Want to break bad habits? Read this


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NEW on the blog:

  • How to Find Personal Fulfillment: What IS personal fulfillment? Why is personal fulfillment important? What are some methods you can use to find personal fulfillment in your own life? Check out this article for answers to all of these questions!

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How do you view your habits?

For example, do you think of your habits (in life or business) as something that you simply do… or are you attaching some degree of virtue to those habits?

“____ is a GOOD habit.”
“____ is a BAD habit.”

That kind of “good” vs “bad” mentality can be very disempowering and limiting when it comes to your habits.

Here’s why:

If you are struggling with overcoming a “bad” habit, then you, yourself, are going to feel bad every time you indulge in that habit. You probably feel like you’re letting yourself down. You probably think that you’re being “weak.”

…This also means that if you think of other habits as “good” habits, you likely put those habits on a pedestal. You have assigned virtue to them — and as such, it feels even worse when you don’t stick with them, or when you stop doing them, doesn’t it?

The concept of “good” and “bad” is highly subjective. It’s polarizing and attaches a lot of emotional investment into the way that you are perceiving those habits. It disempowers you from being able to do more of the habits you WANT to do.

What can we do about this?

I propose that we get rid of the entire concept of “good” vs “bad” habits, altogether!

Instead, let’s think of your habits as whether they are nourishing you.

A nourishing habit vs a non-nourishing habit doesn’t mean that one habit is “good” vs “bad.” It simply means that one is supporting you and giving you something useful, and the other one is not.

→ Viewing your habits as “nourishing” or “not nourishing” means that you are removing the *virtuous* aspect of habits.

When you remove the virtue from it, then it doesn’t feel so destructive when you are engaging with non-nourishing habits.

In that case: It’s simply a habit that happens to not nourish you.

This way of thinking can help you to a) view your habits more objectively, b) stop feeling bad about yourself for engaging in habits that aren’t as supportive of you, and c) start to change the habits that you WANT to change.

It also redefines our understanding of habits, because the concept of what *nourishes* you can be applied on multiple levels.

For example: Chocolate chip cookies might not be nutritionally nourishing, but there are times when they might emotionally nourish you. AND, there are likely other times when it’s not emotionally nourishing, either; you don’t get nourishment of any kind from it.

When you view your habits similarly, you might find that they nourish you in some ways but not in others… and they may nourish you some days but not others.

That doesn’t make them “good” or “bad.”

…It’s just about a) whether they are supporting you at all, in this moment, and b) the way in which they might be supporting you.

Here are a few questions you can explore to assess your habits from a “nourishment” lens:

  1. If you view habits as “nourishing vs not nourishing” (rather than “good vs bad”), how does it change your power and control over those habits? (e.g. Do they have less of a hold over you?)
  2. If you view habits as “nourishing vs not nourishing” (rather than “good vs bad”), how does it change the way in which you interact with all of those habits? (e.g. Does it feel easier or more clear as to how you want to change those habits, if at all?)
  3. What are some of the other ways you might be applying virtue (e.g. the “good vs bad” black-and-white mentality) to things in your life or business — and what effect does that have on your mindset and the actions you take?

As always, I love hearing from you…

Hit reply and let me know:

What's coming up for you? Did you have any revelations or breakthroughs as a result of exploring this?

Have a great weekend,
Sagan (she/her)

Personal Fulfillment & Solopreneur Success Coach
SaganMorrow.com

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Solopreneur Diary Entries

A weekly "diary entry" newsletter with real-time, real-life experiences of solo entrepreneurship, notes and observations, lessons learned, struggles and wins, thought experiments and action steps (so you can apply it to your own life or business), and behind-the-scenes stories of the solopreneur life! Sagan Morrow is a Personal Fulfillment & Solopreneur Success Coach, helping you improve your relationship with yourself (and your business), save 10 hours/week (WITHOUT burnout or overwhelm), design a genuine lifestyle business that fully supports your personal values and goals, and enjoy healthy work/life balance while also making awesome progress on your business goals.

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