monday motivation :: break bad habits

Good Morning my lovely blog friends! I am excited and happy to start a new week. Are you? I sure hope so ;)  I also hope you had a lovely weekend that was filled with fun and excitement and a bit of relaxation also.

I did a little bit of everything and a lot of nothing this weekend. My daughter was feeling sick with a bad cough (I worry that it may have been brought on by our little incident earlier), but I managed to still catch up with house duties, squeezed in a delicious batch of super yummy (and gosh so easy) cookies (post to come ;) and guess what I finally started to repaint Gabi’s room – much more on that later also.

OK. OK. Enough chit chat. Let’s cut to the MM already. You’ve read the quote above…. so you know what’s coming ;)  Sorry if I’m coming on too strong… (don’t touch that mouse to close this window just yet :). I haven’t even started. Hang in there ok, this won’t be so bad, I promise and you may come through just fine and maybe a little encouraged and inspired….

The truth is already out there – we all are thinking of or dealing with an unwanted habit or two… (if you’re frowning your brows and saying ‘not me’ under your breath – you may be in DENIAL ;) – that’s the first step. Let’s look at that quote again: “First we form habits, then they form us, conquer your bad habits or they will conquer you.” This is some powerful stuff coming from Dr. Rob Gilbert. I have to say this quote has really helped me change my life around. I came across it way before the hard times when we were dealing with starting up our graphic design business – and I memorized it and refreshed it in my mind to focus on my business and work on things like procrastination, organization, meeting deadlines, time management, etc. Later on when I entered motherhood, and with it (in my case) an illness, I felt I needed to refocus my energy and once again work on my ‘bad habits’. I improved my diet, exercised more, and improved my lifestyle with pranayamas (yoga breathing), that really helped me to calm down and reduce stress.

I focused on nutrition (I was eating way too much sugar), exercise and stress reduction as my  goals. After a two year struggle, I conquered my bad habits and created a better life for myself – practically free of my symptoms). I don’t officially say I’m ‘cured’ because I do have good days and bad days – but I am in full control of my life now and I feel great and look better (much better than the 73 lbs I weighed when I couldn’t eat).

I just came across Elle Swan who has just the philosophy that connects this quote to a lifestyle change. She has an interesting little Youtube clip posted here. This is her list of:

5 WAYS TO BREAK BAD HABITS

1. Keep it a Secret
2. Power of Pretending (interesting – I just wrote about that)
3. Stay in Character
4. (this is a FUNNY one – BLOG ABOUT IT! (hey, that’s what this space here is all about ;)
5. Snap it Away

Now, I didn’t know about Elle when I motivated myself out of my bad health and bad habits but I am sure she will give me a bigger boost now to really help change my life for the better even more.

I realize, my story is a little unique, like 1 in 500 unique (odds of getting Myasthenia Gravis), but I feel like our habits are similar whether we want to cut down on sugar, eat more nutritious meals, exercise, loose weight, reduce stress, of course there’s the real bad habits – like smoking, drug and alcohol addiction that need to be worked on. I find they’re all similar in that we need to find ways to CONTROL our emotions and decisions in order to combat them.

Remember, CONQUER YOUR BAD HABITS OR THEY WILL CONQUER YOU.
For more inspiration don’t forget to check out Elle – she is spectacular ;), check out Dr. Rob Gilbert, and I also found a great post on TPE with 39 WAYS on BREAKING BAD HABITS – with personal tips from successful entrepreneurs from a variety of industries all over the globe.

So, getting personal here, what are some of your ‘bad’ habits you’d like to work on?
What inspires you most to make a change for the better?

I hope this post helps make you a more focused, satisfied person in your personal or professional life (ideally both ;)
Wishing you a wonderful day!