Habits can be a good or bad thing, it all depends on the consequences that this has on our life. For example, a good habit is to eat well while a bad habit would be to smoke every day.
To break a bad habit, the first thing to do is to know that this is a bad way of life and that it must be changed. Afterwards, achieve the necessary conviction to leave that routine, this is achieved by proposing another much better and healthier routine with a lot of effort and dedication.
There are many ideas that could help you break a bad habit you have and change. To do this, we present you 9 very effective tips to quit a bad habit.
9 ways to break a habit
1. Don’t change more than one habit at a time
While it is difficult to change a habit, doing it with more than one is even more difficult. Therefore, whenever you are going to propose something important, it is best to do it one by one to achieve better results. No one can do two things at the same time perfectly and this can lead to failure.
2. Change your habit little by little
Everything in life is a process in which you start from the minimum. If to exercise you need to do little things to condition the body, to change a habit is totally the same.
If what you want is to improve your physical condition, propose a very simple routine that does not last more than 20 minutes, then you can increase the intensity and time.
If you have an addiction such as smoking and you smoke, for example, about 5 cigarettes a day, you can smoke 4 and thus gradually reduce the amount until you do not smoke at all.
3. Take the change of habit as a challenge
When we take it as a challenge, we will always give everything of ourselves. In most cases, it only takes a month to get used to it and to acquire a new healthy habit or to quit a bad one.
When a person dedicates more than three weeks to a thing or task it will become very easy to do, this is recorded in the behavior and you will be able to do it without even thinking about it, after the first month everything will be very easy.
4. Plan what to do for that habit and write it down
It is always very important to plan what is going to be done and how: there is never any activity if it was not planned before.
Write a list of everything that is necessary for the tour. This is going to be a guide that will help you a lot, not having something planned can lead to at some point not knowing what to do and that is when you can leave everything behind.
Remember that you should always be prepared for everything and have alternative plans, which can make you reach your goal, which is to acquire a healthy habit or break a bad one.
5. Get motivated to break that bad habit
You should always have a very good reason to change that bad habit for one that is good for you. Never change something just because someone else told you and you have to have a very good reason for it.
A bad habit will always affect the people you love the most; Therefore, you can make a promise to change for these people. You can also do it for your health, which in itself is a very good reason.
6. Make use of reflection
It takes time for reflection to start a change; This should always be done to gain confidence in breaking an unhealthy routine and building a healthy one.
This is very important, since we can be in front of a huge change in our lives, which without having any preparation will be very difficult. Instead, giving a time to start something and a date can make us ready for anything.
7. Identify why you started this habit
Many times a bad habit is triggered by something bad that has happened to you or that happens to you every day. These kinds of routines are always acquired in order to escape from something else that made us feel bad in the past or present.
The best thing you can do is make a list of those things or situations that made you get there and get away from all of them.
8. Seek help
Normally, you can find great support in your family or look for someone very trustworthy who listens to you, understands you and helps you improve and break a habit .
9. Always have a positive attitude
A good attitude is very important and it will boost you in everything you set out to do.
To break a habit it is very important to always trust ourselves. The important thing is that when a negative thought arrives, we change it for a positive one.
References
- Streinbrecher, S. 14 ways to break a habit. For Inc [Revised January 2020]
