How to Change Someones Bad Habits(or your own)

[Mikkel]

Habits are a pain in the a$$ to change, especially in other people.


Example

You're a parent and you want your child to clean up there room, without asking.

You got a roommate that leaves dirty dishes piled up in the sink all the time.

You yourself, always finding a way into the cookie jar, even after you made a promise to yourself to eat healthier.

You try to change habits, but to no avail.

So what do you do? You keep trying to change there habits in the same manner as you did before, right?!?

WRONG!


If you're method of curving ones habits is not working, repeating yourself will only aggravate the person.



Instead, try a different method.

Try to connect the fixing of the "annoying" habit to something that is relatable and purposeful for that person.

For instance, my parents and college roommate has found it incredibly annoying that I myself would not clean up my room or and would leave dirty dishes in the sink.

Parents way of dealing with situation for 20 years. Yell at me to clean up room
Effectiveness: None. I wanted to rebel, and purposefully made it a habit of not cleaning my room.

Roommates way of dealing with situation for 1 year. Move all my dishes onto my bed or in front of my door.
Effectiveness: Become annoyed and continue to leave a mess, further straining our relationship.
(Disclaimer, I know this behavior is incredibly annoying and I too wanted to change my behavior, but every attempt at breaking this habit led to failure.)

Thankfully, I read a simple thread, titled Brush Your Teeth Before Starting Business.

A quote that resonated with me was:

You are absolutely right. To further hit on your point, here is Admiral William H. McRaven on why its so important to make your bed every morning. This was at the 2014 UTexas-Austin graduation ceremony:

04:44

"To make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task. And another. And by the end of the day, that one tasked completed, will turn into many tasks completed."

"Making your bed reinforces that the little things matter; if you can't do the little things right, you will never be able to do the big things right"

This specific post changed a 22 year old bad habit. Why though?

This line of reason was relatable to me. I wanted to own my business some day, so the rational was, if I couldn't even make my bed (or clean my room and wash some dishes) how would I ever been able to preform daily tasks in the business world.

This post also provided purpose. If I want to be successful, I need to learn to preform tasks that are not always so desirable.

Simple.

I now wake up every morning without fail and make my bed. I never leave a trail of messes behind me and I always wash my dishes as soon as I finish eating.


How does this relate to going Fastlane or everyday life?

We will all run into someone, maybe even ourselves, that needs to be changed to further ones situation.


A coworker plays Pokemon Go on his phone all the time at work.

Your employee half asses his work, but has so much potential.

Your child doesn't clean up after themselves.



So remember, trying to change a problem with a method that has failed 10 times WILL NOT work the 11th time.

Try a different method.

Even better. Think how you can change this bad habit by making it relatable and by having purpose.

 

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