So why do we waste so much of our time worrying about doing what we’re best at? Not only that, but we seem to go out of our way to do anything but what we should be doing. Whether it’s web surfing, TV watching or just shuffling papers, we’ve all done it.

Here’s five quick and easy things you can do to beat your procrastination. They may not be enough to cure it entirely, but they’ll help you get over the initial hump.

Create a work friendly environment

Remove distractions from where you’ll be working before you start. Turn the TV and radio off, close your internet browser and your IM clients. Get everything you’ll need for the task ahead, and lay it out in front of you. Make sure there’s plenty of light, and that you’re comfortable. Nothing makes work harder than an uncomfortable chair or a messy desk.

Make a short list

Making a big list of what needs doing is helpful at times, but when you’re battling with procrastination it can end up being de-motivating instead. Take an index card or small piece of paper, and list THREE things that you can accomplish in the day that will make a difference. It’s tempting to pick something big, but it’s important to start small. Even if it’s just "tidy desk" or "send email to X about project Y", it’s something you can work on.

Completing tasks is the best way of busting down the walls put up by procrastination, so think of them as a warm up before a work out. Once you feel more energetic and confident, move on to bigger jobs.

Start a timer

When I sit down to work on a task, I start a 30 minute timer. Then I start working. It doesn’t matter if the quality of writing is good or bad, as long as I do something. By having the timer in front of me, I’m reminded to focus on the job at hand. Once the timer is up, I’m done.

It’s often the case that I want to keep working even when the timer has finished, so it’s great for making progress on tasks I’ve been putting off.

Monitor your time

I’ve written about keeping a time log in the past, and they’re a good way to help you focus. When you know what you do is going to be written down, it’s a little encouragement to do something worthwhile.

RescueTime is a handy tool for Windows that automatically logs what you’re doing on the computer and lets you view statistics. After a week of use, you’ll be able to see what your biggest distractions are. Be warned, it can be a little sobering to find out just how much time is wasted during the day.

Reward yourself

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. When you force yourself to work, you can reinforce the idea that work it’s bad. Make sure you reward yourself, whether it’s a movie, a meal or reading a book in the sunshine. Smile when you’re working, to remind yourself that once you’re finished you can do something enjoyable. Don’t think of the task as a barrier keeping you from what you want, but as a journey to take to your reward.

1. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Steven Covey’s book was the first real self improvement book I ever read. It’s fair to say that it was one of the most important things I ever did, as every page is packed full of information. The seven habits aren’t particularly complex, and are more useful when treated as foundations to greater habits.

It takes time and effort to truly internalise them, but it’s worth the effort once you start feeling the difference. You’ll learn how to become more efficient in your work, how to improve your relationships with other people and how to maintain your habits once learnt.

2. The Power of Focus

Focus is a vital ingredient for any kind of productive work, as without it you can end up moving from project to project without ever completing anything. This book is a little heavy on the emotional side of things, and there are a few too many stories in it, but the core lessons are extremely useful.

There’s everything in here from creating a balanced life, to learning how to ask for things (which has always been a barrier for me). Even if you find it a little sappy, it’s worth reading just for the "pick me up" effect it has.

» My review at sodaware.net.

3. Getting Things Done

The GTD method of time management has become quite popular, and once you’ve tried the system it’s easy to see why. It’s very easy to get started with, and you don’t need lots of tools or software to do anything. A few sheets of paper and some folders are all you really need to start becoming more productive.

The core idea of the system is to stop your brain from having to remember everything you need to do. Once you have your ideas and tasks on paper, you can use your brain power to actually work on things instead of remembering them (or forgetting them if you’re anything like me )

» My review at sodaware.net.

4. The NOW Habit

This is another great book for managing your time, but it also takes recreation into account. Knowing that you have to sit at your desk for 12+ hours to finish a project can make you less productive, so scheduling in some fun time gives you something to look forward to and can make you more efficient.

