Book excerpt: What would you like to change in your life? Be more focused at work? Communicate more effectively? Find work-life balance? Make smarter decisions? Be more patient with your team or family? Have greater self-confidence? Less stress? Just . . . be happier? Often, the biggest obstacle to change lies in our most deeply ingrained habits: those automatic thought processes that operate outside our consciousness, and yet have a profound impact on our behavior, shaping everything from how we respond to challenges to how we engage with others. The good news is that we can literally rewire our mental habits for the better. In Habit Changers, executive coach M.J. Ryan shares the secret weapon that has helped her highest performing clients improve their focus, better manage under pressure, enhance their emotional intelligence, become more effective leaders, and more. Inspired by the Buddhist tradition of Lojong, or "slogan practice," habit changers are simple, one-line aphorisms that, when recited, reprogram your brain’s automatic responses. Here, Ryan explains how to use the 81 Habit Changers that have demonstrated the most profound and lasting results. They include: - You can’t say yes if you can’t say no - Don’t push buttons that don’t need to be - Handshake your fear - Stand where you’d rather not - Remember your highest intention - Outsource your worry - Reach for the better thought Our capacity to change is our greatest gift as human beings. Habit Changers will help you take control of your destiny and more easily achieve the success and happiness you desire.