iGNLP™ - Business Certification in Success habits

In this video series, we are going to be talking about habits and how they affect not only our own daily lives and our futures, but also the lives of the people around us, if not the entire world. According to Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit, every habit has three parts--the cue, the behavior, and the reward. The cue is the trigger that tells your brain its time to do that thing you do every time that cue arises. For instance, your alarm clock is your cue for your habit of getting up every morning so you can get to work on time. The second part is the behavior itself, which is what most of us think of when we hear the word habit. The third part is the reward, which can be as complex as a shopping trip when youve lost five pounds or as simple as a feeling of satisfaction when you pass up the dessert tray. The reward helps your brain remember what Duhigg calls the habit loop. When we are learning a new habit or breaking an old one, the decision-making part of our brains is called into action.

to accompany this course I have created a workbook that matches up with videos so that you can go through each of the steps and do the exercises I mention in the videos, as well as a few others.

In this video, we are going to be talking about taking an inventory of your habits. Simply because youre here now, watching this video, youre already demonstrating your motivation toward changing habits that bother you and learning some new ones. Thats a good first step, but take the time now to become more aware before you start making any changes. Once you know where you stand with the habits you already have, you can make conscious choices about which habits you want to keep, which habits you want to lose, and which new habits you want to develop. Set aside some time in which you can be alone and quiet for a half hour or so to take a personal inventory of all of your habits, good and bad. Turn off the ringer on your phone and ignore any outside distractions. Have a pen and some paper handy. Sit quietly for a few moments with your eyes closed and allow your thinking to slow. Dont try to stop your thoughts, but just allow them to be. Begin to notice the spaces between your thoughts, and you will soon find that your mind will become more and more still.

In this video, we are going to be talking about the most important habit you can have. In order to build a life worth living, youll need to start early and be true to lots of small positive habits. Like bricks laid one by one, these habits that can seem so insignificant will eventually become a strong and sturdy foundation for the life you want to live. The most important habit you can have in that regard is that of a positive mindset. While the habit of a happy outlook on life can be developed at any age, it will do you the most good if you establish it early in life, the sooner the better. What if, though, youre a fully grown adult who finds himself or herself in the depths of despair? What if you have a habit of looking for the worst in any situation instead of looking for the beauty around you? What if you have lost the ability to feel gratitude? We are only human, after all, and most of us feel grief, anger, and resentment from time to time, and sometimes with good reason. But if these ways of thinking have become habitual with you, its time now to take stock and rewire your brain to think more positive thoughts.

In this video, we are going to be talking about some ways to break bad habits. When you inventoried your habits earlier, did you find some habits you wanted to be rid of? Most of us do have habits that no longer serve us well, if they ever did. We keep bad habits around because, on one level or another, they give us pleasure. Then, too, we have practiced these habits over and over again, sometimes for years, so the neural wiring in our brains that keeps them in place can seem impossible to untangle. Start by being aware of the habit you want to break. You started this process with a habit inventory. Now, take that awareness a step or two further. For instance, lets say you have a habit of spending too much time on social media. Think first about the trigger and the reward for this activity, because, as youll recall, every habit has three parts--cue, behavior, and reward. For a better chance at success, break up this three-part pattern. Perhaps your cue is a simple one--your habit includes that you respond immediately to notifications on your smartphone from social media sites.

In this video, we are going to be talking about making big changes--by starting small. Take another look at your habits inventory and pick one--just one--good outcome from your description of your ideal future that you would like to aim for. I am talking now about those big changes in your life that will require lots of smaller changes, things like losing weight or being more successful in your career. Say, for instance, you want to lose weight. That goal implies a lot of new healthy habits. Youll have to eat healthier and exercise more. To do that you might have to shop differently for groceries, learn new recipes, avoid some of your favorite restaurants, and get up early to exercise. Oh! And I guess youll need some gym clothes now, and how about a gym membership? Whew! Just thinking about it all makes me feel exhausted and overwhelmed. How about you? If you try to tackle everything all at once, no matter how motivated you feel right now, youll just become overwhelmed after a couple of days and your whole new fitness regime will grind to a halt.

In this video, we are going to be talking about those days when you just cant push yourself out the door to exercise, and you want to eat a doughnut or smoke a cigarette or not make your bed--just this once. Youve been building a healthy new habit for several days now, or stopping with an old unhealthy one. Youve done pretty well. No one said it would be easy, and it hasnt been, but you were feeling good about it when you went to bed last night. All the same, you woke up this morning in a grumpy mood, and today you just dont want to. You dont want to do that thing you said youd do. You dont want to not do that thing you said you wouldnt do.

In this video, we are going to be talking about helping our children develop healthy habits. One of the best things you can do for your children is to help them build good habits during their early years. Healthy patterns of behavior, established young, can build a strong foundation for them to lead happier, healthier lives, not only as children, but also as adults, long after theyve left your care.

In this video, we are going to be talking about developing good study habits. Whether you have decided to go back to school and want to develop good study habits for yourself or you are trying to instill good study habits in your children, the tips in this video can help either or both of you to become better students. Find or set up a quiet environment for studying.

In this video, we are going to be talking about that nasty habit, procrastination. Come on now, admit it. We all do it. We all procrastinate from time to time, and for some of us its a real problem, dominating our lives and keeping us from realizing our dreams. Are you a secret procrastinator? Before you answer consider this: Maybe youre quite productive.

In this video, we are going to be talking about habits that lead to success. In 1937, as the world was beginning to find its way out of the Great Depression, Napoleon Hill wrote Think and Grow Rich, the result of his relationship with Andrew Carnegie and a twenty-year investigation into the lives of more than five hundred millionaires.

In this video, we are going to talk about some practical ways to establish a healthy habit and make it stick for the rest of your life. Before you attempt to make big changes in your habits, make a plan. For instance, if you want to lose weight, you will need a plan for changing your diet, your exercise routine, and maybe even your sleep schedule. Keep a journal about the changes you want to make and write out your plan in that journal. Make a clear statement on the first page of your journal about exactly what you wish to change and how you plan to go about it. Do some basic research and try to understand the workings of the habit you wish to change. Break your plan down into segments to avoid becoming overwhelmed. For instance, instead of obsessing about a large weight-loss goal that you want to attain by sometime next year, plan to lose a certain amount of weight each week or month and focus on those smaller goals instead. Plan for those days when your motivation will flag, because days like those are sure to happen.

In this video, we are going to be talking about using visualizations and affirmations to help you in changing your habits. When we imagine ourselves doing something, the neural pathways in the brain that get activated are the same ones that get activated when we actually do that thing. Imagine that! What this means is that by visualizing ourselves succeeding in breaking a bad habit or developing a good one, we are teaching our brains to help us thrive. Try this for yourself. If, for instance, you've decided you want to stop smoking, visualize yourself as a non-smoker. See yourself having your morning cup of coffee without the usual accompanying cigarette. Think of other situations in which you would normally be triggered to reach for a smoke and picture yourself sailing through those moments smoke-free. Hold the thought in your mind that you are a non-smoker, and begin thinking of yourself that way. For another example, if you want to get into the habit of walking every day at lunchtime, try this.