The key to exchanging bad habits for good habits is changing your thoughts and beliefs. Once you do that, you’ll find that your behavior changes as well.

How does this work? Here’s an example. I have a client, Trisha, who’s a well-known attorney. Trisha’s desk was always piled high and her calendar was full. But she was hardly working less and making more. Instead, Trish worked 70 hours a week but never really caught up. She didn’t prioritize her workload, she never said no to a potential client regardless of how busy she was, and she constantly brought work home. Was Trish living her best life? Of course not. Was she miserable? You bet.

The funny thing is, Trish knew her bad habits were contributing to her misery. And I didn’t need to point these habits out to her. She knew exactly what they were. So why didn’t she change them?

She was afraid to try things another way. “Whenever my desk is piled high and my calendar is so full I don’t have time to take a shower, I feel really important,” she said.

I helped Trish replace some of her old habits with better habits. We redid her “to-do” list so that she did the important stuff first. Instead of a 70-hour work week, Trish committed to working 50 hours per week. She stopped bringing work home. And she said no to clients and co-workers when she needed to.

As Trish began to work less, she found that the relationships and interests she had previously ignored gave her tremendous fulfillment and self-worth. She had more joy, and more laughter, in her life. She felt better than she had in years.