January 10, 2007 at 12:04 pm · Filed under Good Links
Instead of trying to stop your bad habits, why not just start new habits that will eventually replace the bad ones. Take a healthy habit such as walking for half an hour before breakfast. If you start by just getting out of bed and just getting out of the house no matter what the weather is like, within weeks it will be installed as a habit. Will power is required for this of course, but try these resources to help.
Installing a new habit
Boots change one thing - Instead of changing seven things about yourself - just start with one!
January 9, 2007 at 4:19 pm · Filed under What Are Habits, William James
William James talks of the Laws of Habit. Napoleon Hill talks of Cosmic Habitforce. I talk of The Habit Code. They all try to explain the natural course of action of LIVING and even inanimate things within the universe.
It is very important that we realize the importance that habit plays within our lives. Take for example the act of walking. It takes a human baby nigh on four months to go from a crawling state, to a walking state and then several more months (even longer) to finally perfect the act of walking.
During the learning stage the bedding down of neural pathways within the brain produce a range of movement and cause electrical activity within thousands of muscle fibres. The accurate timing for each nerve firing is embedded in the brain through repetition.It then needs only the initial thought of walking to trigger the nerve firings to cause your legs to move and feedback to tell you where your leg needs to move several times a second.
It is amazing when you think about it.
If your brain had to calculate how to walk everytime you needed to it would have no time to calculate anything else, never mind running all your other autonomous tasks like making your heart beat faster, or even the blinking of an eye.
The following passage ‘The Laws of Habit’ is taken in part from ‘Talks to Teachers’ by William James.
We speak, it is true, of Good habits and Bad habits, but, when people use the word ‘ habit’ in the majority of instances it is a bad habit which they have in mind. They talk of a smoking habit and the swearing habit or the drinking habit. They never speak of the abstention habit or the moderation habit or the courage habit. But the fact is that our virtues are habits as much as our vices. All our life, so far as it has definate form, is but a mass of habits, - practical, emotional, and intellectual, - systematically organized for our weal (prosperity) or woe (suffering), and bearing us irresistibly toward our destiny, whatever the latter may be.
January 9, 2007 at 3:03 pm · Filed under People, William James
In the Law of Success by Napoleon Hill, Hill relates back to William James. William James was a Psychologist and Philosopher. He wrote ‘The Principles Of Psychology’. He wrote about habit and instinct. Just before christmas I ordered ‘Psychology’ (an edited version of his greater work) and ‘Talks to Teachers’ ( a book created from a few public lectures on Psychology to the Cambridge teachers). Both books arrived yesterday and I’ve been devouring them over the last 24 hours.
More info on William James - William James at Wikipedia
William James Photos and Bio
January 3, 2007 at 2:48 pm · Filed under The Habit Code
A new year, and a happy one I hope. If you’ve a new years resolution to stop a bad habit you should take note from the information that most people have broken their new years resolution withing the week. Yep, seven days and your back into your old ways. That’s because new years day is a fixed date and your Habit Code balance will not be in the correct orientation. It is YOU that must fix the date when you want to stop a bad habit or start a new one.
Until you’re balanced, attempting to stop a bad habit will be doomed to failure. I am starting to write a bunch of questions that will give you a habit code balance figure. This will then enable you to find the best time to stop a bad habit…Or start a new habit.
Best Wishes for the new year…It will be a good one.
December 20, 2006 at 12:59 pm · Filed under The Habit Code
Ok, so after a terrible few weeks personally it’s time to start to lay some foundations on the Habit Code philosophy. Things are starting to fall into some sort of a basis for what I feel are the underlying starting blocks of Personal Development no matter what your current level.
The Habit Code - Foundation.
Ok up to now the foundation of the habit code relies on the Human Psyche - namely Mind Body and Soul.
MIND - I refer to the Mind as the Conscious mind.
BODY - I refer to the Body as the physical being.
SOUL - I refer to the Soul as the Unconcscious mind.
It is this model of the Human Psyche that I am basing the rest of this philosophy on.
December 19, 2006 at 3:41 pm · Filed under What Are Habits
Orison Swett Marden’s ‘Pushing To The Front’ arrived yesterday. A tattered, leatherbound book. I can just imagine the people that have held it. I’ve quickly read through the book (it is nearly 900 pages) and the habit code is s l o w l y falling into place. Sheesh… if I’d have known it was going to take this long I’d have been pleased. You see, Napoleon Hill toiled for 30 years to bring out Law Of Success. But even he got the foundation of his philosophy from other authors like Swett Marden.
