Focus on Good Habits to Eliminate the Bad Habits ― The Domino Effect

The Amazing Power We Can Harness by Changing Some Key Habits

The Domino Effect

William James said that, “All of our life, so far as it has a definite form, is but a mass of habits.” David Thoreau also said that, “Things don’t change; we change.”

A habit is something that we acquire through repetition, and it becomes part of our actions without thinking about it. Addictions and obsessions probably begin with bad habits. Apparently about 40% of what we do is out of habit; pure reaction. Our brain craves habits because they eliminate the need to think about every little thing. They reduce the brain power that is necessary, simplifying things whilst freeing up the brain for higher value tasks. The power of changing habits, now proven by sophisticated brain research, is made even more powerful in that changing one habit leads to changing many others. There is a definite Domino Effect.

When The Tail Wags The Dog

Who is in control: the dog or the tail?

David Shepherd of SmallBIZ CEOs has a simple morning routine. He has two cups of coffee while reading the New York Times. Then he washes and rinses his hands in cold water to remove the ink from the newsprint.

At one time, after having moved house, he wasn’t receiving the printed paper, so he read the Times on his iPad. He still got up and washed his hands, without even thinking about it. That’s the purpose of habits, of course, to make our lives easier, simply because we don’t have to think about every little thing. Then again, maybe every now and then we should, as David found out. Was the dog wagging the tail or was the tail wagging the dog?

The Ultimate Magic Pill

A habit-changing pill?

If you had one wish from the magic genie, I think we can agree on what that wish would be: More wishes, right? So, if you had one magic pill to change your life and your business, what would the equivalent be? A habit-changing pill, hopefully.

If  there was a technique to enable you to substitute exercise for potato chips, inspiring biographies for junk television, orderliness for clutter, and profit for loss, would you be interested?

There is a more practical way. Changing our habits can be remarkably simple if we use the "Domino Effect". The principle behind it, is that good habits defeat bad habits. David says, "In researching the topic, I was taken by the immense power of the domino effect. Changing just one habit (or letting one go) almost always starts a process in motion. A common example is that of exercise. Just working out for 30 minutes, and even as seldom as once a week, can impact other habits related to what we eat, what we drink… even how much energy and enthusiasm we have." He says that the ability to recognize, and change, your habits may be the most radical thing you can do to change your life and your business.

Charles Duhigg describes how to take control of your life using the Domino Effect. 

Author Charles Duhigg's book, "The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business", describes the simple feedback loop that determines why you do what you do… and how to take control of your life by changing your habits. He writes about Lisa, a 34 year-old woman, who started drinking heavily and smoking at age 16, and struggled with obesity for most of her life.

Duhigg recounts that when he was interviewing Lisa, he found himself looking at a woman who was lean and vibrant with the toned legs of a runner. She had lost 60lbs and run a marathon. He describes her as looking a decade younger than in her earlier photos; she was an exercise fiend. She had no debt, didn’t drink or smoke, and was beginning her fourth year with a graphics design firm. She’d bought a home and was working on her master’s degree. What had made the difference? It was simply that Lisa had learned to change her habits.

David says he adopted the tactics laid out in Charles Duhigg’s book, with some very exciting early results. He saw a real domino effect, where changing just one stubborn habit made each subsequent change easier. Shepherd says he knows small business owners who have made “radical” changes in their lives and businesses, all by changing a simple habit.

David used the Domino Effect to get amazing results. 

Over the past four months, he himself has lost weight, worked out more, simplified his business systems, gained energy—even changed his image a bit in a way that makes him feel great about himself. He has also launched a new business venture called SmallBIZ CEOs, where he produces a monthly audio newsletter for small business owners, as a tool for the development of their businesses. He is very passionate about small business and is very eager to impart his knowledge and see entrepreneurs succeed.

Maybe it’s your turn! What habit will you change starting today?

SmallBIZ success is now just one inch from your brain

The Amazing Power of Habits in Business

Pepsodent's, Charles Hopkins made millions by recognizing an opportunity to change habits.

