I didn’t plan to write this. I had another issue for you to consider.

Then I had a conversation with one of your peers.

Their CEO had just led them through a planning process. Major initiatives and priorities for 2024 had been established. Previous challenges they faced in their culture and processes had been openly discussed and healthily resolved. The meetings represented progress.

This leader was talking to me about the work they were planning to do as a result, the new systems they were putting into place, and the best practices they had identified within their own department.

Then I asked a question.

“What are the bad habits you and your team have confronted and determined to change?”

Then I followed up with, “What are the bad habits your executive team needs to change?”

You’re A Hard Habit To Break

Bad habits ruin great plans. 

Bad habits kill dreams.

You may form new habits in order to accomplish a plan, but bad habits left unconfronted will undermine the new habits.

Until we identify and change habits that cause us to regress, we will never enjoy progress. 

My question for you, both personally and professionally: What are you trying to accomplish that bad habits will hinder? What are those habits?

You would do well to ask this of your CEO too. Effective CEOs are habit-conscious. 

Breaking Bad

I have a friend that couldn’t stop biting his nails. He tried every remedy he could find and nothing seemed to work. Then he saw that his teeth were being affected. That’s all it took: He wanted nice looking teeth more than he wanted to bite his nails.

I have two friends who suffered from the same addiction. They, too, tried any number of solutions, including making me their accountability partner. None of that worked either. Then, on separate occasions, each realized what their addiction was keeping them from being and accomplishing. 

Their vision of themselves, operating in fullness and freedom, was greater than the momentary relief of their addiction.

I have broken bad habits. I have helped others to break bad habits. I know of only one dynamic that really works: We must desire something more than the desire that drives our bad habit.

As you enter 2024, two questions will revolutionize your personal development and organizational planning:

What habits, left unchecked, will undermine what I’m trying to accomplish?

What do I want more, the habit or the vision?