Are your old habits still serving you?

“I have always acted this way. I don’t know why and it doesn’t do me any good. It’s just a habit.”

The origin of this behaviour may lie somewhere in our past. Once, it may have been a sensible reaction to the circumstances, but now its origins have become lost in the mists of time and memory. All that remains is this habitual way of thinking and reacting.

This reminds me of a story I once heard.

There was once a grandmother who, every year, invited her family to join her for Christmas, where she roasted a large turkey. It was not too dry, nor too greasy; it was cooked to perfection. The meat cut like butter and the flavours exploded in the mouth.

The one thing they all noticed was that before the grandmother put the turkey in the oven, she always cut the sides off the legs.

There were many years of debate within the family as to why she did this, but all her children and grandchildren followed her example and cut the sides off their turkeys’ legs as well. Some said it allowed the heat to flow freely through the bird. Others claimed it allowed the juices to run out or the spices to permeate the flesh.

Year after year, the family disputed the reason behind the practice. Sometimes the arguments grew heated, but everyone knew the practice was correct, even though no one knew the real reason why.

The grandmother remained silent during these debates until one year, after a particularly energetic dispute, the family turned to her and asked about the secret behind cutting the sides off the turkey.

“Well,” she said, “if I did not cut the sides off the turkey, it would be too big for my small oven.”

Are your old habits still serving you?

It is good to reflect on our behaviour and ask ourselves why we do what we do. Do our habits and ways of thinking serve us well, or are they just fossils from a previous time?

A way of dealing with the world at one time in your life might not be relevant now. Cutting the sides off the turkey made sense for the grandmother’s small oven, but not for the children’s or grandchildren’s larger ovens. Yet everyone loyally continued the practice until it became an embedded tradition.

Each family member found a justification, but no one questioned the source of the behaviour or asked, “Does this make sense?” This lack of critical questioning can lie behind national traditions, company culture or personal habitual behaviour.

Step back and reflect for a while on how you habitually react to the world around you, at home or at work. Do these behaviours serve you well? If not, why not? When and where did they start, and are those origins still valid today?

Do you want to cut the sides off the turkey forever when the bird can easily fit into your oven?