CONTACTStaffCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2024 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
Ask an accomplished businessperson how he or she made it to the top and you'll get any number of responses: great mentors, hard work, well-defined goals. I've yet to hear, however, "I couldn't have done it without my pack-a-day habit -- really keeps me going," or "Barbiturates gave me my edge over the competition."
Addictions -- behaviors that we keep doing even though they don't serve us well -- inevitably hold us back. I'm not just talking about the "standard" addictions like alcohol or drugs. I'm talking about all of our compulsive behaviors. Take my great friend Dave from Los Angeles. Dave is an incredible holistic doctor with amazing dreams who believes in the power of integrated medicine to transform the health care industry. He's been talking for the longest time about opening his own clinic. Unfortunately, he's a major procrastinator -- that's his addiction.
Addiction comes in many flavors. For some people, it's being defensive. For others, it's avoiding conflict. Think of all the "dreamers" you know -- and chances are you know many -- who have great ideas and lofty ambitions. Now think of all the dreamers you know who actually achieved their dreams and made their goals a reality. Chances are you know very few. Why do so many dreams go unfulfilled? Homophobia? The proverbial glass ceiling? Lack of a national nondiscrimination law? (By the way, acting like a victim is an addiction too.) Or could the problem be that your own bad habits prevent you from achieving your greatest potential? My vote is there. It's been true for me.
It's difficult to admit our addictions and pinpoint areas in our lives that could stand to be improved; sometimes we need a little help. My friend and associate Dr. Mark Goulston, author of Get Out of Your Own Way at Work, is one of the best professionals I know for diagnosing behavioral addiction. He and I created LifeCoach Tool 1.0, a five-minute interactive questionnaire, for my website NeverEatAlone.com. LifeCoach Tool 1.0 is designed to diagnose negative inclinations and daily routines that stand in the way of individual achievement.
Identify one of your goals -- a promotion or a salary raise, for example. Next, ask yourself what you need to do, or stop doing, in the next 60 days in order to achieve that goal -- such as meeting with management to determine the qualifications for a promotion, talking with your boss about the requirements for a raise, or avoiding late nights out during the week so you can accomplish more at the office.
"What's measured gets managed" is an often-quoted proverb of the business world. It's also a necessary part of realizing personal goals. There's a reason Weight Watchers insists on weekly weigh-ins and Alcoholics Anonymous members declare how long they've been sober before speaking at meetings. There's also a reason why Weight Watchers, AA, and numerous other peer-to-peer support groups use regular meetings as a component of their treatments. The most dramatic and enduring life changes often occur through community-based initiatives, in which a group of people is invested in your success and you feel accountable to them. It's called obligatory interdependence. Whatever you choose to call your dream team of advisers, it's important that you have several people (I recommend at least three) whom you can count on to be brutally honest with you when you ask for their feedback and guidance.
It's important to hold yourself to a 60-day timetable and even more important that your peer counselors hold you to that timetable. Bad habits die hard. Unfortunately, great dreams die very easily--and behavioral addictions are their number 1 killer. It's not easy to change bad habits and take responsibility for your actions, but you'll find that life is far more rewarding when you do, and far easier when you do it with the help of others.
Want more breaking equality news & trending entertainment stories?
Check out our NEW 24/7 streaming service: the Advocate Channel!
Download the Advocate Channel App for your mobile phone and your favorite streaming device!
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
Here Are Our 2024 Election Predictions. Will They Come True?
November 07 2023 1:46 PM
17 Celebs Who Are Out & Proud of Their Trans & Nonbinary Kids
November 30 2023 10:41 AM
Here Are the 15 Most LGBTQ-Friendly Cities in the U.S.
November 01 2023 5:09 PM
Which State Is the Queerest? These Are the States With the Most LGBTQ+ People
December 11 2023 10:00 AM
These 27 Senate Hearing Room Gay Sex Jokes Are Truly Exquisite
December 17 2023 3:33 PM
10 Cheeky and Homoerotic Photos From Bob Mizer's Nude Films
November 18 2023 10:05 PM
30 Steamy Photos of Folsom Street Fair 2023 Debauchery
October 15 2023 11:06 PM
42 Flaming Hot Photos From 2024's Australian Firefighters Calendar
November 10 2023 6:08 PM
These Are the 5 States With the Smallest Percentage of LGBTQ+ People
December 13 2023 9:15 AM
60 Burly Pics from Bearrison Street Fair 2022
October 08 2023 8:30 PM
Watch Now: Advocate Channel
Trending Stories & News
For more news and videos on advocatechannel.com, click here.
Trending Stories & News
For more news and videos on advocatechannel.com, click here.
Latest Stories
Prince William's aversion to spectacle created one — and might spawn a King Harry
March 22 2024 6:24 PM
Outrage after Oklahoma prosecutor declines charges in Nex Benedict bullying death
March 22 2024 5:21 PM
George Santos leaves Republican Party, will run for House seat as independent
March 22 2024 4:07 PM
Catherine, Princess of Wales, announces she has cancer
March 22 2024 2:57 PM
Pride
Yahoo FeedProhibition Wellness & revolutionizing self-care for all
March 22 2024 1:19 PM
Tennessee bill would permit anti-LGBTQ+ foster and adoptee parents
March 22 2024 11:54 AM
Plus
Yahoo Feed8 dating tips for gay men from a gay psychotherapist
March 22 2024 11:51 AM
Trans woman assailed during Kanye West's Rolling Loud set beats back 'bullies' (exclusive)
March 22 2024 11:34 AM