Understanding Habits

Bad Habits Can Change

Worry can become a very bad habit. An unknown

to the new, happy task. Do this for a minimum of 20 days

substituted for the cursing, such as “Ah, beans!” or

“weasel!”

Anyone can do this mind-conditioning. Try it now.

I even stopped smoking by using this same system.

One day I crushed three packs of cigarettes and never had

another one again. Each time I became tempted to smoke a

cigarette I would think, “Stop! Stop smoking! It’s a terrible

habit! Stop!” Every habit can be modified by this method.

Remember, the subconscious mind will accept the

corrective statements it receives, but they must be strongly

stated in a direct manner and said immediately following

the bad habit.

Overeating or worrying can be corrected if you truly

want to break the habit by making statements such as,

“Stop! Stop eating like this! You’re hurting yourself! Stop!

Stop eating like this! Substitute healthy food for the bad!”

Only one habit should be corrected for each 20 day

period at a time. Even if it’s four statements long, the same

statements have to be repeated in the same order for the full

20 days. You may, as I have done, find yourself using the

statements automatically after 20 days."
C- J. Carinci 2005

because, as we know, a habit takes 20 days to be formed, as

it takes the same 20 days to break a bad habit.

I’ve formed good habits in this manner and I’ll share

some of mine with you.

At age 21 I started my career in the life insurance

business. Then, at age 27, I became the youngest district

manager that the insurance company ever had. I decided,

as a leader, I had to change some habits, especially the bad

habit of cursing.

So, as a manager, I decided to stop my cursing. I

employed a positive reinforcement technique. Each time I

would think of a curse word, I would say very stronglyas

if yelling at myself, “Stop cursing! Stop swearing, Stop

cursing! Stop swearing!” Each and every time I even heard

anyone use the slightest curse word, I would say to myself,

“Stop cursing! Stop swearing! Stop!”

Today, many years later, if I hear the slightest curse

word, a bell goes off in my mind and I still tell myself very

strongly, “Stop cursing! Stop swearing!”

If I stub my toe hard by accident, I still do not curse.

It’s reconditioned thinking, a way of controlling my

subconscious. I will on occasion say words that I have

author once said: “It’s not what you’re eating, but what’s

eating you!”

On occasion, I’ve eaten sausage and peppers with plenty

of onions and the food never bothered my stomach. Yet,

on other occasions, I’ve eaten light meals that churned up

tremendous amounts of acid and heartburn. The problem

was not always the food, but what was on my mind or my

subconscious. There are times people can be filled with

worry and stress without being fully aware of their stress.

Think of worry as similar to the blinking cursor on

a computer screen; that is, worry is always sending out

negative thought impulses. Your eyes typically blink

unconsciously at least ten times per minute. In a similar

way, you could be allowing worry to pulsate into your

thoughts, while constantly hurting your mind and your

health. Worry should be seen as a habit and, like any habit,

it can be broken.

What does it take to beat the worry habit? You have

to begin to reprogram your thinking with new thought

patterns. You do this by finding something you enjoy doing

such as painting, gardening, walking, reading, or doing

crossword puzzles. Then, commit at least one hour each day

"What exactly is a habit? The 1990 American Heritage

Dictionary defines habit as “a pattern of behavior acquired

by frequent repetition.” Everyone has habits, bad ones and

good ones.

One bad habit is biting your nails. Smoking is another

bad habit. Americans spend millions of dollars on cigarettes

and then they develop bad health from the side effects of

cigarettes. Eating to excess can also be a bad habit. Others

have the bad habit of using profanity in their everyday

speech. Not only does excess profanity offend others, the

user reveals his lack of self-control and his poor range

of vocabulary. Other bad habits can include rudeness or

selfishness.

William James, a Harvard professor once said, “The

Hell to be endured hereafter of which theology tells us is no

worse than the Hell we make for ourselves in the world by

habitually fashioning our characters in the wrong way. If we

realize the extent to which we are mere walking bundles of

habits, we would give more heed to their formation. We are

spinning our own fates, good or evil, never to be undone.

Every smallest stroke of virtue or vice leaves its never-so

little scar.”