Here’s how you can easily break free from bad habits.
1. Make a definite decision to leave behind the failures of the past for good. The first enemy to beat is yourself. When guilt overcomes you at every failure, it won’t help you in moving forward. Worse, it always make you feel bad. You have to drop the guilt feeling. You are capable of making a positive change.
Decide to overcome your guilt every time it lurks at your door. Change negative words into productive ones. For instance, instead of saying “I always fail”, say “Even if I fail, I will be fine.” Instead of saying “I should do this”, say “I love to do this.”
Once this is internalized, it gets you closer to the change you want.
2. Learn how habits work. All habits revolve around three components. First, there is a trigger where all behaviors start. Second, there is the routine which embodies the habit itself. Then third, there is the reward which follows after taking a specific course of action.
Your brain is conditioned to want the reward that’s why you behave the way you do. You may be unaware of it, but you always link the reward with the trigger and the routine. For instance, when the clock hits 9 o’clock in the morning (trigger), it’s time to get to the treadmill for your daily exercise (routine), after which, you can have your chocolates. (reward).
More often, your efforts are concentrated on the routine. But if you alter the trigger or the reward, they would help the habit stick more.
3. Choose the reward that leads to lasting change. Maybe you won’t agree with this but research shows that eating more chocolates leads to more exercise. It is because chocolates after a physical exercise send signals into the reward center of the brain. Over time, this cements the components that make a habit take root.
4. Don’t quit bad habits; replace them. It is true that bad habits are difficult to stop. As long as the cues are there, bad habits will continue, especially if your brain is already used to getting the reward after the routine.
A more creative path would be to change bad habits with better ones.
For instance, almost always after lunch you crave for sweets. Why? Maybe because sweets taste good. Don’t you know that it is more complicated than that? Eating sweets after lunch may give you ample time to rest and take a break before going back to work. And sugar provides a boost of energy that would keep you going through the day.
In other words, it is not the sweets that developed your habit but the reasons around the habit. So instead of taking in too much sugar, why not take an apple to prepare you for the afternoon? If the reason for the sweets is your energy requirement, why not take a cup of coffee instead?
You have to decide what your replacement habit would be. But remember, the replacement habit should make you a better person; not another bad habit to replace an old bad habit.