Rx For Success In 2011: Turn New Year"s Resolutions Into Promises and Harness Your Habits!
We're just a few weeks into 2011.
If you're like most people you've already given up on your New Year's Resolutions.
But don't throw in the towel just yet.
Here are two suggestions for success in 2011.
First, if you're sincere about wanting to make some changes in your life - perhaps lose weight, get fit, quit smoking, write a book, get a new job, or fix your finances - the first thing you need to do is stop calling them New Year's Resolutions.
Words matter.
People just don't take Resolutions seriously in part because the word "resolution" itself doesn't have any real meaning to us.
There's no connection to the word on a gut or heart level.
By making Resolutions, you're falling into the same old trap and you're setting yourself up for failure and disappointment.
Instead, turn some of your most important goals for 2011 into promises.
We all know what it means to make a promise.
As John Assaraf told said in an interview for my new book about the power of making a promise: We are neurologically wired to keep our promises.
" Making a promise, especially to someone you care about, will increase the likelihood that you'll follow through.
A promise is like a goal on steroids! With a promise your integrity is on the line and you're much more accountable.
The same cannot be said for garden variety New Year's Resolutions.
Second, you must learn how to harness the force of your habits.
These repeated patterns of thought and behavior function like a software program or a personal operating system.
The key to fulfilling resolutions or reaching goals of any kind is to reprogram your habits so they work for you, not against you.
Learning how to harness your habits is essential to personal empowerment and goal achievement.
Here is a quick summary of the Six Axioms of Personal Empowerment - six verities or truisms - that we all need to understand in order to take charge of our habits, achieve the goals we set for ourselves - including New Year's Resolutions - and ultimately reach our potential in life.
Axiom 1: You are what you repeatedly do.
Habits shape our lives.
Aristotle recognized this enduring truth.
We often talk about the "force of habit.
" The ability to change begins when we recognize the power of repeated patterns of thought and behavior.
Aristotle noted that "excellence is not an act, but a habit.
" The same can be said for failure and falling short of our potential.
Axiom 2: Your force of habit can either work for you or against you.
This powerful force is neutral.
It's neither positive nor negative.
It can either serve your purposes, or work against you.
It gets programmed from your earliest years and simply runs on autopilot on the subconscious level, meaning you don't always know why you do what you do or why you can't easily change your existing patterns.
This software program determines whether you'll succeed in fulfilling your resolutions and reaching the other goals you set for yourself, or whether those goals will simply fall by the wayside.
Axiom 3: You have a choice - you can "reprogram" your habits! You can reprogram your habits by using the Three Rs: Recognize, Reject, and Replace.
You can recognize habits or traps you'd like to change, reject these habits, and then replace them with habits or mindsets that will help you achieve your goals.
Axiom 4: You can't change what you don't realize.
It's important to spend time in personal reflection and meditation to identify the specific patterns that hold you back and undermine your success.
Look for patterns of thought and mindsets that manifest in negative self-talk.
Change begins when you bring your ongoing internal dialogue to conscious awareness.
Listen carefully to that small, persistent voice in the back of your mind - the inner critic - that tells you whether you can - or more often can't - achieve something.
These messages that you constantly send to yourself have real-world consequences.
Axiom 5: It takes a habit to replace a habit.
Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, also recognized the power of habits, realizing that you can't simply change a habit - you need to replace one habit with another habit.
Many people want to make changes or establish a new habit in their lives, but they don't take the time to inventory their existing negative habits.
You can use the Three Rs to recognize and reject what I refer to as "failure" habits and replace them with empowering "success" habits.
Axiom 6: We become what we think about.
We all have the power to become aware of and to change our thoughts.
A good exercise is to write down your thoughts so you can detect the subtle messages you send to yourself.
Are these positive, empowering messages, or are you sending negative, disempowering signals? Your thoughts are self-fulfilling prophecies, so take stock of what you think about.
You will reap in the world what you first sow in your mind in the form of thoughts.
These six axioms will help you reprogram your "force of habit" so it works for you.
To start the New Year off right, you should make a heartfelt promise - ideally to someone you care about - that you will harness your habits in 2011 and beyond.
