One evening an old Cherokee Indian was teaching his grandson about life – about a battle that goes on inside all people. He said, ‘My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: ‘Which wolf wins?’

The old Cherokee simply replied, ‘The one you feed.’

Let’s compare this powerful story with what we know about habits.

What I’m going to teach you now is the golden rule of behaviour adjustment. It is a scientific fact and it is critical to your success so please pay attention.

TO BREAK A HABIT YOU HAVE TO MAKE A HABIT.

The science is very clear on this point – to break a habit or an addiction, you have to replace that habit with other positive actions. Charles Duhigg in his ground breaking book The Power of Habit said it this way, “we know that a habit cannot be eradicated – it must instead, be replaced . . .”

What does this mean? What’s the only conclusion you can reach. It means you must take action. You must focus on creating the life you want, not obsessively focusing on the life you are running away from. You must feed the right wolf inside you.

If you solely focus on NOT doing something, you will fail.

This means that you must actively pursue greatness. You must move towards the life you want and no consume your life with your “addiction / bad habits.” You can only run away from something for so long – you must start running towards the life you want to create.

And you do this by setting goals.

Setting goals is a fundamental component to success. Think about it, you can’t get where you are trying to go until you clearly define where that is.

Research studies show a direct link between goals and enhanced performance in individuals and in business. Goals help you focus and allocate your time and resources efficiently, and they can keep you motivated when you feel like giving up.

Do you remember the story of Alice in Wonderland?

“Cat: Where are you going?
Alice: Which way should I go?
Cat: That depends on where you are going.
Alice: I don’t know.
Cat: Then it doesn’t
matter which way you go.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

You need to know where you are going and remember to dedicate time to focusing on where you want to go.

So set some powerful goals that will make your life better.