How to Break a Bad Habit
by Amanda Johnson, Employee Motivation Consultant for ClickHelp.com— professional technical writing tool
Everyone wants to be healthier and happier but it’s not possible without good habits. However, we are all people and along with good habits we can have bad ones. If you feel some kind of discomfort because of these bad habits, you should break them, and I’ll help you do it.
First of all you should figure out what causes bad habits. Reasons are simple — boredom and stress. Recall your routine day. If you do the same all the time, of course, you’ll be bored and need some ways to refocus. I do not recommend you to change your job because it doesn’t work for everyone, but I’m going to tell you some effective methods to break a bad habit.
Cut out Triggers
If you eat sweets a lot when you are at home, just don’t buy them. Or if the first thing you do when turn on the computer is checking emails, just pin some productive bookmarks and they will distract your attention from useless actions.
Surrounding
Your surrounding can trigger your bad habit. For example, all your co-workers smoke every two hours, and, of course, you want to be a part of their community. And I know people who start smoking because of this reason. Of course, to change the office isn’t an option, but you can just stay in the office and, I assure, you will not miss important information.
Find a Substitute For a Bad Habit
You should have a plan what you’ll do if you’re bored. For example, if you usually eat sweets when there is nothing to do, try to replace chocolate to fruits. Or if you smoke when you’re stressed, replace smoking to exercises. Doing exercises raises dopamines and stress will vanish as if by magic.
Make Tiny Steps
Don’t think the next day will be different and you will break a bad habit at once. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. Building a good habit takes time, so be patient and don’t judge yourself if you can’t follow a good habit all the time. If your goal is to eat less sugar, just try to reduce the quantity of chocolate bars per day. Also, you can create a diary where you’ll write down all products that you will have eaten. It helps to visualize your eating habit and improve it.
Get Support Carefully
Support is an essential part of breaking a bad habit. Do you know about the crab bucket theory?
This theory is about crabs that can get out of buckets acting alone. But other crabs pull it back down to prevent any from getting out, ensuring the group’s collective demise. So many people act like that “if I can’t have it, neither can you”, and give you a cigarette saying “You can’t give up, don’t torture yourself”. That’s why you should carefully choose people who surround you.
Conclusion
Breaking a bad habit is a difficult process but keep in mind your goal, visualize your better tomorrow and you’ll succeed.
Also, I recommend you this video. Psychiatrist Judson Brewer studies the practice of mindfulness and the science of addiction — from smoking and overeating to all those other things we do even though we know they’re bad for us and how to get rid of it:
What helped you to break a bad habit and built a good one?
