How to Stop Your Insane Habitual Behavior

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Are you crazy?

Admit it. You’re at least a bit cray-cray, right? Just a bit insane?

You must have a few habits that do not yield the results you desire. But you keep repeating those behaviors, right?

Okay, I’ll fess up. I’m a little insane, too.

• I don’t broach tough subjects with those I love but want the relationships to improve.
• I leave important projects until last but expect them to get done promptly and on deadline.
• I avoid creating sales pages and funnels but want to make more money (while I sleep).
• I eat ice cream and candy but want to stand on the scale and weigh less than the day (or year) before.
• I focus on what I don’t want while expecting what I do want to show up.

Can you relate? Do you have some habits like these—behaviors you keep repeating despite the fact that they don’t support what you want to create in your life?

Here’s the thing: If you don’t change those old habits, you’ll never get the new results you desire…and neither will I.

7 Steps to Sanity

How do you change your unhelpful habits to helpful ones? Try these seven steps to a more sane life and the results you want to achieve in the New Year.

1. Make a decision. That simple. Decide to do something differently. Change happens in an instant…the moment you decide to change.
2. Know why you want to change. What is the result you desire? Attach an emotional and meaningful reason to your “why.”
3. Link not changing to pain. Imagine how you feel each time you fail to develop a new habit and end up stuck in the same situation. It doesn’t feel good, right? Remember that…
   
4. Link changing to pleasure. Imagine what it would feel like to have established that new habit and experienced the fabulous results you’ve wanted. Feels great, right? Of course…Remember that more often.
   
5. Take action…lots of it. Don’t just say, “I have decided to get in shape. I know how horrible I have felt being unable to keep up with my kids at the park and I know how great it would feel to go cycling, play soccer, and run around with them.” Do something! Hire a personal trainer or get an exercise buddy. Put “exercise” on your calendar five days a week. And then do it…exercise!
6. Be clear about the result you want (and by when). You won’t be able to measure your progress unless you know what you want to achieve—a slimmer and more fit body in six months, for instance.
7. Reassess your progress regularly. If what you are doing is not creating new habits—change—fast enough, determine if you need to change your strategy.

Don’t Struggle to Change

If you continue to struggle to change your behavior, don’t keep fighting your old habits alone. Many people need help or accountability—even after they decide to do things differently.

A coach might be just the thing you need to create new behaviors. You could hire a personal trainer, a success coach, or a high-performance coach, like me. (You can click here to download an application for a free one-hour Certified High Performance Coaching session with me. Fill it out and email it back to me at nina@ninaamir.com.)

If you desire more sanity in the New Year…more habits that support you on your journey to becoming your best self…decide to act in a sane rather than insane manner. Try the seven steps above.

And leave me a comment below telling me what strategies have helped you change your habits.

Photo copyright: Peggy_Marco / Pixabay.com