In the 1900s, almost no Americans brushed their teeth. Tooth decay was so problematic that the Army considered it a national security problem. Given that almost everyone now brushes their teeth at least once daily, what happened?

What happened was a man named Charles Hopkins who knew how to do one thing—change habits. He made himself, and a fledgling start-up called Pepsodent, millions. Hopkins took a cue—the natural film on teeth, and created a reward—a beautiful white smile. Then, he linked the two with a routine that included brushing with Pepsodent. You can do the same, not only for your customers, but for yourself… and the results can be amazing.

Sharpening the Axe ― A Good Habit to Develop

Develop a planning habit.

David says that he has grown to revere the expression by Abraham Lincoln which says, “If I had six hours to cut down a big tree, I’d spend the first four sharpening the axe.” He finds that the more time he spends planning and scheduling his tasks and priorities, the more he gets done. For him, 3 - 4 hours on a Sunday afternoon is essential for mapping out the week ahead. He also takes an hour break each day to refine his priorities and schedule based on realities on the ground.

He adds that, "If you were to spend one hour planning for every three hours of work, I think that would be about right. And I think you’d get far more done than if you planned less. Planning less is like hacking at a tree with a sledge hammer instead of a razor-sharp axe."

Focus on the Good Habits

Focus on the good habits to defeat the bad habits.

If one can make habits by repetition then you can change habits by repetition also. Experts say on average it takes 21 - 30 days to break a habit or to instill one. Bad habits steal the success and happiness in our lives, so there's no time like the present to re-mould yourself, to be the best person that you can be. But you have to be willing to work to rid yourself of unwanted habits. From my experience  it's easier to acquire bad habits than to get rid of them. It's a pity that we can't download new habits like we regularly download data from the internet. We can't get drive-thru breakthroughs like we can with fast-food and many other things.

In using the domino effect we must focus on the good habits that we want to make. Don't focus on the bad habits because the more you focus on what's wrong, the more you will produce of what you do not want. What we focus on in our lives grows and becomes bigger than anything else.

Acquiring the habits we want requires discipline and self-control and one must love these two words. It also requires taking responsibility for our messes that we've created over the years with our bad habits. We must also watch our words and thoughts because they lead to our behaviours and habits.

Realize that nothing good happens accidentally. For example, one can catch a disease by accident but you can't catch health in the same way. Make good choices to eliminate your bad habits. Develop a few good habits and the bad habits will eventually be eliminated from your life by the domino effect.

It’s hard to predict what habits will fall away after we consciously change one, but like falling dominoes, they will… and the results are always positive. I challenge you to change just one bad habit and watch the changes ripple through. And when you have seen the result, change another one.

Be blessed,
Sam Maramba

• Article Sources & Excerpts: By David Shepherd, smallbizradicals.com.
• I highly recommend David's SmallBIZ CEOs Audio Newsletter, as a valuable educational business resource for small business owners to enhance the way they do business. Go to his website and listen to the sample audio available, or perhaps take advantage of the FREE, NO-RISK TRIAL on offer.

SmallBIZ CEOs audio advantage

Pursuing Our Deepest Dreams ― by David Shepherd

Your dream can start anytime. Just press START!

There are two schools of thought about whether to keep our most personal dreams and goals to ourselves, or announce them to the world. But if you think about it, only the latter choice makes sense, and only the latter choice is honest.

Keeping something meaningful to ourselves means that we fear either that others will react in ways we find uncomfortable, or that we might fail in our attempt. This is especially true when considering starting a new business. Why take the risk?

But keeping something like that private for either of those reasons, is a tacit acknowledgement that we should be uncomfortable, and should fear failure. Our silence empowers these two powerful and negative impediments.

On the other hand, loudly announcing our dreams and plans to anyone and everyone, not only gives us the authority to proceed, but the obligation to do so. And by making this announcement repeatedly, we begin to rewire the brain in ways that makes the attempt inevitable, the prospect of failure, manageable. We not only move into the passing lane, we floor the accelerator!

Don't be shy to put up your hand & announce your dream to the word.

