Most of us have a bad habit or two that we can stand to lose, but it's hard to break our habits. Whether your bad habit is smoking, procrastinating, overspending, or anything else, here are ten tips to break free of negative behavior patterns.
Number 1 - Acknowledge The Habit
If you don't know it happens in the first place, or maybe you keep avoiding it, you can't begin to change a habit. Unfortunately, this happens all the time.
Your friends and family are trying to make you see and protect your bad habit from it, but it's like you have a blindfold because you just don't see it somehow. The first step in making any change in life is to understand that there needs to be a change. Start by understanding the bad habit and that you have the authority to do something about it.
Number 2 - Understand Your Triggers
What’s causing your habit? Whether you realize it or not, habits don’t just happen, they’re triggered by something else. You buy things online because it makes you feel good. You smoke when other people smoke. You bite your nails when you’re nervous. Be patient when trying to figure out your triggers, but also be very aware. For a couple of days or even a week, watch yourself to understand what’s triggering your habit. When you figure out your triggers, write them So you will become more attuned to when they occur, and why they occur.
Number 3 - What is the need to satisfy the habit?
Understanding your triggers and determining what need your habit satisfies will require some soul searching, but that’s the whole point. Your habit exists for a reason. It fulfills a need of some kind, and it is up to you to figure out why. Review the triggers you wrote down, and determine what needs the habit is satisfying.
Maybe your habit is helping you deal with stress, or helping you cope with feelings of boredom, sadness, loneliness, not feeling good enough about yourself or providing you with a temporary sense of comfort. Whatever your reason might be, write it down so you can better understand how you can fill your needs in a positive way.
Number 4 - Change Your Environment.
Over time, if you repeat the same behaviors in the same place, your surroundings can become a trigger —sometimes very subtle to notice. For instance: If you go in for smoke breaks in the office parking lot, the parking lot itself can become a cue to smoke. Switch up your surroundings in even the smallest way and it will make a big difference.
Number 5 - Go slow and make minor modifications.
Forming new good habits takes time and effort, but breaking established bad habits may be even harder. So be patient with yourself and instead of making dramatic adjustments, try focusing on One habit and the tiniest steps that you can take. For example, with food and dieting, small changes like reducing to one pack of sugar or switching cream in your coffee to sugar-free Almond milk can make a major difference in the production process long run.
Number 6 - Remind Your Future-Self About Avoiding.
Bad Habits Even with the best intentions, when our willpower fades, we fall into bad habits. For example, you might promise only to have two drinks when going out with friends, but you forget that promise completely as soon as you step into the bar. Try setting up reminders for your weakest moments. Your future self will thank you.
Number 7 - Do a Review When You Have a Bad
Habit Relapse Chances are you're going to have bad days. Setbacks are normal, and you should expect them. Have a strategy to get back on track and use the relapse to realize what happened and how you can keep it from happening in the future
Number 8 - Fine Yourself for Each Offense
Make your bad habit a little more painful, and you might ditch it for good! Money is a great motivator. Try using the "swear jar method,” or pay Your friends get $1 each time they catch you doing something that bad habit. It works the other way too - reward yourself for beating your habit every day.
Number 9 - Train Yourself to Think Differently
About Your Bad Habits Even if we dislike our habit of smoking or biting our nails, we prefer to continue to smoke or bite our nails doing them because they provide us with some sort of satisfaction or psychological reward. Catch yourself thinking any positive thoughts or feelings about your bad habits, and reframe them to remind you of their negative aspects.
Number 10 - Learn From Your Mistakes
Do not let them deter you if you have slip-ups. They can happen, but they are not ideal. The key is to learn from your errors and to stop them from happening again. Don't be too harsh on yourself to the extent where you just want to give up. Do not give in to your habit, on the other hand, to the point that it dominates you once again.
View and use your slip ups as lessons as encouragement to get better. Use what you’ve learned to prevent them from happening again and continue your path to quitting your bad habit! Quitting a bad habit isn’t always easy, but it’s definitely worth it. The most important lesson to take away from all of this is that habits can be changed, as long as you want to change them. Changing a habit starts with changing your thinking and committing to becoming a better version of yourself. Your success in changing a habit really just comes down to how badly you want it.
You've always learned that the power to change your life is in good habits. It takes time and effort to develop new healthy habits, however. It might be even easier to break bad habits! That being said, habits don't simply happen... Anything else causes them. So you need to consider the causes to decide what satisfies a specific habit. You can then go ahead and make the required adjustment,
What are some bad habits you’re trying to change?
Or, what are some that you’ve overcome?
Enoy Reading I Hope You like it.