HABITS AND THE PULL OF GRAVITY

In his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey talks about how the astronauts of Apollo 11 had to overcome the tremendous gravitational pull of the earth to in order to get to the moon.

He says, "More energy was spent in the first few minutes of lift-off, in the first few miles of travel, than was used over the next several days to travel half a million miles."

Covey continues...

"Habits, too, have tremendous gravity pull -- more than most people realize or would admit. Breaking deeply imbedded habitual tendencies such as procrastination, impatience, criticalness, or selfishness that violate basic principles of human effectiveness involves more than a little willpower and a few minor changes in our lives. Lift off takes a tremendous effort, but once we break out of the gravity pull, our freedom takes on a whole new dimension."

Anyone who has broken a habit knows about this. The first few days of a new diet, or a new exercise regime, for example, are torture...ask me...I'll tell ya! But there comes a time when you get used to it, when each action doesn't take monumental effort ... and eventually you actually begin to enjoy it.

When breaking a bad habit or trying to establish a good one, you can expect some resistance up front. Don't let the anticipated resistance prevent you from getting started. You'll burn a lot of fuel for the first days, but it won't be long before you're able to coast a bit.