Having routines is frequently a beneficial thing. For instance, when you commute by car to work, you no longer have to consider whether to turn left or right because you are accustomed to the route. We want the brain to acquire the skills necessary to complete such tasks effortlessly. Habits are a brain function that allows for adaptation.
But sometimes, habits can get in the way, whether it’s reaching for comfort food when we’re depressed or lighting up when we’re anxious. Everybody wants to kick a bad habit.
It can be challenging to break bad habits, especially if you’ve been doing them for a while. But a better grasp of how habits begin helps make the process easier.
It takes time and effort to create habits, and it also takes time and effort to break them. Use the following tactics to get rid of those annoying habits, whatever they may be.
How To Break A Habit
Your negative behaviors are primarily brought on by two factors…
Boredom and stress.
Bad habits are frequently just a technique of coping with stress and boredom. Simple reactions to stress and boredom include things like chewing your nails, going on expensive shopping sprees, drinking every weekend, and squandering time online.
However, things don’t have to be that way. You may change your negative behaviors by teaching yourself new, constructive ways to deal with stress and boredom.
No matter what kind of habit you have or how established it is, the method of breaking it will be the same. These guidelines guide you through the process of breaking your negative habits and show you that it is possible to do so with perseverance and the appropriate attitude.
1. Set a goal.
Developing a sincere desire for and commitment to altering your life is the first step in quitting a poor habit, despite the fact that it may seem obvious.
Many people start the process of quitting a habit before being sure that they want to. Since breaking habits is a challenging task, you are more likely to fail if you aren’t fully devoted to it.
2. Get motivated.
Understanding your motivation for changing is essential if you want to successfully stop a habit. List the rationales you have. What benefits might change bring? What drawbacks would this action still have? Keep a copy of this list on hand in case you need to refer to it for inspiration.
3. Confront discomfort.
Whether you want to modify your lifestyle for weight reduction, better nutrition, increased physical fitness, or another reason, getting ready to feel uncomfortable is one of the greatest methods to break undesirable habits.
Humans fight against discomfort. We wait for a feeling or the drive to act. In actuality, what prevents us from going where we need to is an inability to accept that something will be uncomfortable.
4. Visualize success.
Imagine situations where you behave in desired ways rather than the poor habit to repeatedly practice breaking the habit in your head. Consider scenarios in which you could feel inclined to act in an undesirable manner and pick a better course of action. This supports healthy behavioral patterns.
For instance, if your objective is to eat less junk food, picture yourself cooking a healthy meal and sitting down to enjoy it.
Writing down “scripts” of their preferred conduct and reading them daily can be useful for some people.
5. Eliminate the triggers.
Avoid going to the pub if you smoke while drinking. Throw away all the cookies if you consume them while they are present in the house. The TV remote should be kept in a closet in a different room if the first thing you do when you sit on the couch is pick it up. By avoiding the triggers, you can make it easier for yourself to break undesirable habits.
Your surroundings currently makes it easier to engage in harmful habits than positive ones.
You can affect the outcome by altering your surroundings.
6. Create a new habit instead.
If you try to replace the undesirable activity with a new behavior rather than just trying to cease the undesirable behavior, you could find it easier to break the habit.
Let’s say you want to stop eating candy at work when you’re hungry. If all you do is try to stay away from the candy bowl, you can relapse if you can’t control your appetite. However, you have another snack choice if you bring in a Tupperware of dry fruit and nuts to keep at your desk.
The desire to continue the new pattern emerges as you practice the new behavior. The impulse to continue engaging in this activity may eventually exceed the desire to continue engaging in the old habit if you start to reap the benefits of the new habit, such as more energy and less of a sugar crash.
7. Reward yourself.
Rewards teach your brain whether or not a behavior is important enough to remember. Let’s say your goal is to reduce your screen time. By indulging in a treat you enjoy, you can motivate yourself to spend a certain amount of time away from a screen. Less screen time creates a more positive association in your brain, increasing your chances of breaking the habit.
8. Not by yourself.
How frequently do you attempt to diet alone? Perhaps you “stop smoking” as well. but you didn’t share it with anyone? (So you won’t fail in front of everyone, right?)
Instead, form a quit team with a friend. You two may hold each other accountable and share in each other’s accomplishments. A strong motivator is realizing that someone else is counting on you to perform better.
9. Set reminders for yourself.
When anything prompts your routine behavior, using stickers, sticky notes, or other visual cues can help you stop and consider before acting.
Here are some suggestions:
- Do you want to stop consuming soda with every meal? Consider sticking little decals on your refrigerator that you’ll notice when you reach for a can.
- Remembering to switch off the lights when you leave a room might be difficult. Post a note for yourself on the door or light switch.
- Want to start keeping your keys in a specific location so you won’t lose them as often? When you go home, put your keys in a dish where you can see them right away.
Reminders can also be set up on a smartphone. Make a reminder to yourself to switch off the television, such as “Time to turn off the TV!”, or “After dinner stroll — remember how nice it feels!” when you set your alarm.
10. In order to combat negative self-talk, use the word “but.”
Fighting bad habits has the drawback that it’s simple to criticize oneself for poor behavior. It’s simple to remind yourself how awful you are every time you fumble or make a mistake.
When it occurs, add “but” to your statement.
- “I’m overweight and out of shape, but in a few months I might be in shape.”
- “I’m stupid, and no one likes me, but I’m trying to learn something useful.”
- “I’m a failure, but everyone makes mistakes occasionally,”
11. Start small.
Trying to break several bad behaviors at once? When you first decide to modify unhelpful habits, the idea of your improved, new self can be a strong motivator.
This is occasionally effective. If the habits are related, it can be simpler to handle them all at once. For instance, stopping drinking and smoking at the same time could make the most sense if you always do those two things together.
12. Plan for failure.
We all make mistakes occasionally.
According to Steve Kamb, “Making mistakes, skipping workouts, eating unhealthy meals, or sleeping in doesn’t make you a horrible person. It makes you more human. Greetings from the club.”
When trying to alter behavior, lapses are entirely normal. Consider these losses an opportunity to learn what went wrong and how to go better in the future rather than a reason to give up.
So instead of punishing yourself for a mistake, prepare for it. We all stray off course, but what sets great achievers apart from everyone else is how quickly they get back on.
13. Give it time.
It’s a widely held misconception that it takes 21 days to form or break a habit. But from where does that number come?
Realistically, according to specialists, it takes at least 10 weeks (or 2 to 3 months) to stop an undesirable event. Of course, certain behaviors may be harder to break than others.
There are various factors that affect how long it takes to quit a habit. These consist of:
- how long you’ve practiced the habit
- the emotional, bodily, or social demands it satisfies
- whether you have support or assistance in quitting
- the positive effects it has on your physical or emotional well-being
It can be beneficial to reevaluate your strategy if a few weeks have passed and you don’t feel like much progress has been achieved.
14. Think of your progress to master your skill.
Your routines may become old with time and stop providing you with the benefits they once offered. Reflection is the cure for this; set aside some time to assess your performance and adjust your goals as necessary.
You might have become used to working out three times each week and found them to be a little monotonous. It could be time to add a fourth session or push yourself to accomplish a heavier lifting target than you previously did.
15. Practice mindfulness.
Developing your mindfulness in daily life might assist you in becoming more conscious of your activities as opposed to operating “on autopilot.” Being mindful is paying attention to what you are going through right now and going through it without trying to avoid or judge it. With time and effort, mindfulness can develop into a positive habit that can help you break bad ones.