Most people have negative habits they are holding on to. Smoking, procrastination, Freddy Prinze Jnr movies; how do we quit?
Dr. Sharon House indicates the problem isn’t battling your, maybe, weak will, but rather that you’re not identifying the habit’s payoffs.
These negative payoffs are really what keep you involved in the habit. The key, explains House, is knowing what the payoffs are and why you still want them. Knowing the payoff means knowing why you keep the habit.
We are not random creatures. Everything we do, we do for a reason. Everything we do has a payoff of some sort that at some level serves us. We may not consciously be aware of what the payoff is, but “it” is there waiting to be discovered and uncovered. It will be discovered only if we are willing to shine the light inwardly and admit the unvarnished truth – “I am a procrastinator (or _____________fill in the blank with your negative habit) and will remain a procrastinator (or_________________fill in the blank) as long as there is a payoff for me in doing so!”
Manage Your Negative Habits, Eliminate Your Payoffs – [CultivateGenius]
