Good Servant Bad Boss

Good Servant Bad Boss

Description:

Habits is an acquired by doing a particular action instilled by repetition.

Our habits serve us like a good faithful servant and also our habits rule over us like a bad boss. Habits are the ones which make or break a Person. We become what we repeatedly do. First you make your habits, and then your habits make you!

Intent:

To learn to imbibe good habits right from childhood

To keenly watch our life style and the role of habits

To make consistent efforts to overcome the weakening habits

Question:

When our habits become our servant when it becomes our boss?

Do we lose our peace because we have a "Habit" of saying something or doing something?

What we should do to uproot a not so good habit at an early stage?

How to find out the role of habits in our life?

Demo Idea:

A wealthy man requested a father to wean his son away from his bad habits.

The father took the youth for a stroll through a garden. Stopping suddenly he asked the boy to pull out a tiny plant growing there. The youth held the plant between his thumb and forefinger and pulled it out. The father then asked him to pull out a slightly bigger plant. The youth pulled hard and the plant came out, roots and all.

"Now pull out that one," said the father pointing to a bush. The boy had to use all his strength to pull it out.

"Now take this one out," said the father, indicating a guava tree. The youth grasped the trunk and tried to pull it out. But it would not budge.

"I – It's impossible," said the boy, panting with the effort.

Interaction…

"So it is with bad habits," said the father. "When they are young it is easy to pull them out but when they take hold they cannot be uprooted."

The session with the father changed the boy's outlook of life.

Application idea:

Five good habits you wish to cultivate.

Example: Folding the bed sheet, keeps the books in order etc. for next one month.

Experience:

Kumar, a student has shared his experience in forming habits. He suggests few tips to form characteristics to give a strong foundation for any healthy habit to grow and form.

Choose a simple, little habit: Example: Early raising, keep the house neat, regulating Face book time, exercise etc.

Take a little time to simply practice it: Regular practice and time allotment is necessary

Preparation to practice a habit:

Motivation: You need to have a strong motivation to change a habit of yours. If you are just trying to do it for fun, it is not going to last.

Goal: Why do you want to create the habit in the first place? In what ways does it make your life better? He said: ‘In my situation when becoming an early riser, I was able to work out, so that I could improve my sports results.’

Plan & Preparation: Do you feel that there is some preparation that makes it easier to form or follow your new habit? Do you need to prepare somehow?

Kumar said, ‘I knew why I had to wake-up early, because of my training program and I prepared myself for early wake-ups by packing my stuff the night before.’

Consistency: Which one of these scenarios makes the habit more probable to stick: doing it consistently on certain days at certain time or doing it whenever you feel to, randomly?

Kumar said: If the execution of my new habit would have been irregular, I wouldn't have it now. The consistency was the key here – waking up at 5 AM every day.

Persistency: When forming a new habit and a first setback comes, are you willing to hang on or quit? Kumar recounted: ‘Sometimes my new habit was tested. I didn't feel like waking up, but at the same time I knew that I wasn't able to succeed in my sports activities if I slept late. I was tested at times, like if I was serious about my new habit, but I passed the tests and the habit lasted.’

Accountability: Do you keep the information about the habit on yourself or do you let anyone else know about it? I was fortunate to have a strong motivation in place, which acted as my fuel for my habit. However, sometimes you may need to have an accountability partner, so that he/she will keep you in line with your habits.

In my case, I was accountable to myself, because I knew that if I didn't wake-up early (and exercise) I would feel bad about myself. I didn't want that to happen.

Picture for Discussion:  What do you think about this picture?