Sunday 27 May 2012

Ways To Change a Habit (Part 3)

AFFIRM YOUR INTENTION  
You can pave the way for a new behaviour by clearing a mental path for it. Before you apply the new behaviour, rehearse it in your mind. Mentally picture what actions you will take and in what order.

Say that you plan to improve your handwriting when taking notes. Imagine yourself in class with a blank notebook poised before you. See yourself taking up a finely crafted pen. Notice how comfortable it feels in your hand. See yourself writing clearly and legibly. You can even picture how you will make individual letters: the e’s, i’s, and r’s. Then, when class is over, see yourself reviewing your notes and taking pleasure in how easy they are to read.

START WITH A SMALL CHANGE

You can sometimes rearrange a whole pattern of behaviours by changing one small habit. If you have a habit of always being late for class, and if you want to change that habit, then be on time for one class. As soon as you change the old pattern by getting ready and going on time to one class, you’ll likely find yourself arriving at all of your classes on time. You might even start arriving everywhere on time.

The joy of this process is watching one small change of habit ripple through your whole life.

4 comments:

  1. Hello Marcelina,

    I would like to tell that I have enjoyed reading almost all of your articles in this blog. This really motivates a lot to start letting me change a bit on what I am right now. Sometimes, I wake up late in the morning due to my stressful work. But now, I am trying to change everything by adjusting my own time for both work and everything else.

    Even for a small change, it gets bigger slowly but surely.

    Ogie

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  2. This article reminds me of my days as a high school student. I was been marked as tardy several times and been warned by my teacher and parents. So I had no other choice but to be always ahead of the schedule, and don't be late.

    It's better to wake up early than late..until now I'm doing this while I'm off to my job.

    Titus

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  3. I like that you suggested starting with a small change. We all have things we would like to improve about ourselves, but it can become overwhelming to tackle a large task and not see results. Starting small will give you the confidence you need to grow!

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  4. It feels good to know that you can still break the bad habits. Starting with a small change is a great way to make a big change in our habits. Your articles are all encouraging giving as good reasons to make significant changes in our lives. Thanks!

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