I’ve used a lot of this book to create my own effective schedules, and knowing that I’ll be able to take a break does work. When you work for yourself you can fall into two traps: working too much and not taking time to relax, or relaxing too much and not actually working. Creating a schedule can help with both problems, so it’s definitely worth finding out how to make them.

5. The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success

It might have a particularly long title, but this book is packed with useful tips for becoming more successful. The laws are split into different categories, including business laws and personal laws, and each law also has tips at the end for applying it to your own life.

There’s a little repetition as you get further in, but you’re bound to find something you can use to become more successful.

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There are more recommendations in the personal development books section of the site, so take a look if you’re after some reading material.

I’d love to hear about books that have made a difference to you, so please feel free to leave them in the comments section!

OK, so that wasn’t a exactly textbook example of leadership. I could easily have opened up with a cliched tale of an ancient commander, leading his troops to victory in the face of overwhelming odds, but that only scratches the surface of leadership. More importantly, we all have the capacity to be great leaders without having to lead an army.

A very simplistic view of leadership is that it’s about getting people to work towards the same goal. However, the way this is done is what shows a leader’s true qualities. Bullying people into working will only get you so far, but being too easy going may not get you results at all. So what qualities do good leaders share?

• They lead by example — This is the foundation of everything else that makes a truly great leader. They set the bar high for themselves, and strive to live up to their own expectations. However, just because they have high standards doesn’t mean they expect perfection from everyone else. Everybody makes mistakes, even those with the best intentions.
• They are honest — Honesty and integrity are vital ingredients in any form of human interaction. Lying and scheming can get you places, and whilst some may get away with it, for the majority their underhanded ways will hurt them in the end.
• They have courage — If there’s one constant in life, it’s that things are never easy. It takes courage and strength of character to get yourself, and others, through these times. It also takes courage to do the right thing in the face of opposition.
• They listen — It’s easy to bark orders at people, but it’s important to listen to those you are leading. Nobody can do everything by themselves, so listen to the ideas and problems of others. It’s important to be open to feedback, because if people know you’ll ignore their problems and ideas they’ll be less likely to tell you anything in the first place.
• They nurture — There are a lot of talented people around that often feel as if their talents are being ignored. Great leaders can see the potential in others and encourage them to raise their game.
• They encourage others to be independent — A fear-based leader will not always encourage others to be independent, as this would threaten their position of "being in charge". By encouraging others to work independently, you let them know that you trust them and that they’re valuable members of a team.
• They plan — Because you’re working towards a goal, it’s essential to plan ahead. This lets people know that you’re serious about the project, and also gives them an idea of where things are going.

When we think of leadership, we often assume it is reserved for certain people. After all, leaders are born, not made, right? The truth is, you have the potential to be a truly great leader, and it doesn’t have to involve leading hundreds of people. Setting an example to those around you is also a form of leadership. The goal doesn’t have to be completing a new project or building a skyscraper, but becoming a better person.

Steven Covey’s Seven Low-Level Habits

In order to gain a further understanding of low-level habits, here are Steven’s original seven habits.

1. Be proactive — We all have the capacity to choose how we react in every situation. We can use the common reactive model of thinking, where we are not in control of what we think or feel, or we can choose to be proactive and decide on our responses.
2. Begin with the end in mind — Before you start any task, you should have a concrete idea of what the finished result will be.
3. Put first things first — Don’t waste time on insignificant and unrewarding tasks. Aim to sped as much time as possible working on the tasks that will bring you closer to the completion of your goals.
4. Think win/win — When working with others, always be looking for a solution that benefits both parties. Cultivate and develop an abundance mentality.
5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood — Always try to see the other person’s point of view before impressing your own upon them. Put yourself in their shoes, and try to experience the situation from their viewpoint.
6. Synergise — Synergy means that the whole is greater than the individual parts. By working together in a synergistic way, we can create much more than if we worked alone. Sadly this has become modern day management speak for "do more work in less time".
7. Sharpen the saw — Constantly regenerate and reinforce these habits through conscious action.

All of these habits are low-level, as they will affect just about everything you do. Developing any of these habits fully takes conscious effort, but they all bring considerable improvements to all areas of your life.

