The Power of Habits

I was listening to CBC radio where they discussed an extreme case of habits. An FBI agent had been practicing disarming an individual with a gun. It was the same procedure every time:

• Stay calm

• Analyze the situation

• Approach the suspect in a non-threatening manner

• Look the person in the eye

• Quick movement, point the gun away from yourself

• Twist the gun out of the hand of the person with the gun

Every single time the FBI agent would hand the gun back to the partner and they would practice this over and over until it became a habit.

One day, said FBI agent encounters a person with a gun on the street. The FBI does everything like the training; analyzing, staying calm, removing the gun and then…gave the gun back to the suspect.

How could this happen?

It was the habit that was formed in training, perform the manoeuver and hand the gun back to the partner to do it again. In the real world situation, based on the habit that was formed over time, the same happened again. The gun was handed back.

What can we learn from this? Building habits can be a powerful influence in our lives. It can be both positive and negative. If you have a bowl of ice cream with every dinner, before you know it, it has become a habit. No meal will feel complete unless you have the ice cream.

So I guess what I’m challenging you to do it is to look at your habits, identify the negative ones and define what positive one you’d like to implement.

Remove the negative ones from your life. It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it.

For the positive ones, schedule them every day into your calendar until they become a habit.

 

Best of luck!

Passion at work

There are some things that are so easy to be passionate about. One can get passionate about one’s spouse. It is easy to get passionate about one’s kids, watching them during their piano recital or playing with or coaching or watching them with their sports. My neighbour is passionate about his bicycling, he wears it on his sleeve and it is great to see! It is easy get passionate about hobbies and pastime activities; I love the freedom of my motorcycle!

That’s the easy stuff. How does one get passionate about or at work?  The number one way to get passionate about work is to start your own company in a field you love. You would put your all into it and it would be your passion. You would eat, live and breathe that company and your clients would benefit from it.

How about being passionate at the organization you work for? It is easy to push that responsibility off to someone else. I usually hear that senior management sets the corporate culture. If senior management isn’t passionate, how can I be passionate?

It’s all about attitude!

One person I work with greets me with a happy hello every morning and asks me how my evening was. Now there is a person who makes a conscientious effort to get up every morning with a smile on his face and greet a world full of opportunities.

So, passion can be generated internally and you have to generate it. If your organization is passionless, maybe it is up to you to create your own internal passion. I find passion infectious. Create passion in the little things you do and eventually the passion will take over you mindset. Try it. I think you’ll find you enjoy work more and so will others around you. If you can’t get passionate where you work, it may be time to move on.