The Pinoy Entrepreneur

A few days back we received a newsletter from Bo Sanchez about overhauling one's life in 2012 to be able to start anew this new year and get rid of bad habits that are already in our systems.  It reminded us of our organizational behavior class in MBA where in we were tasked to modify a bad habit and keep a journal of our progress for 30 days.  Indeed bad habits and behaviors can be modified.  And it is within our power to do so.  You may ask why this is necessary?  It's simply because, if we may quote Bo, "It's habits.  Success and failure aren't actions.  They're habits." 

It is a fact of life that the most successful people are those that have acquired the right habits for success.  We at Money Magnets also believe in this fact that's why we are sharing here the seven steps that Bo has enumerated to help us change our bad habits and we encourage everyone to join us in this 30 day challenge.  It's a great way to start this transformative year of the dragon! Continue reading the article to get the 7 Rules for this 30 day challenge!

The 7 Rules for the 30 day Challenge

Rule no. 1:  Select One Habit!

Choose a single habit or behavior that you want to acquire.  Choose something simple.  Maybe you can  use this challenge to devote 2 hours everyday into doing something for that business that you've been dying to start up. (^o^)/  It's the simple habits that make a big impact in our lives.     

Rule no. 2:  Aim for 30 days!

It takes 30 days to acquire a habit.  If you skip one day, promise to go back to day 1.

Rule no. 3:  Do it Daily!

To acquire the new habit you must do it daily.  It would be wise to choose a habit that you can do daily.  

Rule no. 4: Schedule It!

To help you in keeping the discipline to stick to your plan, schedule a specific time during the day to do the new habit.  Be specific.  Like say you want to acquire the habit of exercising every morning, tell yourself that you will exercise from 7:00 - 7:30am every morning.

Rule no. 5: Replace It!

If you've decided to remove a bad habit, replace the bad habit with something good.  If you leave the space empty, the bad habit is bound to come back.  For example if you want to quit going to the malls and buying things impulsively,  don't just tell yourself not to go to the mall during a specific period of time, instead do something different, a new habit, for that time you've normally allotted to go to the mall.

Rule no. 6: Study It!

Study about the new habit that you want to acquire.  Knowing more about that particular habit will keep you engaged and motivated.

Rule no. 7: Find Support!

Surround yourself with people who are already doing your new habit.  

Ask a friend or your spouse to do the habit with you.

The more support you get, the easier it would be to accomplish your goal.

In addition to these 7 rules, you may want to use Positive Reinforcement as well to help you acquire a the new behavior.  Positive reinforcement is the habit of giving yourself a pat in the back every time you stick to your plan.  You may want to reward yourself with something special each time you successfully follow your plan.  It can be monthly, biweekly, weekly or daily.  This will keep you motivated and the particular habit or response will also be strengthened. 

That's it.  We encourage you to check out the original post at Bo Sanchez's site here.  You may want to subscribe to his newsletter as well.  It's one site that's so full of wisdom!  We know you won't regret it.