Management: 3 steps to break unwanted habits
Culture can be defined as a collective set of habits used by a group to get things done. You’ve had experience breaking a personal habit—imagine how tough it is to break an unwanted corporate habit. Yet, many CEOs begin culture change initiatives with a “so it is written, so it is done” expectation. Successful culture change (like breaking a personal habit) requires imagination, conditioning, and reinforcement.
Good habits are a valuable necessity—that’s why we are programmed to instinctively hang on to them. Think back to your first driving experience. Do you remember wondering if you’d ever master what seemed like hundreds of disjointed tasks? I recall watching in awe as experienced drivers drove with unconscious precision. How did they know when to turn the steering wheel while rolling down the highway? They weren’t even aware of the critical adjustments being made every few seconds. Habits make our lives less complicated by providing an auto pilot setting for repetitive activity.
But habits that worked for us at one time, can become destructive. When you try and break an unwanted habit, you are saying goodbye to an old friend. For good or bad, the behavior has been a part of your life. Switching off a hard-wired auto pilot is tough. For example, if a smoker takes twenty five puffs on each cigarette; and smokes twenty five cigarettes a day…that means six hundred and twenty five subconscious movements of the hand, the same for the lips and twice that for the lungs . That’s a total of two thousand five hundred repetitions each day. For a twenty year smoker, that means 18,250,000 movements. Is it any wonder that a frequent complaint from people trying to quit smoking is; “I don’t know what to do with my hands.” The following three step process will help you reset auto pilots. The example relates to breaking a personal habit, but a similar process is needed to master the more difficult task of changing a corporate culture .
#1. Visioning:
The subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference between thinking and reality. It takes twenty one days of repeated imaging to trick the mind into believing that something is real. Begin your quest by imagining established success. At this point you will still be using the unwanted habit. For example, if you want to become a non smoker; close your eyes and for five minutes twice a day (for at least twenty one days), picture yourself as a non smoker…i.e. notice that your clothes don’t smell anymore, rejoice as you are reacquainted with the beautiful fragrance of flowers, dream about your food tasting better, notice your improved complexion, watch yourself running up a flight of stairs without wheezing, smile at being offered cigarettes by smoking buddies and proudly saying “no thanks. I’m a nonsmoker.”
#2. Conditioning:
After twenty one days, establish a “cold turkey” stop date at least one month away. Mark your “STOP” day on the calendar and begin keeping a diary, recording the time and place of each cigarette. After smoking a cigarette, store your butt in a jar. Rate each of these smokes in your diary as being; high, medium, or low, in satisfaction. This activity begins moving your unwanted habit to the conscious mind. At the same time, you are establishing a vacuum in your subconscious. The vacated space is slowly but surely filled by the twice daily imaging sessions.
#3. Reinforcement:
On stop day, symbolically toss your habit away. Each time feel a need to reengage the unwanted habit , reach for that nasty smelling butt jar; close your eyes and take a few deep whiffs. During this unpleasant task, create a horribly unpleasant picture in your mind. For example, imagine a package of cigarettes that somebody has vomited on. Not a pretty picture but it works. Negative stimulation will eventually eliminate dangerous flashbacks that can encourage renewal of the unwanted habit. The process of positive and negative imaging recruits your subconscious mind to work for, rather than against you