Over the past ten years, I’ve built a fun and successful business teaching leading edge strategies to small business owners. The risks of walking away from that business—emotionally and financially—are huge. But I’m sneaking up on my 60th birthday, and I simply have not made enough progress on what I most want to do—write books.

A much younger looking David Shepherd. 

So, starting almost two years ago, I began preparing my business for the day that I could walk away. (I refer to this as “making work optional.”) About six months ago, I announced my intentions to the world, telling everyone (including my best clients) that I was leaving in one year.

I told them that I was “retiring” to write books, and almost overnight, everything changed. As they came to believe me, I came to believe myself and the pace of my preparation only sped up. My excitement about my “new life,” only grew greater. And by telling people over and over what I was doing, I wore down any sense of discomfort or doubt they may have had…or that I may have had.

There’s no way to know whether my new career will work, but it feels so good to be honoring what is deepest within me, that I no longer care. Let the chips fall where they may, but I’m pursuing my dreams…

And here's one of the ways David is helping others to pursue their dreams using his vast experience. Click on the image below to check it out.

The SmallBIZ CEOs Audio Newsletter, founded by David Shepherd. 

It's amazing that I came across this article merely hours after I published the previous article. I am inspired about his theory that to not tell the whole world about your dreams is basically a lie. We're always afraid to tell people about our ambitions and dreams because we fear that we will be ridiculed and laughed at, or we fear that we may not get there and thus be looked at as failures.

I can remember being asked the question about what I wanted to be when I grew up and the answer was almost always a contrived one. Most of us gave answers based upon what we'd heard other people say, what we'd seen on TV, what we thought was 'appropriate' or what we thought people would be impressed by. It was never that we actually felt that this was our true calling, that was felt with a passion.

In my experience as an educator, asking that question in class was almost frowned upon by the students, because it's was kind of uncool to have hopes and dreams. A few select students were always willing to answer but most were either embarrassed or unsure because they had not really thought about it. Who can blame us as kids at being embarrassed or insecure?

As adults, we sometimes continue the trend but maybe for different reasons. We now know more about the kinds of careers or vocations that are available to us and we're a lot more knowledgeable about our abilities (although I cannot say this for all adults). The fear that we might not be able to fulfill our dreams can make us keep our dreams literally bottled up and close to our chests, but I find that we may also be afraid of competition for our dreams. I don't know whether I'm accurate with this last assumption. You may correct me or give me your perspective in the comments. Indeed I would welcome more discussion on this topic.

Success is yours for the taking. 

The clincher in terms of inspiration from what David brought up, was that announcing your dreams to the world makes the dreams or the decision to pursue our dreams tangible. It's almost like we're obliged to make them come to fruition because of the announcement. We can use that as the motivation to carry out what we said we wanted to do. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that an eye-opener or lightbulb moment? It certainly is for me, how about you?

For those of you who are still unsure about what you want to do here's a graphic which has always inspired me in my moments of doubt about anything I want to pursue, ANYTHING!! I do hope it is useful.

How to decide on a win-win situation for your success. 

Article Source: http://smallbizradicals.com/, March 15, 2013, followed by my own comments.

Be blessed,
Sam Maramba

Do you have a wishbone or a backbone? ― You must do the thing you cannot do

Achieve The Amazingly OUTRAGEOUS

Life is what you make of it.

Have Dreams & Act On Them

Are you in a situation where you have been going along in life and waiting for something AMAZINGLY OUTRAGEOUS to happen, letting life happen to you, and yet nothing has happened? You might even be in a situation where you have been working so hard all your life and still you feel that life has dealt you the wrong cards.

There's a saying that there are dreamers who don't work and there are workers who don't dream and neither situation will yield desirable results because you need both for OUTRAGEOUS things to happen. One must have hopes, dreams, vision and plans for your life. Don't wait for some magical spark or event to happen to implant dreams into you. You must realise that you have the seeds inside of you already!

