #1 most important habit you want to focus on, #2 for the next most important habit and so on. To begin, focus your time and attention only on the habit you have determined is most important that will have the greatest positive effect on your life. I’m not going to tell you to turn your entire life upside down overnight by tackling them all at once. Some can do this successfully because they seek a complete life makeover. Others who are easily overwhelmed and lack confidence will sabotage themselves and fare much better by focusing on one habit at a time.

6. Imagine a role model or someone you admire. What habits and rituals do they consistently practice to achieve the results they do? Now here’s the bigger question: What beliefs underlie those habits? Model the habits of those whom you admire. Model the habits hight achievers. Focus on the beliefs underneath that support those empowering habits. Fake it ’til you make it is ok to begin but it only gets you so far. Many copy the action steps in an effort to duplicate a formula, and complain when things don’t work out. They only went through the motions. The real magic happens when you in embrace the underlying Principles, beliefs and mindset that produced the success.

Sometimes creating a new habit can lead to a new belief.
Sometimes creating a new belief can lead to a new habit.

Ultimately, they must be congruent to move you in the direction of your Goal.

7. Celebrate your existing empowering habits and the new habits you seek to create. Imagine the positive effect on your life and the people you love. Revel in the ways you will impact the people around you for the better. Imagine your life in one month, 6 months, 1 year, 5-10 years from now. What will your life be like because you adopted these new and empowering habits and beliefs. Pretty remarkable I would think.
                                                                                                                            
When your current thoughts and habits are congruent with your Goals and dreams, you will begin to move towards them more quickly and with seemingly less effort.

You know you have successfully created a new habit when the practice of it is automatic and effortless.

How long does it take to break an old habit or form a new habit? It varies. Most experts assert you it takes 21 days. I believe it could take an hour, a week, months or years. The greater your desire and commitment, the faster the change will occur. Practicing the new desired habit consecutively (every single day without fail) increases the speed in which you will see results.

When the identity shift occurs inside you, you are well on your way. When you no longer think of yourself as a smoker, but a non smoker. When you no longer view yourself as overweight, but rather a healthy vibrant person who lives a healthy lifestyle. When you no longer think of yourself as a complainer, rather an person who finds the good in every person and situtation-automatically. That is when you will have successfully created the new empowering habit.

After you have accomplished successfully creating your #1 top priority habit, move on to # 2, then #3 and son on.

When your identity is congruent with the beliefs, thoughts and actions necessary to carry out your Goal, you have become the person necessary to achieve your Goal.

Resolve to do whatever it takes to improve the quality of your life.
Live Your Dreams,

Jill Koenig

http://www.GoalGuru.com

Jill Koenig, The Goal Guru, is America’s Top Goal Strategist. A self-made millionaire by age 30, she has dedicated her life to teaching the principles of Goal Setting, Productivity and Self Improvement to individuals, entrepreneurs as well as Fortune 500 companies. She is a highly sought after Author, Peak Performance Coach and Motivational Speaker. To learn how to achieve your Goals at TURBO speed, visit: http://www.GoalGuru.com

By Jill Koenig
Although I had a busy travel schedule this past week, just
like millions of people around the world, I was glued to the
television every time Michael Phelps took to the water in
the Olympics. Because success leaves clues, I study the
best of the best in every sport, business or craft I
possibly can, and you should too.

Sometimes in life what separates first place from second
place is one point, a fraction of an inch or even a tiny
millisecond that requires the most sophisticated technology
to measure. Those small gaps define who wears the Gold Medal
around their neck, who breaks a world record, who earns
millions of dollars in endorsements and who graces the top
magazine covers.

You may feel you have nothing in common with Michael Phelps
but the fact is that there is a Champion inside you.

There is a Champion inside you.

Perhaps your area of passion is being a parent or an
entrepreneur or a weekend athlete or a singer or writer…
whatever your Goal, you don’t have to be a swimmer to unleash
it. All you have to do is apply a few simple strategies to
your own pursuits and practice them consistently everyday.

