A Habit Of Kindness

“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” ― Jackie Robinson

In our daily life, spreading a bit of cheer and support to to other people can make a big difference in their lives. Whether it be a simple act of encouragement or a smile to brighten the day is an event which can set off a wave of great things.

Not long ago a lady where I work was tasked with giving a presentation in front of senior managers. Being nervous is an understatement for many people who do not normally do this for a living.

I remember my first public presentation many years ago. I had a dry mouth while wondering how it would all turn out. I was mostly hoping to just make it through.

As I spoke to the woman mentioned above prior to the presentation, all I could offer was encouragement and support. I am certain there were others who did the same thing. Her presentation occurred and of course, dry mouth and nerves still existed but she did a great job.

All were happy.

Could she have done this without all of the support and encouragement? Probably, but the act of others believing in her provided another level of confidence. The result was a better presentation as others made an impact and change happened for her.

Change (large or small) occurs in every kind gesture you provide to someone. A door opened for another improves their day and unconsciously the gesture gets passed along through to others. As Scott Adams wrote, "...there is no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.”

Make it a habit each day.

Try to perform seven acts of kindness or good will and encouragement each day. Eventually you will do these things by habit every day in your daily walk through life. As the water ripples, let your own kindness carry forth for eternity.

Stay inspired my friends!

Changing Traditions and Habits

“The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.” ― John Maynard Keynes

Staying the course in life is not always the correct and right thing to do. Tradition can have a powerful and meaningful effect when properly applied. But if tradition is maintained only for the sake of tradition, it then makes no sense to continue on with it.

The same can be said regarding our own lives. Those things we tend to do the same way, over and over again. We repeat the same mistake or try using the same methods which have failed five times before. Maybe it is going into the same job, day after day that does not pay enough and lacks any joy.

Break daily tradition and find a different type of job.

Each day you drive the same route to work. And each day, on that same route, the same traffic aggravates you. The slow movement of cars, the honking of irritation and all those stop lights. The stress simply depresses you well before the day really gets started.

Find a new way by driving a different route to work.

There are many small, medium or big things you could do. Alter your diet which affects your physical state, or a new radio or television station to affect your mental state. Getting up from bed in the morning earlier or going to bed earlier in the evening.

You can do things to shake up the tradition of your life.

Sometimes doing the same thing over and over just isn't very smart. Shaking up your world does not mean you will get it right the first or second time. What it will do is give you a different perspective. And it is this new perspective which will give you opportunity to see how your life can be different.

Try shaking up those traditions in your life that are not working.

Move away from the comfortable chains of doing things the same way. Away from those same habits which are not working for you in life. Take a bold step into a new way of living your life. See how much greater things can be.

Stay inspired my friends!

Bad Habits Out

"The unfortunate thing about this world is that good habits are so much easier to give up than bad ones." -Somerset Maugham

I am like everyone else out there and have some bad habits. It doesn't matter what or which ones. All it means is that they are bad habits in my view and I need to continue working on ridding myself of them. But how does one go about getting rid of a bad personal habit?

There are many habits that we can easily get rid of. The difficulty though is that many habits have multiple aspects to them. This means that one thing will trigger an event that triggers the bad habit. I'm not trying to make this an overly difficult task (ridding yourself of a bad habit). But you need to considered changing other habits that support the one you are trying to get rid of.

Some good ways to find out if the habit you’re interested in removing has other aspects to it is to ask the following questions:

- What are the benefits of this habit?
- If I got rid of this habit, what would change?

A good example is smoking, which is a very social thing. Many people feel that it helps relax them. Additionally, they feel it is a good and nonthreatening way to meet people (“Got a light?”). If the smoking habit was gone, you would than have to find another way to meet people, relax, etc.

What it comes down to is seeing what the triggers are and understanding how to change those triggers. Change the triggers and you give yourself a fighting chance to rid the bad habit. And when you change those triggers, what else will change in your life? Other habits will probably cease to exist, leaving room for better things in life.

If you don't change, there are still consequences associated with the bad habit. Bad habits will tend to beget other bad habits, so on and so forth. The same is true for good habits in that better habits will be born of good habits.

Change is never easy and can be hard to sustain. I'm working on change, every day, evaluating and trying to understand myself. You can do the same and together we'll make our lives even better.

Stay inspired my friends.

Creating Habit

A brand new year is well under way now and so many of us have set forth resolutions to accomplish this year. A large percentage will make a commitment to join a gym and working out. A survey sponsored by Weight Watchers found that 45 percent of Americans say losing weight will be their New Year's resolution for 2009 and 97 percent of those resolved to do so will need assistance to keep that resolution. The more telling statistic is that about 70 percent of new clients drop within a couple of months.

There will be many other types of resolutions; all well intentioned and for the betterment of one's life or surroundings. Setting goals and starting your walk towards change is a fantastic way to start the year. But the change doesn't come without a cost. It can be a difficult road and 'instant gratification' is what many people want.

A friend of mine, Dean Sweetman has this saying which goes, "conception is fun but birthing is hard!" An amazing but very applicable statement to make in the context of trying to accomplish things in life. Much of what you will attempt in your new year resolution is supported by initial enthusiasm and excitement. You will be the first one in the gym using all of the various equipment.

The first week you are there every day, the pain is great but you know progress is being made. The weekend comes and you take a day or two off. The following week the stiffness is just a bit much so you tell yourself you should back off to only two or three days a week. Gradually you find yourself going less and less; finding more and more excuses not to go.

Long term commitment and 'habit' and are the keys to success in your new year's goals. As Dean said, the excitement of change in the new year is fun; the continued commitment to achieving the change is hard.

When you create habits in your life, they will become automatic. This is true for bad habits as well as good habits. Smoking was not an instant thing because you developed bad habits that will take time to remove from your life. Becoming more healthy will take time as well along with any of the other many changes you may want to make.

Be excited, be joyous that you are doing something great; yet be ready for the work it will take to create good habits in your life. Be ready to see your goal getting closer as you continue to work and achieve. Eventually you will get there and it will have seemed so automatic. Have a great and prosperous 2009!