The habit theme does cross over from Marden to Hill, in fact, there is a whole chapter on Habit within Pushing To The Front. There is another on The Habit Of Hapiness. All good stuff. All going into the final book, whenever that is finished.
It is amazing reading the book too and seeing where Hill got some of his ideas from. Marden writes about Concentrated Energy, Enthusiasm, Persistence, Decision, One Unwavering Aim, Power of Suggestion, Doing More than Paid For and a whole host of other realated chapters that remind me so much of Napoleon Hill. Oh, before I forget, there is another chapter on The Self Improvement Habit.
Marden wrote countless books in his time, I think I’m going to get a few more and see what Habits I can draw from his other books. His ’success magazine’ is another source of information that I will be persuing too.
December 6, 2006 at 4:21 pm · Filed under The Habit Code
Just chasing a lead from Napoleon Hill, Hill’s publisher of his Law Of Success was Andrew Pelton. Pelton also published some self help books by Frank Channing Haddock. The Power Of Will was the one I was aiming at but I also looked to see if Haddock had printed many more books.
The Mastery of Self stood out not because of it’s large section on habits (as does The Power Of Will) but because of Haddock’s use of a Pyramid to show how the four areas of Success-Magnetism as Haddock puts it, fit together.
Here are the four pyramids and I’ll have to explain later what they all mean, but it’s interesting stuff…
THE FOUR PYRAMIDS.
I. Pyramid of Physical Health
Harmony
Exercise
Recreation
Air
Sleep
Water
Food
Regularity
Digestion
Cleanliness
Economy
Scientific Body-Building and Using.
II. Pyramid of Physical Magnetism.
Will
Muscular Development
Nervous Condition
Inner Energy
Responsiveness
Self Control
Staying Power
Health
Body-Tone
Personal Qualities
Physical Characteristics.
III. Pyramid of Moral Health.
Peace
Will
Righteousness
Love
Knowledge
Faith
Hope
Courage
Body-Health
Right Heredity
Right Environment
Right Training.
IV. Pyramid of Personal Magnetism.
Will
Alertness
Fidelity
Hope
Courage
Confidence
Honor
Thought
Faith in System
Physical
Basis: Health
Body-Magnetism.
November 30, 2006 at 3:24 pm · Filed under The Habit Code
I’ve just been re-reading Napoleon Hill’s Biography by Kirk Landers “A Lifetime of Riches” and it goes on about a certain state of mind that Andrew Carnegie used to call the concept of your ”other self”… a state of mind that can give you the capacity to change your habits when you are faced with a crisis or some other extremely emotional state of mind.
This is spooky because I was in this state of mind the day I stoped smoking. I could really feel that my subconcious was ready to stop the smoking habit and was giving me the sign to acknowledge it. I was very ill at the time and this combination allowed me to simply give up overnight.
This state of ‘Other Self’ does seem to crop up in a lot of successful peoples lives, it just might be one of the key ingredients of ‘The Habit Code’ we’ll just have to see.
John.
November 27, 2006 at 4:16 pm · Filed under The Habit Code
Ok… so I’ve missed out a few steps in my quest to find The Habit Code, ( I never said I was organized), but I’ve just taken the next step…
Napoleon Hill in Law Of Success states the name of one Orison Swett Marden, Marden was a true Success Studier, He sought to identify the most common rules of leadership, achievement and success just as much as you and I study today.
One of Mardens outstanding works is supposed to be a book he wrote originally in 1894 but then extensively revised and added to, publishing the second version in 1911. The book was called Pushing To The Front. A huge book >800 pages going in depth into what Marden thought the traits of success were.
One interesting thing is that One of the chapters is called Habit - Master and Servant.
I can’t wait to get the book. And read this chapter.
November 23, 2006 at 1:40 am · Filed under Habit Quotes
“I Tell You, Friend, ’tis Practice Long Pursued, And This At Last Becomes A Man’s Own Nature” - Evenus from Aristotles Nicomachean Ethics.
This quote attributed to Evenus is from Aristotles Nicomachean Ethics. I just received the book yesterday and I’m picking out the habit passages from the book… very interesting. The Object Of Life - Moral Goodness - Moral Responsibility - Justice - Intelectual Virtues - The Nature Of Pleasure - The Kinds Of Friendship - The Grounds Of Friendship - Pleasure And The Life Of Happiness.
I’m sure Aristotle will play another large role in The Habit Code…
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