Lawyers: You Can Overcome Bad Habits

Who Doesn’t Have Bad Habits?

It is no secret that lawyers are creatures of habit. Law schools drill their pupils in disciplines and hectic routines. Living in the pressure cooker of practicing law is like putting miracle growth on one’s faults.

Personal demons can rapidly pop up in a demanding and stressful career. Young and old lawyers and nonlawyers can easily become overwhelmed.

Every one of us has at least one bad habit or two. These self-sabotaging behaviors don’t serve our best interests. Every time you repeat the bad habit, a neural pathway is stimulated in your brain. Over time, this neural pathway becomes strengthened. It morphs into a superhighway that dominates our behaviors.

Here are some possible bad habits

• Procrastination
• Gossip
• Interrupting others
• Always oversleeping
• Spending too much money
• Overeating
• Getting drunk or high
• Smoking
• Yelling at your children or loved ones
• Staying up too late
• Addictions to devices, videos, television, social media
• Suicidal ideations
• Slovenliness
• Disorganization
• Talking too much
• Judging others
• Putting others down
• Racial prejudices
• Hatred
• Compulsive shopping
• Workaholism

Can We Change?

Most of us want to change our self-defeating habits. But, the trouble, of course, is that it’s hard to do. If you’ve spent years and years doing the same thing, consciously or unconsciously, it’s not easy. We don’t wake up one day and say, ‘well, that’s it, I’m done with doing this or that.’

Another reason we can’t instantly change is when we must acknowledge how little control we have over our thoughts.

According to The National Science Foundation, here is some data about our thoughts:

• We have about 50,000 to 70,000 thoughts per day.
• Approximately 80% of our thoughts are negative.
• Of those many thoughts, 95% are repetitive thoughts. (every day the same thoughts)

Looking at these numbers gives us the answer to why it is so difficult to change our bad habits. To make matters worse, we keep repeating those negative thoughts! Plus, we have many more negative thoughts than positive ones.

We are not even aware of most of our thoughts.

• Unconscious thoughts (beyond our conscious awareness) 95%
• Conscious awareness of (decisions, emotions, actions, behaviors) 5%

This reinforces why it is so difficult to change. We are unaware of the majority of our thoughts. Thus, we are products of our childhood, background, environment. Our primary personality traits were developed before the age of 7 years old.

7 Steps How You Can Change Your Bad Habits

Educate yourself about neuroplasticity. Your brain is plastic. You have the ability to adapt and change your brain. You can form new neural connections throughout life. In fact, your brain is able to ‘reorganize’ itself and adapt.

Here are 7 steps to rewire your brain and create new neural pathways.

1. Write down all your bad habits. Be 100% honest with yourself. Purge yourself of your secrets and put them on paper.
2. Rank your list of bad habits by putting the most painful and destructive habits at the top.
3. Choose 1 habit you are committed to change.
4. Each day write down 2 actions you will take to overcome this habit. (You can start off easy and set yourself up to win)
5. At the end of the day, rate the 2 actions you said you would take with either “Yes” or “No.” (acknowledge whether or not you took the actions)
6. Repeat #5 and #6 each day for 30 days.
7. After 30 days, decide to either continue working on the same habit. Or, if you are satisfied with your progress, move on down to the next item on your original list of bad habits.

Now You Are Changing & Rewiring Your Brain

You cannot change a habit without changing your brain. Your old habits are like overworked, well-traveled superhighways in your brain. As I said earlier, these highways are neural pathways. Each time you repeat the habit, the superhighway gets bigger and stronger.

When you take actions #4, #5, #6, (above), you are building a new neural pathway or a new highway in your brain.

This new pathway is weak, skinny, and puny. Each day, as you begin new behaviors, your neural pathway gets bigger and stronger.

When you dig your heels in and take the new actions, you will be using neural plasticity to change your brain. Even though you have spent years following the old habit, you CAN change. As you go against the grain, overcoming bad habits becomes easier.

You Deserve A Better Life

You will achieve more of your potential as humans, lawyers, parents, or partners. You will become an active participant in changing your brain and growing each day. Being more mindful of how you respond to things stops knee-jerk, automatic, self-defeating behaviors.

A word of caution. Stop ignoring your bad habits. Also, stop berating yourself. Remember, your bad habits didn’t appear overnight and won’t disappear instantly. Be patient.

It is time to recognize that you can create an entirely new life by changing your brain. This way, each of us gets the best out of our lives and terrific progress for ourselves and our loved ones.