Making Good Habits, Breaking Bad Habits

Book excerpt: From nail biting to cell phone addiction, procrastination to overspending, bad habits seem to outnumber the good ones. Unfortunately, we pay a price for bad habits that outweighs the immediate gratification that they bring. Experts say that at least forty per cent of what we do is solely the result of habit, which is why it is so important to make good habits and break bad ones. In this book, Joyce Meyer starts by examining the nature of habits. The first habit - and most important one to have - is the God Habit. By making it a habit to start your day by reading the Bible and communing with God, asking for His help in your efforts and His strength and sustenance, the stage is set for overcoming the habits you want to break and establishing new ones in their place. The author moves on to discuss fourteen good habits and devotes a chapter to each. The reader is given a specific roadmap to follow until the behaviour has become automatic (the definition of a habit). It's like following a SatNav to get you to a new place. After travelling the same route several times, the SatNav isn't needed for you to find your destination. The 'habit' of following the right route is ingrained.