"Don't be afraid to have dreams and always believe in miracles." ― Joyce Meyer 

"I’d rather believe for a lot and get half of it than believe for a little and get all of it." ― Joyce Meyer

These two statements caught my attention just before I started to write this article. Always believe in miracles, even if you are not a Christian (or other denomination), like Joyce. Believe that you can achieve OUTRAGEOUS things in your life. A dream comes to fruition with much business, busyness, and painful effort. That is where ACTION comes in. It's not difficult to start. Step out. Start doing things and see what works and what doesn't. Find what fits. A lot of people have wishbone but what we really need is backbone.

Someone once said, "The more we do the more we're able to do. The less you do the less you're able to do." In my opinion this is true. It seems more creativity is only created by being creative. And that is exactly how my days are these days. Anything can happen as new imaginings come into my mind. Something that I could have overlooked or just read, and got no stirring before, now creates all sorts of sparks in me. I am finding that there are far too many ideas coming to mind than I can handle at the same time. I have to write them down so that I don't forget them.

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.

To conceive means to believe. See something with your mind and walk it out or try to implement it. We're all anointed to see something and walk it out ― act. It's never too late to start (or too early for that matter), no matter what has happened to you up until now ― whether you think you have sunk, are on your back or have your back against the wall. Stir yourself up; fan that flame, have a dream and walk it out. You have seeds in you. If it can happen for others it can happen for you. Don't sit there admiring other peoples' successes or wishing for what they have. You have the ability to create too, not what they have, but something that is uniquely you ― equally amazing.

We cannot help but to see and admire what others have done, but admiration comes with two attitudes:

1. You can admire, appreciate and be inspired to create for yourself;
2. or you can admire and feel jealous or resentful, wishing you could have the same.

The latter arises when one doesn't appreciate that each of us is on our own journey and that we have to do our own work. The lessons and stages are different for each of us and so if you see someone at a different stage, it does not mean that you cannot get to that stage in your own journey. You just have to appreciate that it is a journey and start taking steps towards your dreams. And while I'm at it, I might as well mention that you must make sure that you appreciate and enjoy your journey for maximum effect. Believe for a lot and for your own things, not what you see that other people have. Rather believe for a lot and get half of it than believe for little and get all of it. So my question to you is, "What do you see and what are the limits of what you see?"

Get a vision because where there is no vision people perish. Nothing will ever happen for you if you don't act. Have a dream for your life and act upon it. We all have gifts, one of these being the ability to learn. You don't have to have attended the greatest schools to learn. Life itself is a great teacher. (I will dicuss how I am learning in the section below.) Your attitude is also important while you're going through these processes. I find that an attitude of gratitude is best. Once you get started the difficulty is in continuing when you don't see the outcome straight away. Have the heart and mind of a finisher, go all the way and see it through, even though difficulty.

"Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." ― Thomas Edison 

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt, You Learn by Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life

Mike Klingler changed my way of thinking.

Here's are three of the many paragraphs I've read from Mike Klinger:

"Creating your own career out of the Internet is an option available to everybody. Setting up a channel that's accessible by remote control via smart TV's throughout the world (on your YouTube channel) is also available to everyone now. Just because they didn't teach or train you how (to find the right message and structure to put it all together) does NOT mean you can't learn how. Approach it holistically (meaning, with the whole picture in mind as if you were learning at school all over again... and you WILL be able to create your own thing)."

"The Internet is a tool that doesn't just allow you to express yourself and connect with people at distances, but it's also ameans to influence where the world goes next. It is a powerful tool, like any media before it that reached out to millions. When you think about it, you really do have the ability to change the world. You always did... but now the connection is even more transparent. What are you putting online? What are you saying online? What are you liking? Is that perpetuating what you love in this world? It is representing where you'd like to see the world go next? Being the change you want to see in the world has never been so reflective. The Internet and what you do on it reflects back to you, like amirror, who you are and how that contributes to what this world is becoming next."

"Ya' know, you're not going to create anything all that valuable out there unless you're willing to risk it all. The funny thing is, when you're doing it with all your heart, you're not risking anything at all. You're just lovin' life and creating massive value more and more effortlessly as you breathe."

