Week 33 “Habits Work”
It’s one of the fundamental clues of success…or not.
Habits work.
And they work FOR or AGAINST most any individual’s success. Many people have developed the HABIT of watching hours upon hours of TV.
Others develop the habit of reading or writing regularly, if not daily.
“There are two types of habits—those we form deliberately and voluntarily for definite purposes, and those we PERMIT to form by chance circumstances of life through LACK OF AN ORGANIZED PHILOSOPHY.” —Napoleon Hill
In his writings Napoleon Hill mentions a phrase called “cosmic habitforce” and defines it as “the overall controller through which Nature directs all her laws.” Atoms, stars, planets, seasons, and more all systematic, seemingly automatic, and certainly with a timing and purpose that occurs over and over.
“Our HABITS are fastened upon us by repetition of our THOUGHTS AND ACTS. Therefore we can control our earthly destinies and our way of living only to the extent that we control our THOUGHTS.
We must direct them to form the habits we need and desire. Good habits which lead to success can be ordered and used by any individual. BAD HABITS can be broken and replaced by good ones AT WILL by anyone.” —Napoleon Hill, A Year of Growing Rich
Building or RE-building habits is available to anyone at any age.
Mr. Rohn calls this DAILY DISCIPLINE and says the only way to change a habit or change your life or the results you’re getting from it is to change SOMETHING you do DAILY!
In my book Becoming Uncommon I relate a passage I came across as a young salesperson. I’ve never found the author attributed to the passage but I’ve attached it to this lesson to pass along to you how powerful our thoughts are and what can happen as a result of our CULTIVATING powerful habits in our daily lives;
“I am…Your constant companion.
I am your greatest helper, or toughest obstacle.
I will push you onward, or drag you down to failure.
I am completely at your command.
Half the things you do might just as well be turned over to me,
and I will do them almost effortlessly and correctly.
I am easily managed.
You must merely be firm with me in the beginning, and consistent with me for a time. Show me exactly how you want something done,
And after a few lessons, I will take over, and do it almost automatically
I am the servant of all great people and alas, of all failures as well.
Those great, I have made great.
And those who fail, have I made failures.
I am not a machine, though I work with the ease of one, and have the intelligence of a person just like you. You may use me for profit or for ruin, it makes no difference to me.
Take me, teach me, be firm with me and I will place the best things in life at your disposal. Ignore me, or treat me carelessly, and I will bring destruction to you.
Who am I?
I am HABIT.”
Go back and read it one more time and see how this clue fits into the success puzzle. It’s a critical piece.
Good habits and bad habits are cultivated or developed by each of us. Unique or common, productive or destructive, we each have the power to choose.
Which habit that you’ve developed are you most pleased about?
Which one causes you the greatest concern?
If there’s something about you, or about your life, that you’d like to change; then go to work on changing the habits that can bring them to pass.
It’s easy to do. But it’s easier not to do. Which one do you choose?
“We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.”
—Aristotle
When we really think about it, we can arrive at only one conclusion…