Which addictions are you choosing this year?

This might not appeal to everyone.

Many years ago I realised that:

1. I have an addictive personality

2. Many of my clients have addictive personalities

3. Lots of business owners have addictive personalities

4. We engage our addictive personality as an anaesthetic when we are tired and/or stressed and/or lost and/or lonely and/or bored

The choice that we don’t have is to switch off that addictive personality.

We are stuck with it – there is no cure.

The choice that we do have to to decide which addictive behaviours we are going to engage.

Good or bad.

Let me share with you some of the bad addictive behaviours I have engaged over the years:

1. drink – drinking too much too quickly (I’m not an alcoholic or a drunk but I can become psychologically addicted to drink)

2. retail therapy – spending money to buy doodads to make me feel better and then wondering how the hell I am going to pay the bills

3. relationships – becoming so totally obsessed with a member of the opposite sex that I became a pain in the ass

4. work – staying there because I felt guilty if I went home

5. tidiness – becoming obsessive about my tidiness was OK but becoming obsessive about other people’s tidiness wasn’t

6. timekeeping – same again – I’m good at it – some folks aren’t so good

7. argument – picking fights as a form of recreational entertainment

And some of the good addictive behaviours:

1. exercise – marathon training especially, cycling sometimes

2. work – when it is focused and purposeful

3. leadership – building teams

4. my own time-keeping and tidiness

5. reading good novels

6. watching great TV box-sets – episode after episode

7. personal financial management

8. social media connection and engagement

I’m sure you could populate your own lists, both good and bad.

The secret here is to recognise who you really are – to recognise when you are heading for the dark side and to have a network of friends around you who have permission to tell you to get back on the right track.

Rejoice in your addictive personality, it may well be the secret of your success: but manage it very carefully because it has the power to destroy you as well.