Here are Five Things You Can Do Today to Be a Champion Like
Michael Phelps

1. Improve on the Small Things that Make a Big Difference

Phelps was asked how he can break world records, sometimes
by a whopping one or two seconds (in swimming this is
huge). His answer was simple and something you can apply
to your own life starting today: Phelps said, “In swimming
there are so many little things you can change that really
do make a big difference in the end. We’re able to go back
to the drawing board and work on the small things that can
make a big difference.”

What areas of your life can you change some small things
that will make a big difference? Perhaps it is something
as simple as going to bed a little earlier, eating
healthier, exercising smarter, reading more, advancing
your education by taking a class, scheduling regular dates
with your spouse and children or getting a Coach to help
you improve your efficiency, proficiency and stay on track
with your Goals. Whatever it is, identify those areas and
make the change.

2. Study Other Champions

Phelps was asked what separates those who are gifted from
those who performed in clutch moments and won. Phelps
said, “For me when I watch other sports, when I watch
Tiger Woods, when I watch Roger Federer, when I watch
Rafael Nadal, the best athletes can compete under any
circumstances. No matter what it is, no matter what the
pressure, you can always overcome whatever is put in your
way.”

I have studied top athletes long enough to know that there
is an inner game and an outer game that must be harnessed
for one to achieve absolute Mastery of a thing. There are
many long hours of practice as well as having the attitude
that you will overcome anything that comes your way. Work
on both your inner game and your outer game simultaneously.
Phelps studies Champions in other sports and you should
too. There are always lessons to be learned and applied to
your life.

3. Put Blinders on to Focus Your Energy When it’s Time to
Perform

Did you notice that prior to entering the water for each
race, Michael Phelps was wearing headphones and covered his
head with a hoodie? This was to block out the outer noise
and distractions and stay focused on his own predetermined
priorities. He was in his own world, he was in the zone.

We all have those moments when we must perform at our very
best. This could be during a sales call, a workout, a
meeting with your boss, a presentation in front of a live
audience, etc. During those times it is important to get
yourself into a peak state of focused concentration. You
can do this to begin your day, prepare for a race, get
psyched for a workout or any occasion anytime you want.
Phelps listened to Young Jeezy during the World
Championships which he dominated. Choose the music that
gets you revved up and visualize yourself succeeding in the
activity. Practice positive self talk. You’re the best at
what you do. See it. Go there. Be it.

4. Do what you love

Phelps was asked how it feels to be the worlds fastest
swimmer. He said, “I don’t think about it like that. I
think of it as something I love to do and I am having fun
with it.”

Champions do what they love and love what they do. The
amount of time it takes to achieve the level where you’re
competing against the best of the best and come out on top
means you must be extraordinary. To be extraordinary,
sometimes you have to give up some of the things normal
people do like hanging out with friends, eating fatty fast
foods, staying up late and vegging out for hours in front
of the tv. Instead you use those hours to practice and
with the hours in between, you treat your mind/body like
the fine tuned, high performing machine that it is.

Phelps recognized he had the opportunity of a lifetime.
When asked what scarifies he had to make for swimming, he
said, “Doing normal high school kid things was something I
was willing to give up. I know I won’t have opportunities
like this in the sport for the rest of my life.”

What areas of your life could you rearrange or re prioritize
in order to raise another certain area of your life to new
levels? What could you let go of to make room for the
Goals and Dreams you truly desire?

5. Finish Strong

The race that absolutely left me speechless was the
“Miracle Finish” in the race between Phelps and Serbia’s
Milorad Cavic. In the final seconds, it appeared Phelps
would come in second. In the last few feet at the finish,
Cavic coasted to the end while Phelps fought for it with
everything he had. Even when Cavic had the lead, Phelps
never gave up. He fought to the finish.

I wondered how many times in life we go 90% of the way
there only to fizzle out or coast at the end. Regardless
of whether you think you have it won or not, give it your
all right up to the very end. That’s what Champions do.

