A habit is something you do without thinking about it. Many people think of habits as things like smoking, which is a bad habit. However, habits can be bad or good. In fact, the most effective way to break a bad habit is to crowd it out with good habits.
For example, if you want to eat fewer empty calories and more nutritious food so you can be healthier instead of focusing on eating less focus on filling your plate with more healthy food that you can eat.
Find a Good Substitute for The Bad Habit
This can work for some things but not others. For example, if you have the terrible habit of eating a donut and drive-thru coffee every morning which is bad on your health and your wallet replace that habit with making your breakfast at home instead. To quit smoking cigarettes, you can try eating celery sticks, but your best bet is to go for a walk and breathe clean air to fight your urge.
Eliminate Your Bad Habit Triggers
Take some time to note what triggers you to do the bad habit. For example, if you bite your nails when you are waiting in line due to stress, find ways to avoid waiting in a line or wear gloves to block the action, or paint your nails with bright to help you become conscious of your actions.
Get a Buddy to Do It with You
Anything you want to stop doing, you’ll likely find someone else who also wants to stop doing it. You can find people on Facebook Groups, local Meetups, and even in your family or friend group to become your accountability partner.
Find a New Community
Sometimes it can be very beneficial to surround yourself with other people who are doing what you’re doing. For example, if you have taken up hiking to help you stop smoking, join a hiking group in your local area.
Visualize Yourself Succeeding
Take time to see yourself really doing it. Tell the universe that you are a non-smoker. Tell the universe that you have stopped procrastinating. Then go further with that and take the time to describe or define precisely what success looks like so that you know when you get there.
You Are Not Your Habits
Some bad habits cause people to feel guilty. It’s important for you to understand and accept that you are not defined by your bad habits. Even if you are currently known as a party-woman who likes her wine, when you stop drinking, you’re still going to be yourself and fun, without the alcohol. You can always be the life of the party. You are not your habit.
Stop Negative Self-Talk
When you start saying things to yourself that are negative, turn those thoughts around to something more constructive and positive. If you slipped and did your habit again, don’t beat yourself up. Instead, sit down and plan for a comeback.
Plan for Setbacks
No one is perfect, and once you’ve created a habit you may slip up and do that thing again. That doesn’t mean you’re going to go right back into the unconscious habit. If you plan a process for setbacks you can overcome, and you’ll experience fewer of them over time.
Breaking a bad habit is all about replacing the bad habit with new good habits. You can do that by recognizing the triggers that cause you to do the habit and then working toward eliminating those triggers by changing how you react to them. Creating good habits that crowd out the bad habit can make all the difference in your success ending your bad habits.