When you carefully observe one part of your life, you can gain insight into the way you conduct other areas of your life. If you change your behavior in one small part of your life, you will notice that your behavior in other areas of your life will change, too. This idea is true in individual human behavior. Small actions indicate a lot about how you conduct your life. How you handle yourself in one situation can reveal a pattern of behavior that occurs everywhere in your life. The process is always the same, but it is usually easier to observe it in others.
For example, as you are walking down the streets of Philly, you may see a woman scolding her child, dragging him along by the hand. Even though she is a stranger to you, you can be fairly certain that she has done this same thing countless times. You can anticipate her behavior in similar situations, even though you had just that one glimpse of her behavior.
This is a natural tendency to live in repetitious patterns, acting out of habit. If you do not change the habits, nothing in your life will change either. If you always walk down that same Philly street there is a possibility that you will see that same lady with the same child, giving the same scolding. Taking a different street lets you see other people and different landmarks. A critical, objective look at one item in your personal catalog of behavior can be like putting your eye to a keyhole. A whole new room appears, and what you see is you.
As you are walking down the street, try smiling at everyone you see. Making that one small change will cause a ripple effect in your behavior. You will begin to feel better about yourself, and start having positive thoughts. You might even be able to change the attitude of the scolding woman, having given her a reason to smile back instead continuing her behavior.
When you find something you don’t like in your behavior, you can rearrange the whole pattern by making one small change. For instance, if you find that you are always rushing to make it to your job on time, set your alarm earlier and change your morning routine. As time goes on, you will automatically arrive on time. Modify little things you do, and watch your whole life change.
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