Maniolas

Are you always late? Are you always unable to finish your work or assignments? Are you always short on cash? Are you always in debt?

Does this conversation look familiar…

Why are you late? Traffic!

Why didn’t you finish your work or assignment? I was busy!

Why are you short on cash again? My salary or allowance is too small!

Have you heard other people give these kinds of reasons? Or maybe, have you made excuses like these?

Do you want to know the real reason behind being late, not being able to finish your work/assignment, or being short on cash and being in debt?

HABIT!

Being late is a habit! Not finishing your work/assignment is a habit! Not having enough and always being in debt is a habit!

Are you always drinking, smoking, gambling, or partying? Or what about biting your nails, eating junk food, doing Facebook non-stop, or spending too much time on TV?

One thing that is common in these examples is that they are all BAD HABITS. Why are they BAD? It’s simple. They’re bad habits because they cause serious damage to a person. They negatively influence a person in terms of work or studies, and in life, in general.

I know this one person who grew up in an all-boys school. And then, because of peer pressure, he tried drinking alcohol at the early age of 16. His reason? Well, there’s nothing wrong with just a bit of alcohol. “I’m just trying it out,” he used to say. He would enjoy the thrill of it — after all, he would need to escape from his parents, use his allowance to buy alcohol, and bring it covertly in school.

Eventually, he and his friends graduated from drinking alcohol, and tried smoking, and then tried marijuana, and then tried shabu, until they fell into addiction. They thought that they could just easily stop drinking and smoking and doing drugs any time. But the problem is, they’ve already been hooked. But how did all of this start? It started with a little bit of trying, until it became a full-fledged HABIT!

This friend of mine kept saying, “I REALLY WANT TO QUIT!” And he really would quit, but only for a few days. He would again go back to his old habits— his addiction. This was how it was for him — a vicious cycle.

Many of us have tried to change a bad habit, but we have been unsuccessful. The very first step is to actually admit that we have a problem, and start asking for help. Only then will we be able to actually change.

If you are in the middle of a bad habit, and you want to break free, here are some tips that I have for you.

ADMIT YOU HAVE AN ADDICTION PROBLEM

Admit that you are addicted to what you are doing. Whether we like it or not, we are all addicted to something. The question is, is the addiction good or bad? If and until we admit to ourselves that we are going through an addiction issue, we cannot put an end to it. It’s difficult to heal a person who keeps on insisting that he is not sick.

ASK FOR HELP

Ask help from people, and more importantly, ask help from God. The truth is, you cannot change! You will never be able to. If you actually had what it takes to change, you would have done so a long time ago. But, the reason why you have not experienced change is because you are still trying to fix yourself and you are doing it on your own. You need people who can help you — people who you can be accountable to. You also need for God to step into your life, and help you walk out of your bad habits.

ADJUST TO A NEW HABIT

You must form a new habit, then the new habit will form us.

If you are used to sleeping late because of TV series or Facebook, try to put yourself to sleep by reading good books. If you are used to drinking alcohol with your friends, try to avoid them for a while, and instead seek the company of friends who can provide you with a positive influence. If you are used to gambling in casinos, try not to frequent casinos, and instead try going to fellowship groups at your local church.

THINK. REFLECT. APPLY.

What do you want to change in your life and in yourself?

Are you ready to admit your problem and get help?

When do you want to start?

(Chinkee Tan is a top Filipino motivational speaker, wealth and life coach whose goal is to inform, educate, motivate, and disturb. His vision is to help people become financially-literate and debt-free. For more info about Chinkee Tan, please visit his fan page at FB, Twitter and Instagram. Also follow VIBER PUBLIC CHAT GROUP search chinkee tan, and VISIONCHINKEE on You Tube for more news and encouragements.)

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