Effective High-Level Habits

Now that we have an understanding of low-level habits, we can look at building higher level habits. Each of these habits will bring improvements to your life, and the self-discipline acquired from learning each one can be used to learn others, in a snow-ball like effect.

Become an Early Riser

A lot has been said about the benefits of waking up early. Everyone wants to get more done in less time, and we can either wake up earlier or go to bed later. The main advantage of these two approaches is a lack of distraction and disturbance as everyone else is asleep. You can easily get several uninterrupted hours of work done without a break in concentration. Of the two, early rising has several major advantages:

Waking up early and staying up late are both habits that can be learnt with the correct preparation. The hardest part of learning to wake up early is battling the internal conversation of "just a few more minutes". It’s always extremely tempting to hit the snooze button and stay in bed, but it can be overcome. If you need a little help, you can always put your alarm nice and far away from your bed so you have to get out to switch it off, and then dunk your head in some cold water before going to bed.

Alternatively you can share a bed with somebody who takes up all of the room as soon as you get up so you can’t get back in

Motivate Yourself

Although motivation in itself is a low-level action, it can be reinforced with a high-level habit. Constantly topping up your motivation is important for those times when things get tough (and they will). There are plenty of different motivational techniques out there, and some work better for different people. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Take Regular Exercise

Aside from the health benefits of regular exercise, it’s great for your productivity and your mood. The body releases endorphins during strenuous activities which elevate the mood, and cause the phenomenon sometimes referred to as the "runner’s high".

Committing to regular exercise can be difficult at first. It’s important not to do too much when you first start as it can be counter-productive. If you haven’t exercised in a long time, start with a small goal like working out for 10 to 15 minutes three times a week. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it can be a challenge if you haven’t been doing much physical activity. Once you’ve built the habit of making time to exercise, you can start to increase the amount of time you spend doing it.

Use the Two-Minute Rule

If you have a task that will take less than two minutes, do it right away. It makes sense to get it done immediately, because it will take longer than two minutes to store it and retrieve it later. There is also the problem that most two minute tasks have produce the feeling that "it’ll only take a few mins so I’ll do it later", and they either snowball into a much bigger problem or don’t get done at all.

Make Plans to Achieve Your Goals

Making plans builds upon the habits of having clear goals and of prioritising actions. Once you have a firm idea of where you’re want to go, you’ll need to start deciding how you’re going to get there. Sometimes you might have no idea how you’re going to achieve a goal, and that’s fine too. Knowing what the goal is and visualising its achievement can give you valuable ideas, and it also opens your mind to opportunities you may have previously missed.

How far ahead you plan depends on the project and your own personal preference. Regardless of how far ahead you plan, remember to keep your plan as flexible as possible. Unexpected events will always occur, so be ready for them.

Get Yourself Organised

This is really a broad term that covers many smaller habits. Each small habit is useful on its own, but as they add up they become more and more valuable. Examples of good organisational habits are:

• Use an inbox — Keeping all your inputs in a single place prevents you from becoming overwhelmed from too many sources. The inbox is not a place to store work, and once something goes in to the inbox it should be processed once and dealt with. Don’t succumb to the urge to leaf through it and pick out the things you want. Go through it one item at a time, and keep it as empty as possible. The rest of your organisational system should be doing most of the work
• Keep your work area clean and tidy — A messy desk might not seem like a big problem, but lots of items lying around it can be a large distraction. Keep it simple and keep it clean.
• Regularly review your goals — Once you’ve listed your goals on paper, make it a habit to constantly review them. Make changes where necessary, and don’t be afraid to modify or even remove a goal if it is no longer relevant.
• File away your project work — As mentioned earlier, don’t use your inbox to store your work. Use folders to store work on projects, even if the folder will contain a single piece of paper. This approach makes it much easier to find the things you want, and keeps other areas clean and tidy.
• Use project and task lists — Keep a list of all the projects that you are working on, and keep separate lists of all your tasks. Use contextual to-do’s where appropriate.

