We as human beings are creatures of habit. We pattern our lives in specific ways where we do things at specific times, or we only eat specific kinds of food and other behaviours we have cultivated. Then sometimes these habits we form aren’t even great ones. They interrupt our lives and stop us from being productive and achieving what we have planned out.
The question is: why do we still do them? We know these habits are bad but we just can’t stop doing these things. Many times these things are caused because of stress or boredom. We overwork ourselves and form unhealthy coping mechanisms or we have free time on our hands and we find a detrimental activity.
Well, we’re here to guide you through breaking a bad habit and possibly replacing it with a new one!
- Find a replacement for the habit.
This is the first thing you should consider because it’s important to have a plan for your response when you face the situation that triggers your bad habit. So, ask yourself what you’ll do when you get the urge to feed your bad habit, outline the plan and get ready to stick with it.
- Remove your triggers.
If your bad habit is tied to a particular place, then stop hanging out around the place. If you eat biscuits any time you step into the kitchen, then stop buying them. Don’t allow the temptations to remain so remove all the triggers to make it easier for you to break the bad habit.
You can find out how often you engage in a habit by marking it down every time it happens so you can know the frequency and your progress when you start working on it.
- Go on the journey with someone.
If you know someone trying to break a bad habit, you can team up with them and break it together. It doesn’t have to be the same habit, both of you will be accountable to each other and celebrate your wins together. This is always a powerful motivator because you won’t want to disappoint your partner.
- Plan for failure.
This is the part nobody likes to talk about but it’s important to plan for failure. This doesn’t mean you should anticipate failure but you should have some strategy that helps you bounce back quickly. Don’t spend time wallowing in self-pity, just get up, dust yourself and try again.
- Start practicing the new habit.
Once you’re trying to stop a bad habit, you have to replace it with something else, if not it’ll somehow creep back into your life. Find a new, healthy and beneficial activity and make it part of your routine. Being intentional plays a huge part in breaking a bad habit so don’t underestimate it.
Hopefully, these tips will help you start making better lifestyle choices. Don’t forget, we’re all human. We slip up sometimes and life gets tough and makes us do unhealthy things. Just know that a good amount of power lies in your hands and you can make the life you want. Rooting for you!