What to do if old bad habits come back to you

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Noticing this, you have already done half the battle. Now you need to get back on track and get rid of the old triggers.

1. Get back on track immediately

This is the most important thing to do when you come back to an old habit. This should be step # 0. Correct, take the right action to erase the unpleasant sensation after the breakdown. And then you can analyze, think and plan.

The main danger of the return of a bad habit is not so much in the habit itself, as in the feeling of guilt. It forces you to make rash decisions. You either begin to feel sorry for yourself, or engage in self-flagellation. It's pointless. Eliminate the consequences of your mistake, pull yourself together and start acting.

Remember that real failure only happens when you fall and never get back up. Lying on the ground and complaining will get you nowhere. Get up and get back on track.

2. Determine the cause

What happened at all? Why are you in this situation again? Something went wrong? There can be many reasons, for example:

• Your willpower or energy was at zero.
• The old trigger automatically triggered the old behavior.
• You deliberately returned to the old habit because you really wanted to experience the pleasant sensations of it again.
• You haven't focused enough on the new habit, and the old one has crept up on you unnoticed.

3. Track your progress

If you are not already tracking your habits, develop a tracking system. Then you will sooner notice that you are returning to an old habit, and the sooner you will take preventive measures.

For this, special applications or a regular notebook are suitable. Most often, an inattentive attitude to one's actions leads to the return of old habits. By taking notes, you focus on the bad habit so it won't catch you off guard anymore.

4. Remove old triggers

Sometimes we seem to get rid of a bad habit, but in reality we just avoid the triggers that caused it. For example, say you are in the habit of playing video games. Boredom may be the trigger. You can stop playing computer games, but if you do not get rid of the trigger - boredom - there is another bad habit with which you will fill the feeling of emptiness.

Identify what exactly is causing your bad habit and try to remove that trigger from your life. However, this approach does not always help in the long term, because some triggers are almost impossible to get rid of.

5. Replace the usual action with a new one

The only way to get rid of a bad habit permanently is through a conscious effort to replace the old habitual action with a new one.

First, identify the trigger that triggers the habit. Each time it appears, deliberately introduce a new action that will give the same result as the old one. For example, if you smoke to relieve stress, try replacing smoking with meditation.

Sometimes you can replace one habit with another without conscious effort on your part, but this usually happens when an old bad habit is replaced by a new bad habit.

6. Get into good habits with redoubled zeal

New habits will take the place of old ones in your mind and life. If you work on them regularly, there will simply be no room or time for the old bad habit.

Your habits define you. By rebuilding them, you will rebuild yourself.