What's your excuse for doing things you shouldn't be doing?

 

What’s your excuse for doing things you shouldn’t be doing?

“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently what that which should not be done at all.” These words by Peter Drucker hit me hard when I realized I was doing what I want but not what I need, the different things in life. My initial reaction or an immediate justification to it was–Of course, this shouldn’t be done, but I’m doing it anyway and that’s a problem. What’s your excuse to the things you shouldn’t be doing?

James Prochaska, professor of Clinical and Health Psychology at the University of Rhode Island has developed a model for the six stages of change we go through before we completely work through any problem as: Pre contemplation, contemplation, Preparation, Action, Maintenance and Recycling/Relapse. I’ll be discussing these stages in detail. Pre contemplation is the first state of change when you have accepted that there’s a problem but you aren’t thinking of its solution just yet. If you find yourself at this state there may be numerous reasons behind it the foremost being, Less/No motivation: Motivation is the will to change, a will strong enough to stimulate immediate action. We tend to associate the things we should not be doing to the feeling of comfort quite subconsciously. The feeling of comfort triggers the release of dopamine–the feel good hormone. When we essentially find the comfort within our safe zone i.e. in the things we shouldn’t be doing, we crave for more of it which makes it so difficult for us to think for a solution early enough. If you consider yourself to be reluctant to change than maybe you need a little more motivation and some positive attitude to act because the time is ripe. Secondly, Break in Routine/Cycle: Have you ever stopped your daily meditation just because you couldn’t wake up on the fifth day? Well, if you have paused at doing something just because there has been a break for some time there’s no any better time than now to press that play button and start straight away. It is normal to have a break in your daily routine, everyone fails to keep up sometimes. It doesn’t matter how hard you fail unless you stop using failure to your advantage. Additionally, Comparison: Doesn’t it hurt less when you know your friend has failed too than when you would know only you failed the exam? Often, we find no obligation in accepting something everyone is doing just because the society accepts it regardless of it being wrong. Backing our decisions with these forms of evidence without differentiating good from the bad may keep us from change.

The second stage of change is Contemplation–it is when you begin to acknowledge that a change is necessary. You finally realize what you’re doing is wrong and look forward to its possible solution. You could realize this and yet be alright which could get you stuck at this stage for years or you could make a decision to act which puts you at the third stage–Preparation. The next stage of change is Action: After you have made your decision now you’re taking active steps to do something about your problem. The action towards the solution can be variant based upon the problem. In a broader sense, we must be mindful of the problem. A deeper analysis of the problem is to be done and we need to determine exactly what triggers it to occur. Even the oddest thing would have a match, so we should never be afraid of substituting something if it is a barrier to our solution.

The fifth stage of change is Maintenance: I’ve often heard the wise say that between life and death there’s only maintenance. The maintenance of something is as evident as something itself. During the process of change, we may come across difficulties at different stages. Here, we learn to overcome these challenges and who knows you might be doing this until your death. The last stage of change is Recycling/Relapse: If the results you’re getting from the change contradicts with what you were expecting, you should better go back to the earlier stages where you doubt. For some the maintenance would be the last state of change while for others, you got to go one more time. Be the change you wish to see in the world.

Hey everyone! I hope you’re doing great. Been so long since I wrote something and finally here’s one. Have a great day ahead! Live, love, laugh and enjoy! <3

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