Organisation can be a sticking point for some people, either because they have negative views of organised people, or because of a pre-conceived motion that they’re just disorganised and that’s the way it is.

A lack of organisation is a habit that can be replaced, and it’s well worth it. For example, if you spend 5 minutes a day looking for misplaced items, putting things in the correct place could save nearly 20 hours over the course of a year. Granted, that’s a particularly contrived example but the benefits are real. By getting organised you’ll save time, reduce stress and have higher self-esteem.

Developing a high level habit

A habit is a "recurrent pattern of behaviour that acquired through frequent repetition". In order to truly learn a high-level habit, you must continuously and consciously repeat the behaviour that you want to see. It requires devoted energy and attention, but all habits can be developed with the correct mindset. When you are first getting started, develop small changes at a time. As you succeed, start to build on these previous successes. It’s tempting to try and change everything overnight, but this approach usually leads to failure and frustration, and can set you further back in the long-term.

A simple method for learning a habit is as follows:

1. Define the habit to be learnt — Define a specific and measurable habit that you wish to learn. "I exercise for 25 minutes every day at 7am" is a good example, but "I regularly exercise" isn’t. Much like setting goals, you must be as specific as possible so that you know exactly what needs to be done to say that the habit has been learnt.
2. Monitor your progress — Create a system for monitoring your progress. This can be as simple as ticking a checkbox at the end of the day, or filling in a chart. It could also be something more substantial like writing entries in a journal to describe the experience in more details.
3. Use environmental reinforcement — Put up reminders and encouragement in places where you will constantly see it. Good places include the ceiling above your bed, or on a wall next to it. Also stick it on or above your desk, so that you’ll see it whilst you work
4. Take action — The more often you take the action, the easier it is to repeat. It can be difficult to start any new habit, and there is often a dip midway where you want to revert to a previous habit. Fight the urge, and enlist the help of others if you need it.

Any new habit takes work to achieve, but even small changes in your thinking and behaviour can create substantial changes in all areas of your life. None of these changes can be learnt overnight, but with consistent effort and energy you can transform your life into something truly amazing.

Here are 25 small tweaks you can use to increase your overall productivity.

1. Start as you mean to go on

2. Use positive affirmations

3. Set goals

4. Brainstorm

5. Eliminate distractions

6. Keep a journal or progress log

7. Use contextual to-do lists

8. Use a someday / maybe list

9. Take a mind dump

10. Monitor your time

11. Use a focussing partner

12. Prepare your workspace before you start

13. Take a nap

14. Take a break

15. Get yourself organised

16. Eat properly & keep your fluids up

17. Get some exercise

18. Use the four D’s

19. Learn to say "No" again

20. Work at a higher tempo

21. Limit your time

22. Start small

23. Revisit previous victories

24. Break down your big tasks

25. Experiment with different productivity techniques

Why we procrastinate

Procrastination is mostly used as a defence mechanism to protect us from our fears, such as the fear of failure. This behaviour is reinforced by the fact that procrastination is often rewarded. For example, even high school assignments that were completed the day before were often rewarded with a relatively high grade. There was very little incentive to go the extra mile and complete something early and to a higher standard. If anything, this kind of behaviour would often result in alienation from your peers and even physical bullying.

Despite saying to ourselves "that’s the last time I’ll leave it so late", we still end up leaving important jobs to the last minute. Why?

Fear of Failure

Failure has different meanings for different people. For a perfectionist, anything less than the absolute best result is a failure. For other people, it may be a lack of praise from someone they respect that causes them to believe their project is a failure. This fear is particularly potent as many people (mistakenly) equate their own self-worth to the worth of whatever they create. If the project is a failure, then in their eyes they are also a failure. This way of looking at self-worth can be extremely damaging, as it prevents us from taking chances in case we fall short of some impossible mark.

Fear of Success

As if the fear of failure wasn’t enough, now it’s the fear of success! This takes several different forms, but a lot of it is down to your own perceptions of the outside world. You might have negative images of successful people, and worry that you might become like them if you succeed. Again, this fear can come from school where most success is frowned upon by peers. It’s often easier to lower your performance to an average level just to get by.

