by Charmaine Hunte

I always find December an exciting time of the year, maybe it is because I love Christmas and still believe in the magic of the season.  December is also a good month for review and planning.  Take a look at all the events that happened in your life in 2008.  There were things that worked well and some things that didn’t.  Now, start to think about what you want to achieve in 2009.

To accomplish a goal you need to start with a plan, so for the month of December Cacia Chronicles will concentrate on How to Position Yourself for Success and the focus for this week will be Habits.

Do you . . .

• hit the snooze button one too many times
• overeat when you’re stressed
• tend to be late often
• choose TV over exercise

These are what some would define as bad habits and often when you think about Habits, we think of our bad ones first.  Habits are not all bad; in fact they can be your best friend if they are used properly.  Research tells that to change a bad habit it must be replaced with a good habit.  It takes 21 – 30 days of replacement habits to have the new good habit stick.  Also keep in mind that the longer that we have had a habit the longer and harder it will be to replace it.  The good news is that IT IS POSSIBLE.  Understand that the first week will be the hardest and you might slip up a day or two, but instead of beating yourself up – Keep Going, you’ll get through it.

Over the next couple of weeks many people will make New Year’s Resolutions with the hopeful intention to change their lives.  That is a good place to start but not enough.  For resolutions to work you have to change your habits.  Here are 5 great success habits to develop . . .

5 Success Habits

1. Plan – You need to start with a goal and a plan to follow through.
2. Prepare – When you are prepared, you can deal with all the challenges that come along the way.
3. Expect – Expect the best outcome, but acknowledge that you can’t plan for every possibilities.  This is where step 2 comes into play.
4. Focus – There will be times when returning to old habits will seem like the best option.  Focused effort will keep your end goal in mind and keep you on track.
5. Flex – There will be times when you need to change direction, learn to be flexible and alter your plans when necessary.

By developing the above success habits you can achieve any goal that you want to achieve in your life.  You will also increase the chances of your resolutions becoming new Life Success Habits.

“We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.”  Aristotle

Your comments and thoughts are always appreciated.

Next Cacia Chronicle: December 8, 2008