Old Habits Die Hard

Greetings!

As you can see it’s been awhile since I’ve added some thoughts here. Blogging was supposed to be a new activity that I would post to on a fairly regular basis … Yeah. Well, I had good intentions … which brings me to my topic.

The fact is, we are creatures of habit and changing a pattern of behavior is much easier said than done. We do lots of stuff by rote, without stopping for a second to think about anything. Take your morning routine, the place you stop in to get your coffee (or tea), and (for the ladies) how you apply your makeup. Putting on makeup, what’s the big deal, you say?? Trust me on this, it was ridiculous how long it took me to reverse my morning regimen once I got a new prescription . . .

My point – changing a rote pattern takes determination and concentration, and moments when we have to literally stop what we are doing and think about what the next step is before we make it. The process of implementing even the most simplest change (like the order of stuff that needs to be done when putting on makeup) is mildly annoying at the least and downright exasperating to the point of chucking the “better” way of doing things …

So – is it any wonder that we balk at changing systems, vendors, operations,or employees that are not cutting the mustard etc., in our businesses??

What a headache, right??

Fact is, change is necessary and for the most part lots of new thought processes, systems, vendors – whatever – can help our businesses run better and make our lives less stressful in the long term.

Once you make a plan of action, cut yourself a break in the implementation process. I intend on posting at least 3 times a week from now on, but that means I have to break my pattern of frittering away time (under the guise of doing research, keeping up-to-date with trends and resources; which I am, in fact, doing for very good reasons.) Realistically though it’s gonna take me about 3 weeks to go from the stop- and-start of breaking old habits, to creating new ones.

Bottom line: In order to accommodate the various new initiatives I’ve put on my 2006 to-do list (like blogging, writing my book, and podcasting) there are going to be a some bumps and glitches along the way, for about 21 days, before things start to go smoothly. If I don’t start now another month will go by and … Well, you get the picture. I’ll still be doing what I always did!

Wishing you the best of luck of on your re-patterning challenges!
Pattie