I wanted to share another concept from the book SHED Your Stuff, Change Your Life: a four step guide to getting unstuck (Fireside 2008) by Julie Morgenstern.
In the book she discusses how the habits of mindless escapes, procrastination, perfectionism, chronic lateness and workaholism add to your schedule. These “habit attachments” can drain you of energy and time that could otherwise be used in pursuing your dream (or from her book theme).
She suggests that you need to understand the original value of why the habit was first acquired. Or what purpose is the habit serving in your current life. For example, are you chronically late because you are anxious when confronted with downtime and/or did you have one parent that was chronically late and does the habit provide a connection with them?
Connecting the dots can help you understand your attachment to the habit and opens the door for change. Julie Morgenstern states in her book “If going backwards doesn’t lead you to a brilliant insight, what is more important is to honestly and fairly identify what you get out of the habit now.”
So think about a the habit that you would like to change and ask yourself when you acquired the habit, who else shares the habit with you, how long the habit has felt like a burden, what value the habit currently has and is your reason for keeping the habit still valid. Asking those questions can help you get to the bottom of your habit and be used as a starting point to move you forward.