A Riddle: “Who Am I?” – If you know me and control me I can change your life.
January 27th, 2009
A Riddle: “Who Am I?” – If you know me and control me I can change your life.
By Ronald Skelton
Here is a riddle for you, see if you know what it’s talking about:
I am your constant companion.
I am your greatest helper or your heaviest burden.
I will push you onward or drag you down to failure.
I am completely at your command.
Half the things you do, you might just as well turn over to me, and I will be able to do them quickly and correctly.
I am easily managed; you must merely be firm with me.
Show me exactly how you want something done, and after a few lessons I will do it automatically.
I am the servant of all great men.
And, alas, of all failures as well.
Those who are great, I have made great.
Those who are failures, I have made failures.
I am not a machine, though I work with all the precision of a machine, plus the intelligence of a man.
You may run me for profit, or run me for ruin; it makes no difference to me.
Take me, train me, be firm with me and I will put the world at your feet.
Be easy with me, and I will destroy you.
I am a HABIT! — Unknown
I received the above riddle from a co-worker of mine and felt that it is definitely the best explanation of a habit that I have ever heard.
HABIT…When most people hear this word, they automatically go to the negative thoughts that comes to their minds. People think of a habit being negative.
The secret to your health and even your future lies in your daily habits.
“Are my current habits going to help me achieve my goals in life?” This is a life-changing question if you truly ask it and listen for the answer.
When I named this website Done Dieting, I did it for a reason. Diets are temporary and have the same negative connotation that the term HABIT has. I decided that my weight loss was not going to be part of my HABIT of yo-yo dieting this time around. I was going to replace bad habits with good ones.
Here is how the process works. Pick a bad habit and replace it with one that will pull you closer to your goals in life.
I started with my habit of sitting around on the computer to much, I replaced 1-2 hours of my computer time each day with physical activities such as going to the gym.
The next habit that I replaced was eating way to many sweets. I replaced that habit with snacking on fruit instead of cakes and other sweets. (Sugar is very addicting and I still have sweets from time to time but they are very limited).
This process isn’t easy and takes a great deal of willpower in the beginning.
If you look at the definition of habit, Habit: an automatic pattern of behavior in reaction to a specific situation. (pulled from google search “define: habit”), the two key terms here are automatic and reaction. A habit is something you do without thought, its automatic.
What does it take to create a new habit? It’s a common belief that in order to make something a habit you must do it a minimum of 21 times. I like to use the 30 day rule.
When I want to develop a habit say working out 6 times a week, I mark it down on the calendar and schedule my workout time in for the next 30 days. I also get in the “habit” of adding it into my schedule as I plan out past that 30 day mark.
I’m going to go back to my belief that it’s the “Whys” in life that make us succeed. It’s the why that will help you change your habits.
A well developed “Why”, that burning fire inside of you that helps drive your determination is required to change and form new habits, but changing habits is the main key step to achieve our goals.
If you don’t develop a burning reason “Why” you’re trying to achieve a goal, chances are it will not happen.
All it takes to achieve any desire in life, is believing in your “WHYs” so much that you won’t let anything stand in your way and a good set of habits that will push you to success.
You need to review what your habits are and ask yourself…”Would I recommend MY habits to someone I truly care about?” Someone with the goals that I have? If not change it.
Your entire future lies in your habits-positive or negative. You have the most powerful force right now in your hands, the ability to decide what your habits will begin to be.
Control your Habits = Control of your life
(BTW- This is a work in progress for most of us, including myself.)
Categories: General, Motivational | Tags: achievement, goals, Habit, progress, riddle, success, why | 3 Comments