And in line with that I have decided to do just that ― create my own career. I have decided to school myself in business. I am using a product by David Shepherd from SmallBIZ CEOs. It's an audio newsletter for small business owners which is produced monthly to teach people about business. It's inspiring, educational and entertaining (Click on the Learn About Business tab on the main menu at the top to learn more). The use of this product is three-fold:

• Firstly I use it to learn about business.
• Secondly I am using it to start my own business.
• Lastly, as I learn about business, I share what I am learning with others, like I am doing right now.

Click here to find out what the Audio Advantage is all about. 

I'm also learning a lot about the tools available on the internet and when I initially came across Mike Klinger I was intrigued by his idea that we all have a life story and we can use the lessons from our lives to enhance the world and to make our lives our business ― literally.  We each have value and we're already experts at our own lives and lessons. I'm am at present learning as much as I can in each of the following areas and more: 

• Internet marketing
• Website design and development
• Web analytics
• Search engine optimization
• Online copywriting and web PR
• Online advertising, PPC and conversion optimization
• Social media and viral marketing
• Email marketing
• Mobile marketing
• Internet marketing strategy

(Check back here often or subscribe to our emailing list to be updated on the topics I research and learn about. Might I also mention here that you can get a FREE Affiliate QuickStart Guide by joining our maling list, which explains how you also can start a business. I will trust that you will click on the links on this website to go to the SmallBIZ CEOs website in acknowledgment that I referred you to the site.)

Most of the research I am doing is from the internet, where I have even found free online courses for some of the topics above. I have already started to combine my experiences and the skills which I've acquired through 15 years of teaching in high school with what I'm learning right now to redefine my vision and find new ways to teach in an OUTRAGEOUS way. I had at some stage started to question whether I am meant to be a teacher or not, because I was limiting my vision. I have since realised that I am a teacher and always will be, and that the opportunities and pathways are endless. I just have to remove my limitations and reawaken the dreams I had even before I reached adulthood.

Dreams, visions and goals for each area of our lives.

Fear or Freedom ― Dr John Demartini

Dr. John Demartini

I have been a long-time fan of Dr Demartini and this is the latest piece of inspiration I've picked up on. He says,

"If you are challenged by what is going on around you; people labelling you, criticizing you, avoiding you or trying to change you, just know this does not mean there is necessarily something wrong with you. You have a genius and magnificence inside you. It maybe in an area that you, and they, have not discovered yet, but probe and find out what is truly most inspiring to you and go and excel in that."

Dr Demartini believes that in order to live a successful, meaningful and happy life one has to continuously work on life in 7 areas:

1. Spiritual
2. Mental
3. Vocational
4. Financial
5. Familial
6. Social
7. Physical

He also believes that these areas can either be powerfully supportive of your genius, or impeding it.

"There are also seven common fears and guilt that fragment our full potential in each of these areas and the only difference between somebody who does what they love and someone who doesn’t is that the former has the ability to identify their fears and has a strategy to break through them. You can break through or break down in all seven areas of life."

He believes that if you break down you’re listening to your fearful self; if you break through you’ve listened to your immortal self. He also has a word of caution.

"Don’t think that you’re never going to be without fears in your life, fear means you’re growing and challenging yourself beyond your comfort zones."

"I have fears almost every day, but I know that fear is an incomplete view of what is occurring, so I identify the fear, bring it to completion and balance, and then walk through it and I suggest you do the same."

Eliminate fear and the word "CAN'T".

The 7 basic fears that can run your life and keep you from living your life to the fullest are:

1. Fear of breaking away from the system of a perceived spiritual authority (I don’t want to be considered a bad person and go to hell)
2. Fear of not having enough mental capability (I am not smart enough. I don’t have the credentials or degree)
3. Fear of failure - vocational (I won’t succeed, I’ll fall short)
4. Fear of losing it all financially (I’ll go broke or bankrupt. I won’t make enough money to survive)
5. Fear of losing loved ones - family (my parents might disown me, my lover will leave me, my friends will hate me)
6. Fear of social rejection (I am afraid of what everyone will think, I won’t fit in, people won’t want to be with me)
7. Fear of not having physical capability (I’m not tall enough, strong enough, or good looking enough. I don’t have the energy for all this)

"To dissolve any fear you have in any of the seven areas of life, write the fear down and ask yourself: What would be the benefit of the fear happening. Then ask yourself: What would be the drawback if the thing you fear didn’t happen? Go back to any past events where you have experienced the thing you fear and ask yourself how experiencing it then assisted you mentally, spiritually, financially, physically, vocationally, socially, with your family."