That's personal change you can believe in.
If you're like most people you've already given up on your New Year's Resolutions.
But don't throw in the towel just yet.
Here are two suggestions for success in 2011.
First, if you're sincere about wanting to make some changes in your life - perhaps lose weight, get fit, quit smoking, write a book, get a new job, or fix your finances - the first thing you need to do is stop calling them New Year's Resolutions.
Words matter.
People just don't take Resolutions seriously in part because the word "resolution" itself doesn't have any real meaning to us.
There's no connection to the word on a gut or heart level.
By making Resolutions, you're falling into the same old trap and you're setting yourself up for failure and disappointment.
Instead, turn some of your most important goals for 2011 into promises.
We all know what it means to make a promise.
As John Assaraf told said in an interview for my new book about the power of making a promise: We are neurologically wired to keep our promises.
" Making a promise, especially to someone you care about, will increase the likelihood that you'll follow through.
A promise is like a goal on steroids! With a promise your integrity is on the line and you're much more accountable.
The same cannot be said for garden variety New Year's Resolutions.
Second, you must learn how to harness the force of your habits.
These repeated patterns of thought and behavior function like a software program or a personal operating system.
The key to fulfilling resolutions or reaching goals of any kind is to reprogram your habits so they work for you, not against you.
Learning how to harness your habits is essential to personal empowerment and goal achievement.
Here is a quick summary of the Six Axioms of Personal Empowerment - six verities or truisms - that we all need to understand in order to take charge of our habits, achieve the goals we set for ourselves - including New Year's Resolutions - and ultimately reach our potential in life.
Axiom 1: You are what you repeatedly do.
Habits shape our lives.
Aristotle recognized this enduring truth.
We often talk about the "force of habit.
" The ability to change begins when we recognize the power of repeated patterns of thought and behavior.
Aristotle noted that "excellence is not an act, but a habit.
" The same can be said for failure and falling short of our potential.
Axiom 2: Your force of habit can either work for you or against you.
This powerful force is neutral.
It's neither positive nor negative.
It can either serve your purposes, or work against you.
It gets programmed from your earliest years and simply runs on autopilot on the subconscious level, meaning you don't always know why you do what you do or why you can't easily change your existing patterns.
This software program determines whether you'll succeed in fulfilling your resolutions and reaching the other goals you set for yourself, or whether those goals will simply fall by the wayside.
Axiom 3: You have a choice - you can "reprogram" your habits! You can reprogram your habits by using the Three Rs: Recognize, Reject, and Replace.
You can recognize habits or traps you'd like to change, reject these habits, and then replace them with habits or mindsets that will help you achieve your goals.
Axiom 4: You can't change what you don't realize.
It's important to spend time in personal reflection and meditation to identify the specific patterns that hold you back and undermine your success.
Look for patterns of thought and mindsets that manifest in negative self-talk.
Change begins when you bring your ongoing internal dialogue to conscious awareness.
Listen carefully to that small, persistent voice in the back of your mind - the inner critic - that tells you whether you can - or more often can't - achieve something.
These messages that you constantly send to yourself have real-world consequences.
Axiom 5: It takes a habit to replace a habit.
Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, also recognized the power of habits, realizing that you can't simply change a habit - you need to replace one habit with another habit.
Many people want to make changes or establish a new habit in their lives, but they don't take the time to inventory their existing negative habits.
You can use the Three Rs to recognize and reject what I refer to as "failure" habits and replace them with empowering "success" habits.
Axiom 6: We become what we think about.
We all have the power to become aware of and to change our thoughts.
A good exercise is to write down your thoughts so you can detect the subtle messages you send to yourself.
Are these positive, empowering messages, or are you sending negative, disempowering signals? Your thoughts are self-fulfilling prophecies, so take stock of what you think about.
You will reap in the world what you first sow in your mind in the form of thoughts.
These six axioms will help you reprogram your "force of habit" so it works for you.
To start the New Year off right, you should make a heartfelt promise - ideally to someone you care about - that you will harness your habits in 2011 and beyond.
That's personal change you can believe in.