The other worry that goes with success is the fear that you will have more and more work piled upon you when you succeed and that you’ll eventually become overwhelmed…

Fear of Being Overwhelmed

As well worrying that success will lead to more work being piled on, there is also the initial fear of seeing how much work the project needs in order to be completed. This leads to stress as all those minor tasks rush through your head. In a sense this is similar to starting with a blank canvas and wondering about how you will transform it into a work of art. Feeling overwhelmed can have a large impact on overall productivity, as you run around putting out fires without ever feeling like you’re moving forward.

Fear of Finishing

The fear of finishing is quite interesting, as most of us procrastinate about getting started. Fear of finishing is closely tied to the fears of success and failure, in that the project will be "judged" upon completion, which will lead to either success or failure. There is also a fear of the emptiness upon completing the project, which can be especially prevalent if it’s been worked on for a long period of time.

Lack of Direction

It’s difficult to get started on a task if you’re not sure of where it’s going, even though it can feel like planning will only slow you down. It’s vitally important to have a good idea of the final outcome for a project, even if the finished article will differ. Without an end result in mind, it’s hard to go anywhere.

Lack of Discipline / Laziness

I wasn’t sure whether to include this on the list, as it’s much easier to beat yourself up and say it’s down to laziness than to accept you may be afraid of something. If you find you’re always putting the rewards first, you might need to take a look at yourself to see if it’s really a lack of discipline, or if you have a deeper fear of something. Don’t be too quick to write yourself off as lazy.

How do we overcome procrastination?

Detach your self-worth from your work

This is easier said than done, but it’s really important to keep your self-worth separate from your results. It’s a fact of life that some things don’t always turn out how we expected. At the time failure can seem like the worst thing in the World, but given time it’s easier to see the good things that came from it. Lessons can be learnt from every failure, and improvements can be made that will make you a better person. If you fail, take some time to look at it before picking yourself up and moving on.

Break your tasks into smaller parts

Large projects should be broken down into many smaller chunks, which can then be completed in short bursts. This can help to prevent the overwhelming feeling when looking at the bigger picture, and can also be useful to get you get started.

Make continuous improvements

In "Extreme Achievement", I mentioned making iterative improvements to projects. Many small improvements over time can help break the mental picture that the first release must be perfect. To follow up with the blank canvas analogy, think of using an iterative approach as using light pencil lines to sketch your picture, before adding more detail and finally beginning the actual painting.

Not only do small iterations help break the image of the huge barrier to completion, but they also allow you to make adjustments much easier.

Understand that you can’t do everything

There is never enough time to do everything that you want. If you’re feeling overwhelmed with work, it might well be time to learn to prioritize your tasks. My favourite method is one used by Brian Tracy, in which you read through your task list and prioritise based on which task would make the most difference in your life if completed. This helps to clarify which tasks are really the most important, and can help prevent you from wasting your time on irrelevant jobs.

1. Define Your Success

Everyone has their own idea of what it means to be a success. For some it might be a fancy car and lots of neato toys, for others it might be serving others or putting a smile on the face of someone they care about. Defining your success if vitally important, because if you don’t decide what it is, someone will do it for you.

You only need to look at modern advertising to see this in action. You’ll be never be happy without Product X, Product Y will make you better and so on.

By deciding on what will make you successful, you immediately create a way of finding out what won’t make you a success.

2. Set Your Priorities

Make it a priority to achieve your goals. Success is very rarely achieved overnight, and it takes time and energy.

Some tasks are really boring and unpleasant, and sometimes you will just want to sit down and do nothing, and you really want to do something, but always be looking for the things that will bring you closer to achieving your goal and that will bring the most benefits.

3. Commit to Paper

Once you’ve decided on your goals and prioritised them down, write them down on paper. I recommend paper over electronic storage simply because its more portable and flexible. You can easily pull out an index card to read on a train or bus, or when you have five minutes of spare time.

