Why You Need to Change Unproductive Habits

Most of us have unproductive habits we would love to eliminate.

Change Unproductive Habits and Make Room For Greatness

by Leigh Burton 

Ready for a change?  Everything we do is a form of habit.  Some we like, some we don’t.  To change unproductive habits, we need to be honest about what caused it in the first place.

From the beginning of time, humans have been all about habits. Even though we don’t realize it, there is a habit in everything we do. There are only so many hours in a day, with so many things to do, and it all begins with the ringing of the alarm letting us know that the next portion of our journey has just started. Habits create comfort, like a morning routine, and understanding that the same route will take us to work. We stop at the grocery store on the way home and a perfect plan of rituals throughout the evening makes for a peaceful end to the day so that we can start all over again the next. There are the scheduled yoga classes throughout the week or the regular stops at the gym. Time with our friends and trips to our kids sporting events fill our calendar. If looking at a calendar, filled with notes of all the things we do and want to achieve, it’s easy to see a routine that for the most part feels good because it’s comfortable to know what’s expected of us.

What’s missing in the calendar of routine are the habits that we don’t like, the same ones that are unproductive.

These are the parts of our days that we beat ourselves down the hardest. Whether it be skipping the visit at the gym, procrastinating about what needs to get done or, the dreadful customer calls that need to be made, it’s hard to accept as something that is ok. There are plenty of unproductive habits that we can use to judge ourselves as less than what we want to be. Including habits of alcohol, shopping, and not standing up for what we believe is right. The list is endless.

When we witness others changing their unproductive ways we are inspired to do the same for ourselves but, some habits are harder to break than others. There is always the option to speak to an expert in the field of what the issue is and gain insight into what created the issue in the first place. Most often the answer is found in a look into our past, or into the environment that the problem currently exists. We might realize that the particular gym we are going to isn’t working and it had nothing to do with us at all. We could learn that we turn to food for comfort and find another source of stress management. We can even find out that it’s true that a person is predisposed to alcohol abuse.

While all of this is true, it isn’t enough to kick the habit forever. If we don’t realize the root of the issue, the self-defeating behavior will return as it was or in another form. From one pattern to another, the real problem is how we feel about ourselves that caused the unproductive habit in the first place.

The Ego is a dominant part of what we think of ourselves, how we behave and, emotion drives everything that the Ego does to make it ok to move into the replay of unwanted habits. Each step of the way through a pattern, from beginning to end, is triggered by another emotion. But, the root of all unwanted and unproductive habits is a certain degree of fear and or shame. Without the realization of the fuel that stokes the fire, we will eventually fall back into the same patterns or create a new one that comforts the same issue.

Looking inside and allowing honesty to replace denial creates a space that empowers us to make positive change and, in return makes space for something that will be more productive and worthier of the greatness that we seek.

There is no stopping a person that is willing to go deep for their better good.

You will also enjoy 7 Negative Habits We Can Discard

About the Author

Leigh Burton is an Amazon International Best-Selling Author, International Speaker, NLP Practitioner, Cognitive Behavioral Therapist, Emotional Health Coach, Acceptance Commitment Therapist, an expert in letting go, and a lover of life. www.leighburton.com.