Overview   Download Article		print this page "The number one disease in today’s society, is addictive behaviour" Not just addiction to drugs and alcohol – but to fast foods, fast service, instant relaxation, coffee and tea. We are addicted to the way we behave in work situations, addicted to the way we communicate, addicted to our preferences, beliefs and demands. These behaviours may be comfortable but not expedient – we will get a result, but not necessarily the best result for us! If you only have one way of thinking, one way of communicating, one way to reduce stress, one supporter in alcohol or one way of getting high – then you have no choice, no responsibility, no options. One choice is NO choice. Two choices are a dilemma. Three choices are power! Power is control and opportunity – take control of your life, be responsible and give yourself opportunities. A fly will bang its head against a window pane many times, unaware that an open window near by will offer successful passage. If you do what you always do, you’ll get the same outcome. Changing this and having new options may not be comfortable, but it may give you success. So, do you want to be comfortable or successful? In this subject there are obviously different sub-headings such as; drugs and alcohol mis-use, social (or unsocial) behaviours, communication skills, management and leadership skills (both of self and others), the handling of difficult situations or difficult people. And believe me when I write that they all have similarities that need to be addressed and overcome with knowledge, choice and action - not will power, but with responsibility! Do you ‘need’ a spliff to relax? Can’t sleep without alcohol to forget the day’s pressures? Need a drink to get through the day and cope with challenges? Start wheezing with expectation even before the situation occurred, and took the inhaler? Sniff a little coke to clear you head and have some fun? Need a sugar rush, or diet coke break, to get through the morning? Get anxious or aggressive before a meeting with the difficult ‘boss’? Smoke a few fags because its sociable in the evening whilst believing that really you are a non-smoker? Find yourself saying the same thing to the same person for the hundredth time? Yes? Then you are suffering from addictive behaviour! No? then you are probably unaware, or you are denying it! Would you like to know more?