I read a statement that astounded me this week. The statement said that psychologists report that as much as 80 to 90% of our behavior is habitual. From the first moment we get out of bed in the morning until we retire at night, there are hundreds of habits or patterns we follow day-in and day-out. To name just a few of our habits - we have set practices around grooming ourselves, eating, driving to and from work or school, shopping, cleaning house, handling the mail and organizing our office or home.

Habits are behaviors that are performed so often, they become automatic; we do them unconsciously. Have you ever been in your car headed to a familiar place and after you arrived, wondered "How did I get here?" The good news is that habits help the mind be free while the body is on auto-pilot. That's why your mind could be elsewhere while you were driving. The not-so-good news is that we can become trapped in habits that block our progress.

Just think about it - the level of success you are experiencing right now is a direct result of your current habits. If you want to create more success in your business, then you will need to replace unproductive habits with new productive ones. Make a list of any habits that are not contributing to the growth of your business. Your list might include such items as:

After you have completed your list, take each item individually and come up with a productive replacement. Let's say one of the items on your list is assuming clients will call you to re-order. Your new practice might be to set aside one hour per week to update your client order records and to make follow-up phone calls to clients that are reaching the re-order point. Imagine what this new habit could do for your sales! No doubt it would produce a substantial return (in orders) on the time invested.

Make a commitment to take one old habit per month and replace it with your new productive practice. Picture where your business and life will be a year from now by implementing one new habit a month. Pretty dramatic changes, I'll bet! Remember the habits you use from this point forward will determine your future success so make them great!