I learned in working with my Trainers Darin and Cordell, that
your greatest growth comes when your muscles burn and fatigue
and every sensation is telling you to quit. At first it seems
like that’s all you have left. But those one or two extra reps
AFTER that point are the key.

That extra effort is where the real growth and magic happens.

These few lessons are just some of what I extracted from
watching Michael Phelps become the greatest Olympian of all
time. They are things that you and I can easily do every
single day if we simply apply them to our lives.

Unleash your inner Champion.

Live Your Dreams,

Jill Koenig

http://www.goalguru.com

Jill Koenig, the “Goal Guru” is America’s Top Goal Strategist.
A best selling Author, Coach and Motivational Speaker, she is
an expert on the subjects of Goal Setting, Time Management and
Business Success. Her Goal in life is to help you UNLEASH
your untapped potential. Learn cutting edge Goal Strategies at
http://www.GoalGuru.com

Media Requests: Jill Koenig is a dynamic high energy tv and
radio guest available for interviews and corporate speaking
engagements.

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I bring this to your attention now so that you can give yourself the ability to make a conscious decision of what you want to create for yourself in the final 33 days left in 2007. That gives you plenty of time to tie up loose ends get a handle on any unfinished business you want to wrap up before December 31st.

For some this time of year brings great growth and positive momentum, yet others experience a decline or negative momentum, as in a slow down.

There are many myths about the Holiday Season when it comes to business. These myths apply to both online and offline businesses.

The Biggest Business Myth of the Holiday Season: “Only retail and gift businesses grow during this time of year, every other business slows.” This is simply not true. I love it when people tell me that business is slow this time of year and that my business will slow whether I want it to or not. It seems like a rather helpless proposition, doesn’t it?

In most cases, business slows for them because they stopped doing the daily method of operation that their business needs in order to continue moving forward. Many business owners actually reduce their efforts and fail to follow their own action plan during this time because they believe it is a slow season, because someone told them it would be and so it becomes true for them. Because they believe and accept this erroneous prediction, they stop trying, they stop injecting life giving effort into their business. That is why business slows for them.

Yet for others, this is the time or year to create exponential growth. If your competition is reducing their efforts, and most are, it is the perfect time for you to rev it up and make your move.

Don’t get caught in the trap of reducing your efforts because the media, your peers or anyone tells you that business slows. Do not ever accept that invitation to slack or minimize your efforts. This is the most critical time of year to practice consistency for any business. Every action you take in December contributes to a stronger January. Keep the ball rolling.

The keys for thriving during the Holiday Season are persistence and consistency. Every day people are looking for whatever information, service or product you offer. Those who keep up, stick with their plan or even increase their focus and efforts this time of year are the ones who will reap the rewards and explode their growth in the coming year.

Choose to be one of them.

You do not have to succumb to the myths that others use to rationalize their own laziness or reduced actions that are based purely on opinion.

Momentum breeds Momentum.

Winners know that finishing strong in December is the catalyst for massive growth in January as it sets the tone for the rest of the year.

Live Your Dreams,

Jill Koenig

Phyllis Apple, 84 year old owner of a thriving PR firm

Boomers are Booming and apparently 80 is the new 40.

Scientists still cannot agree whether the average human life span will be 85 or 100 or 150, but one thing is for certain, the days of getting a “good job” and working there until you retire at sixty are over.

During the twentieth century the human life span increased by more than 50 percent in most industrialized countries. When Jeanne Calment died in southern France in 1997, she was 122 years old, the longest-living human ever documented.

Today, 1 in 10,000 people in industrialized countries hold centenarian status.

One thing is certain. It’s never too late to pursue a dream, in fact, feeling young has a lot to do with staying active and engaged in your passions and things that interest you.

If you knew you would live to 100 or more years, what changes would you make in your health and lifestyle habits today?

Here are some examples of Goal Getters, 8 Entrepreneurs over 80 who are living their dreams.

Live Your Dreams,

Jill