Dear Reader,
Do you have a habit that you’d like to break?
I recently had dinner with one of the most talented doctors I’ve ever known. He has incredible success getting people to give up old, destructive habits – regardless of how many times they’ve tried and failed.
He has an impressive track record with smokers. The general success rate – no matter which smoking program you’re talking about – is between 20% and 30%. But he’s able to get over 50% of smokers to quit within 4 weeks.
So how does he better the odds?
His technique is simple. You put your conscious mind between your thoughts and your habit. Here’s how it works: When the desire for a cigarette strikes, you put 30 seconds between that desire and the act of lighting up.
During those 30 seconds, you stop and think about why you’re smoking and why you want to stop. Then you smoke your cigarette.
This works for several reasons. First, it breaks the chain of acting without thinking. Second, it allows you to develop and reinforce the feeling of why you want to quit. Over time, the desire to break the habit becomes the dominant motivating force and the ritual is broken.
My friend tells me that within 4 weeks, over half his patients give up their habits. You can use this technique on your own and get the same results.
One of the most important things I’ve learned about changing habits is that you need to replace a bad habit with a good habit. But this a little trickier than you might think. This requires that you change your attitude. That’s the trick.
This is where my patients need the most help.
Rex and Carolyn Sikes have a great coaching system for changing your attitude. It’s called the Attitude Activator, part of a program that I’ve been using lately, it’s called Euphoria! You’ll hear me talk about this more. To find out more now, CLICK HERE.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD