I want you to imagine something: Picture in your mind a powerful magnet. Now imagine that you place hundreds of metal shavings near it. The magnet attracts the shavings, but with each one that sticks to it, its power decreases just a bit. Eventually, the magnet can no longer attract anything because it’s loaded with the shavings.

The magnet is you. Now, I know you’re not made of metal and shaped like a horseshoe, but you do have the pull of a magnet.  The metal shavings represent your bad habits. Each one lessens your power to attract “good” things into your life.  Let’s identify and get rid of habits that are muting your natural ability to attract what you want.

Here are some bad habits that I see dragging down my clients, and ways you can get rid on them.

The Technology Trap

The Internet is a huge time-waster. Many of us spend hours on there every day, clicking from site to site instead of, say, actually working or creating a healthy habit like going for walks or making nutritious meals. Here’s how to keep surfing in check.

Change your password. One of my clients had her husband change the password to the forum she spent the most time on, which was accessible to members only. For a few days she’d find her fingers twitching towards the browser tab where she usually kept this forum open, but soon the feeling passed and she felt a great sense of freedom—and free time.

Are you addicted to a website that makes you log in to read it? Give a friend or family member your password, then ask them to log in, change your password, and keep the new password from you unless you really, really need it.

Get blocked. You can download an extension for Firefox called BlockSite (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3145) and use it to block your favorite time wasters.  Not on Firefox? Block Websites Buddy (http://block-websites-buddy.smartcode.com/info.html) works for all popular browsers and costs $29.95. A small price to pay to gain back hours of your time!

Be free. If you’re on a Mac, download the free software Freedom (http://www.macfreedom.com). This software will disable your networking for any amount of time from 10 minutes to eight hours. This means you can’t surf the web at all. The only way to get back online before the time is up is to reboot your computer, which really helps you resist the urge to try to pop online. If you’re on a PC, I’m afraid that there doesn’t seem to be any similar software. One alternative may be as simple as quitting your browser. If you have to relaunch your browser, that will give you time to think twice about surfing when you don’t really need to.

Time yourself. Try setting an egg timer for 15 minutes and surfing only until the alarm goes off. Then, get up and do something else. Try replacing Internet surfing with a healthy habit like long baths, exercise, or reading.

You Are What You Eat (Really!)

Eating a poor diet of fast food, convenience foods, sugar, and dairy will dull your “attractiveness” and decrease your energy and motivation. Consider which foods make you feel your best and add them to your diet this week—and subtract foods that make you feel de-energized.  It’s as simple as that.

TV Tension

I know some people who finish work and then plop down in front of the TV until bedtime. Then they complain not only of not having enough time to reach their goals, but of being too exhausted to be motivated! TV can suck both your time and your energy, and it dulls your Glow by numbing you. I understand that after a hard day at work you deserve to relax, but TV is not relaxing so much as draining. Here’s how you can ditch this bad habit.

Replace it. Yes, you deserve to relax and have a good time. But instead of watching TV, can you find a healthier option for relaxing? For example, could you sip a cup of tea, take a half-hour bath, read a book, go for a walk? These things not only take less time than a typical TV program, but they’ll leave you feeling refreshed instead of tired. And even if they did take as much time as a TV program, at least you will feel energized and not drained.

Cut the cable. Would you watch less TV if you didn’t have 200 channels to choose from? Then gain time and save money by getting rid of your cable subscription.

Unplug it. Doing something as simple as unplugging your TV can help cut down on your tube-viewing hours. If you have to plug it in before watching, you’ll think twice about whether you’d rather zone out in front of the TV or do something more energizing.

Set a timer. Can’t go cold turkey? Set a kitchen timer for a little less time than you usually spend watching TV in the evening, and every day shave off 15 more minutes. When the timer goes off, turn off the TV and find something else to do. This technique is even more effective if, instead of having a kitchen timer, you have a live timer — that is, a partner or kid who will pull you away from the TV at the appointed time.

Go all the way. Feeling brave? Put your TV in a closet. Eventually, if you find you don’t have the urge to watch it at all anymore, you can sell it. This may sound extreme, but I know plenty of people who live TV free. You can find lots of other, more motivating, things to occupy your time.