Click here for more information on Dr John Demartini. Watch Dr John Demartini discussing the 7 areas of life in the YouTube video below if you have a compatible browser or app.

Raymond Aaron - The "MAINLY" ― Pathways to Success

Raymond Aaron

I recently attended a business workshop by Raymond Aaron and he classifies the areas of life in a slightly different way in his Pathways to Success.

He says, "Most people have heard of the Law of Attraction but don't know how to employ it in their own lives. Many have attitudes that run to the negative, as in "nothing good ever happens to me," while others think that arduous work is always necessary to reach their objectives. Neither of these ways of thinking is likely to bring the results you want; it takes a positive attitude and knowing just how to ask for what you want (recording your goals) to succeed."

He suggests the use of the acronym MAinly™ to represents the six goal pathways of life:

1. M stands for cleaning a Mess every month.
2. A involves doing a sincere Acknowledgment every month.
3. I is about Increasing your wealth every month.
4. N stands for doing something New every month.
5. L tells you to ensure that you Learn something every month
6. Y reminds you to do something just for Yourself every month.

Whatever system you use is really up to you, but what I'm trying to suggest to you is that besides having dreams and ambition, hard work, self-belief and action one has to be organised. If your goals are not defined, written down and organised in some sort of way you will not be able to follow a path to the completion of the work that you need to do to realise your dreams.

Click here for more about Raymond Aaron.

I want to mention that I believe that all of the processes I have discussed here are spiritual. You may believe in a specific Higher Power, or not, but these processes are all spiritual. You are reaching into a part of yourself that you're not easily in touch with on a day-to-day basis. The processes all require gratitude, discipline and action which are not easily part of our lives if we're not mindful about them.

In Conclusion...

What are you going to do today that your future self will thank you for? 

I'm going to conclude with four quotes, three from authors and one from an actor. Maya Angelou says that,

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."

Although Maya might have been specifically talking about writihng I think our untold story is our purpose in life, all that we have inside of us, the potential to achieve in our lives, how we could affect the world. What is the untold story inside of you?

Nancy K. Haddock says that,

“A one-page breakthrough starts an avalanche.”

I believe that to be especially true because it suggests to me that one must get started in writing one's untold story and very soon you may have an unstoppable stream of words ready to populate the pages of your book. The same is true of starting on making your dreams come to fruition. All you need to do is take a single step in the direction of your dreams and you maybe mesmerized by the creativity that you unleash by taking a few simple steps to start. Very soon you might find that there's so much to do to try to implement your ideas, as I'm finding out.

The last two are from famous Superman actor Christopher Reeve and David Lynch, also an author. Christopher said,

"Either you decide to stay in the shallow end of the pool or you go out in the ocean."

Well, this one doesn't need many words except the addition of this similar statement:

“Ideas are like fish. If you want to catch little fish, you can stay in the shallow water. But if you want to catch the big fish, you’ve got to go deeper. Down deep, the fish are more powerful and more pure. They’re huge and abstract. And they’re very beautiful.” ― David Lynch, Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity.

Try the SmallBIZCEOs Audio Newsletter for ideas to catch the BIG FISH! A 30 Day FREE, NO-RISK TRIAL!!!

Click to visit the SmallBIZ CEOs website. 

I believe that the route to fulfillment, success and happiness in our lives is:

• GRATITUDE for the people, places, events and things we have in our lives: what we have now, and how we got here;
• ACTION  ― “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” ― Lao Tzu;
• DISCIPLINE in taking action even when we do not feel like it or when we don't see our dreams as possible.

Be blessed always and in all ways,
Sam Maramba