Hey, I’ve lived a long time and I’ve developed lots of habits. In our brains habits are formed when the same neural pathways are used over and over. After a while they become frictionless 6-lane highways that are easy to take because they are comfortable and the brain likes easy shortcuts. Habits are like pathways that it already knows are safe and have predictable results.

I’m pictured here with a new friend, a person from Germany named Falk. We met on a line to go up to Sky Tower, a revolving restaurant high over Sydney, Australia. We then got seated in neighboring tables in the restaurant and decided to keep each other company for dinner.  I learned his story. He grew up in a large family and learned carpentry skills from his father. He then decided to be a carpenter and travel around the world building training facilities for companies that make and/or distribute membranes for solar homes. So he is doing what I’m doing, working while traveling and traveling while working.

It was easy for him because he didn’t have to undo a lot of old habits like I did. He wasn’t entrenched in activities and patterns that got in his way.

The message here is that people change at different rates depending on how solidly entrenched old patterns, belief systems, habits and activities are in your life or in the lives of people you want to change. Are you creating change in yourself or your company? Be patient. Unearth those old patterns and belief systems. Determine what new habits will replace the old ones. Then practice, practice, practice to create a new neural pathway in the brain and a new habit. Every time you catch yourself (or a staff member) sliding into an old unwanted habit, make the correction without beating yourself/your staff member up. It’s part of the natural process of changing the brain’s normal patterns of habit formation.

#travelingwhileworking   #workingwhiletraveling