Thursday, April 21, 2011

DAY 199 - REPEATING THE SAME MISTAKES... ME? NEVER!

Day 199

Do you know people who have been repeating the same mistakes over and over again?  Or, maybe, you sometimes feel like you are the one caught in repetitive patterns?

If you got a second degree sunburn, you would most likely make sure it never happened to you again. The pain you would go through would probably keep you from ever exposing yourself again to the sun unprotected.  If you had a heart attack, you would probably stop smoking (although some people are too addicted).

To change behaviour, there is nothing better than an extreme situation.  Radical problems call for radical solutions.  But what happens if you simply want to stop biting your nails or, like me, you need to get rid of the bad habit of procrastination?  Is it only a question of willpower?  If so, how do you get willpower?

Some people say that you will repeat the same mistake until you have learned the lesson you need to learn.  I don't know what procrastination has been teaching me!!! That the things I have to do can pile up?

I believe you simply need to start viewing the changes you want to implement in your life as being detrimental to your survival.  There has to be a mental switch that goes on, telling you that you are now cornered and that your only way out is a behavioural change.  Your survival instinct has to take over.  As long as you keep on creating excuses for yourself, you will be unsuccessful (no more: it's because; I just can't help it; I'll start soon).  It can't be a wishy washy decision!!!!  It has to be radical, in your actions, but also in your mind!!

We often link knowledge to wisdom... However, knowledge doesn't necessarily lead to wisdom.  I KNOW I have to stop procrastinating, yet I still do it.  Wisdom is about internalizing knowledge so that it becomes instinctive, like as second nature.  Rational decisions will always require a mental effort .... wisdom doesn't.  So to change behaviour, you need to be decisive and radical, so that knowledge can finally turn into wisdom!

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