4. Review Your Plans

This is a vital part of achieving any goal, but it is very easy to overlook. The more often you review your goals, the more they become embedded in your daily thoughts. You should aim to read your goals at least once a day, and review and rewrite them as often as necessary.

Making constant, small adjustments is much easier than making a few very large changes.

5. Take Action

Take action, any action, that will bring you closer to achieve your goal.

Notice I say “any action”, and not “the one single perfect action that will solve everything”. It’s extremely easy to get into the trap of putting off action because you want to make sure you do everything right. There is seldom one perfect action that will complete a goal, so take it one step at a time.

Whilst it’s important not to rush blindly into everything, it’s equally important not to procrastinate too much on tasks. If you break your goals into small chunks, you can do a little bit of action every day.

1. Exercise — 20 to 30 minutes of exercise can do wonders for your energy levels. If the weather is nice, it’s even better as you can go outside and breath in some fresh air. If you’re particularly enthusiastic, you can go outside in the cold and rain too. If nothing else it will wake you up!

2. Relax — It might seem counter-productive to relax as soon as you get up, but it aids concentration and gives you some time to clarify your thoughts. Even though “just getting on with it” seems like the smart thing to do, it can end up doing more harm than good. Take a few minutes every morning to do some deep breathing or light meditation and clear your head.

3. A Quick Shower — Some people recommend a lukewarm shower in the morning to wake them up, but personally I prefer it to be a little warmer. This is a good idea if you’ve done some exercise!

4. Ditch The Computer — There have been far too many days when I’ve sat down to “check my email” only to glance at the clock later and find half my day has gone. Even if your work requires a computer, try and blast through some manual tasks first.

5. Listen to Something Inspiring — This also goes great with exercise. Make a collection of inspiring tunes or podcasts, and listen to them whilst you work-out.

6. Read Something Inspiring — A few inspiring stories first thing in the morning can be a great boost. There are plenty of books full of these stories, but autobiographies are also a good place to go.

7. Revisit a Previous Victory — This is one of my favourites, because it’s so simple but is easy to overlook. When things get difficult, our first reaction is often to affirm that we’re incapable of completing the task, when the truth is that we’re much better than we give ourselves credit for. Take a few moments to remember all the times you’ve been faced with a difficult moment and have succeeded.

8. Read Your Goals — Your goals should inspire you, so read through them every morning to get yourself in the mood. This also helps to keep you focused on what you want, which is always a good thing.

9. Choose a Reward — Not everything on your to-do list will be fun and exciting, and you may need a little encouragement to get things done. Pick out something that you want, and then treat yourself to it when you’re done. Make sure you spend some time thinking about the reward to build your desire and motivation. Simple, but effective if done properly.

10. Ditch the TV and Newspaper — It’s nice to feel informed, but being bombarded with all of the unpleasantness the World has to offer every morning can be a real motivation killer. Use the time saved to read something more inspiring, such as your goals or an uplifting story.

The first habit, and possibly the most fundamental, is “Be Proactive“.

What does it mean to “Be Proactive”?

The term “Proactive” has lost a lot of its meaning in recent years, as it has been picked up and bandied around as a buzz-word (much like the term “synergy”). Once you cut through the management speak, you’ll see that this habit is one of the most vital that any person can develop.

Being proactive is about choosing how you react in any given situation. The more commonly held reactive model of living suggests that how we act in certain circumstances is out of our control. If someone shouts at us, we become upset. It’s not our fault, it’s theirs. They made us feel this way.

The proactive model says that you can decide on how you react. By living a proactive life, you take full responsibility for how you act and feel.

Steven Covey illustrates this habit with the story of Victor Frankl, a Jewish prisoner during World War 2. With the exception of his sister, Frankl’s entire family perished during the war, and Victor himself was subjected to savage and harrowing torture. During his time as a prisoner, he came to realise that although his captors could take away the freedoms of his physical body, they could not take away the most basic freedom of all – the freedom to choose his response.

