How to Create Your Own Reality—With Light, With Joy, With Success—In Five Simple Steps

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Oct 1, 2004

"I am your constant companion. I am your greatest helper or your heaviest burden. I will push you onward or drag you down to failure. I am completely at your command. Half the things you do you might just as well turn over to me. And I will be able to do them quickly and correctly. I am easily managed; you must merely be firm with me. Show me exactly how you want something to be done and after a few lessons I will do it automatically. I am the servant of all great people. And, alas, of failures as well. Those who are great, I have made great. Those who are failures, I have made failures. I am not a machine, though I work with all the precision of a machine, plus the intelligence of the human. You may run me for profit, or run me for ruin; it makes no difference to me. Take me, train me, and be firm with me and I will put the world at your feet. Be easy with me and I will destroy you. Who am I? I am habit." Author Unknown

Habit. Well, if you think you are not controlled by habit, check this out:

The average American adult, over a lifetime, will spend approximately:

5 years waiting in line, 4 years doing household chores, 3 years in meetings, 6 years waiting at red lights, 1 year watching TV commercials, 20 hours a week in leisure activities, 7 hours a week in front of the TV, 3 hours a week reading, 2 hours working out or listening to music, 7 hours in other social activities with family, friends, parties, or other entertainment.

Remaining waking hours: eating, washing, cooking, shopping, commuting, puttering around.

So, anything wrong with habit? Not at all. But as the opening quote suggests, if you don't control habit, and it controls you, your life can be unruly at best. Devastating at worst.

New Thought teaches that habit, the repetition of activities and thoughts, can either aid or hinder the progress of our lives. I share with you here five simple steps that you can use to make sure your habits are aiding you and not holding you back. How you apply them is up to you.

First, IDEA-lize. Imagine what it is you want to do, in your career, your relationships, your social life. Write it down. Use as much description as possible.

I am rather lazy when it comes to journaling or keeping a diary, so whenever I am reading a good book, I simply write down my favorite quotes in a small notebook. I have dozens of such notebooks with hundreds of supporting quotes, lists, and my ideas about them. It's a great way to journal. And it gives me a true idea of what I want to do and be and where I want to go.

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