Cocktail Hour

Take an honest look at how much you drink. Do you have to plop down on the couch every evening after work and have a glass of wine to relax? Like with TV and the Internet, try replacing this habit with one that makes you feel more awake and alive. How about a glass of sparkling water with lime instead of a glass of wine? Or try revving up with a yoga class or video.

The Procrastination Problem

Procrastination—having things you want to do but not doing them—is a bad habit for many of my clients (before coaching!)

I encourage my clients to have big, audacious goals, but if you don’t know how to break down big goals—or even small ones—into digestible, easily doable bits, the result can be stalling. You may procrastinate on getting started simply because you’re not clear on what the next step is. Try chunking your goal down into small steps, preferably ones that take under an hour to complete. For example, if your goal is to write a book, your first step might be to read up on how to write a book proposal. Then you can focus on one section at a time until the proposal is done. The next step after that might be to spend an hour researching agents online and going over their guidelines. And so on.

Another procrastination producer is lack of energy. Ditching some of your bad habits will make your energy skyrocket, but in the meantime, try this trick: When you want to do something but don’t feel energized enough to make headway towards the task, get up and stretch. You need to get out of your head and into your body. In addition, just a little bit of movement will give you a quick shot of energy so you have the momentum to get through your task.

Sleep Snafus

We need a full night’s sleep to be our brightest selves. But many of us crumple into bed exhausted at the end of the day, sleep poorly, and wake up early to a blaring alarm, still feeling like we need more sleep.

In my opinion, LOTS of people have very unhealthy sleeping habits.  The good news is that you can totally change any bad habit, including how you sleep.

Stress is a major factor.  Between putting in eight hours at work, keeping house, and shuttling the kids to their after-school activities, who’s got time for sleep?  And when you finally do get to hit the hay, you’re so worried about Johnny’s poor report card or your presentation at work that sleep seems miles away. Instead of stressing out—and making the situation worse—try these tips to get your forty winks.

Be in the dark. You need pitch black in order to sleep well. I recommend removing all light-emitting technology like digital clocks and computers from the bedroom, but if you can’t, invest in an inexpensive sleep mask. (Brookstone has a good, soft one.)  That’s my new favorite travel item!  Sleep masks are awesome.

Don’t force it.  If you’ve been snoozeless for more than 15 minutes, get out of bed and do something relaxing like reading a light book or meditating. Return to bed only when you begin to feel sleepy.  If you remain tossing and turning in bed, you’ll begin to subconsciously associate the bed with not sleeping.

Sleep only. Don’t do anything that could be construed as rewarding, like studying, doing housework, or balancing the checkbook, in bed.  If you get a benefit from your activity, you’re subconsciously rewarding yourself for not sleeping.

Stay steady. Try to maintain a regular sleep schedule, even on weekends and vacations.

Don’t drink up. Avoid caffeine and alcohol within four to six hours of bedtime, as these substances can disrupt sleep. (Yes, even so-called relaxing alcohol!)

Keep cool. The optimal temperature for getting a good rest is 68° F. Don’t blast the heat in the winter, and in the summer try an air conditioner or a window fan in the cooler evenings.

Eat well. What you eat during the day can affect your sleep. If you nosh on heavy foods, your body will be working on digesting them when you want to sleep. Try not to eat after dinner, and dine on light foods like fish and steamed vegetables.

Re-think your nightly pre-bed ritual.  RELAX at night.  Stay off of the computer (allow your mind to relax) and prepare yourself for sleep.

Of course, I can’t list every bad habit here, but these are the biggies. Do you have other habits you need to banish, such as playing video games, gossip, oversleeping (another common sleep problem), or drinking too much coffee? Think up ways to get rid of them. Be creative! You may need to do something extreme, like selling the video game machine, avoiding gossipy friends, clearing your home of coffee, or setting your alarm even when you don’t technically have to be up.

Ready to DO SOMETHING with all of this info?

Identify the number one habit that’s dragging you down. It may be something I listed above, or it may be something completely different. 

Think up a plan for getting rid of the habit, or if you can’t, at least cutting it in half. Again, be creative!  Finally…..think about a healthy habit you can use to replace your bad habit. Go with your groove by thinking up healthy habits that will satisfy the same need the bad habit met.

For example, if you watch TV to relax, try a soothing yoga video. If you need coffee to wake up, try a brisk walk or a cold glass of sparkling water. If you collapse into bed after a busy day because you’re exhausted, try easing your way into a restful sleep by taking a warm bath instead.