How do you become proactive?

Like building any habit, becoming proactive takes time and consistent effort, but it can be learnt in a similar way to most other habits.

I would certainly recommend taking a thirty day trial to see if it makes a difference. Start small and build your way up. Going in at the deep end can destroy your confidence, so start with small things. This helps to give a solid foundation as you gain experience and confidence.

A few examples of where you can try out being proactive:

• Work on a small task you’ve been putting off, and pay close attention to how you feel whilst doing it. Experiment with changing how you feel during the task. 
• Replace reactive language such as “I can’t” with proactive language like “I choose”
• Show unconditional love to another person. Don’t wait for them to show it to you.

There are plenty of other ways to be proactive, so have fun and experiment. One of the great things about doing a thirty-day trial is that you can try lots of different approaches in a short space of time, but without the pressure of making a permanent commitment.

Why does it make a difference?

Everything can build upon this habit. Becoming a better person requires that you go about it in a proactive way. Getting fitter, learning a new language, starting a business, forming a new relationship or maintaining an existing one. All of these activities benefit when you act in a proactive manner instead of a reactive one.

Why it’s hard to stop a bad habit

Picture the scene: It’s 3am in the morning, and you’ve just finished playing some Flash game involving towers whilst reading two-dozen blogs about funny things cats have done. You wake up the next day tired and irritable, with huge bags under your eyes.

“That’s it”, you say, “No more late night internet surfing for me!”

You make the commitment to stop hanging on the internet for so long. For the first few days you’re clear of the internet, but it isn’t long before you find yourself rubbing your eyes at 2am and wondering why you failed.

The problem isn’t always that you don’t have the discipline to succeed, or that you’re too addicted to something. The problem is that getting rid of a habit leaves a hole to be filled. It sounds simple, but dropping the habit entirely won’t fix the problem. By leaving out something like internet surfing, you’re creating a gap that wants to be filled. If you don’t fill it, you’ll go back to your old ways.

A better solution is to replace the bad habit with a more constructive one.

Identifying your bad habits

There are two main ways of finding a bad habit. The first and easiest method is to just grab a piece of paper (or open up notepad) and write down what you think your bad habits. We’re often our own worst critics, so it’s not hard to fill a sheet of paper, but try not to be too hard on yourself. Focus your attention on the habits that will yield the highest rewards if you replace them.

The second way is to ask other people what your bad habits are. This can be quite an eye-opener, but be prepared to hear things you might not like. It’s not essential to get feedback from other people, but it can be useful if you want to get a fuller picture.

Setting your new habit

Once you’ve decided on which habit to change, you must decide what you’ll replace it with. I recommend only changing one habit at a time to begin, and to build upon small victories. Think of all the benefits you’ll gain from taking up your new habit, and compare it to the consequences of keeping your existing habit.

It’s important to visualise the benefits and how they’ll make you feel, as this will help when the going gets tough (which it will). Don’t forget to write all of this down, so you can refer to it as often as you need. I suggest when you wake up and before you go to bed, but it’s really down to personal choice. The important thing is to constantly reinforce the belief of how this new habit will improve your life.

Changing your environment

Our environment often reinforces our current habits, so take a conscious step and change things to reinforce the habit that you want. A small change in our surroundings can make a huge difference in our habits. If your environment isn’t supporting this new habit, then it’s time for a change. It doesn’t have to be anything dramatic, and even creating a poster with your new habit written on it can make all the difference.

For example: if you want to stop drinking lots of soda, replace all the existing drinks in your fridge with water or fruit juice, and keep bottles of water close to the areas that you work in.

The case of the chewed fingernails

To finish off with, here’s a small example of how all this can work. A friend of mine had a habit of biting their fingernails that they wanted to change. They found the easiest way to prevent themselves from biting their nails was to place nail clippers around the house. The best places to put them were in areas where they would normally start biting, such as next to the couch or on the bedside table. When the urge came to bite, they could simply pick up some clippers and use them instead.

That’s a very simple example, but it shows just how powerful a few small changes can be.