How to deal with bad habits: practical advice

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

Each of us has a moment in life when we give ourselves a word: everything, I tie it with this habit.

The decision has been made, the motivation is still high, what's next? And then it is not clear - here I am now a "thrower", where to start, how to consolidate the success, how not to break? So:

1. If you have started to struggle with bad habits, stop for a start on any one. The result will be better. It usually takes 30-60 days to form a habit. And in order to wean it? About three months, according to psychologists. Give yourself a specific deadline. For example: from June to August I have to stop biting my nails, the countdown has started.

2. Fill the time you used to spend on a bad habit with other activities. Avoid creating a void in your usual schedule. Say, instead of mindlessly surfing the Internet, go for a walk, read a book, or get creative. Remember at what point your addiction began. What replaces your habit, what saves you from? Find yourself another substitute.

Analyze your behavior: it is best to keep a diary or follow the time manager for a week or two. In what situations does the habit appear brighter? Do you only allow yourself to be alone or are you not ashamed of your loved ones (colleagues, friends)? Is a habit tied to a specific time of day? Those who try to change behavior without analyzing its causes most often give up trying after the first difficulties.

3. Reward yourself for good results. This is an additional incentive. For example: I have not smoked for 30 days, I deserve a trip to a fancy restaurant or buying a cool thing that I have long dreamed of.

4. The most common mistakes are to expect too much bad from the very beginning, or, conversely, it is naive to believe that everything will turn out by itself. Yes, it will be hard at first, it's true. Especially in the first week. But time is working for you: endure the first days, clenching your teeth, and then it will be much easier. All the same, after all, this period cannot be avoided, why torture yourself twice? Celebrating every successful day of struggle on the calendar is a little pride, it means you can get over yourself.

5. Fight in stages. Some habits cannot be quit right away, this very second. For example, if you are determined to stop eating junk food and junk food, break the process down into several chunks. First, give up the chips, consolidate the success, then stop eating fatty foods before bed, wait again - like climbing stairs. If you say the word parasite you want to get rid of in 20 minutes 30 times, start by using it 15 times in the same 20 minutes, then 10, and so on.

6. Seek support from other people: find a thematic group online, ask friends and family to help you mentally. Fighting alone is always more difficult. In addition, now you will be spurred not only by your own motivation, but also by the desire to appear in a good light in front of others. Tactic by contradiction: Look at people who are suffering the same trouble that you want to get rid of. Focus not on how ugly they look or how uncomfortable they are. And now you do not have these inconveniences, which cannot but rejoice.

7. Avoid temptations, block them whenever possible. Have you always enjoyed smoking in a chair on the balcony? Move the chair out of there. Are you winding your hair around your finger? Get yourself a short, trendy haircut.

8. Build your motivation. Visualize the positive effect that you will definitely get by giving up the bad habit: look at the photo of how healthy lungs and a slender figure look. Calculate how much money you will save in 5 years of a healthy life. Read someone else's experience of fighting a bad habit in someone else's blog, diary. Motivation is not necessarily positive. Imagine, as vividly as you can, what the most dire consequences of your habit can be. Find a video, photo, or visual example that will really impress you. Remember him more often.

9. If you are overtaken by a sudden, powerful impulse to succumb to weakness again - freeze and take a deep breath several times. Slowly and deeply. Call on all your willpower to help. This is the culmination of the struggle. For those moments, keep reminders close at hand (on your phone, for example) of why you need to quit your habit. Notes, pictures, stickers - whatever.

10. If it didn't work the first time, do not think that it will never work. Do not give up! Try again and again. Sooner or later, everything should work out if you hit one point systematically and methodically. Keep analyzing: why did you decide to start fighting yourself right now? Not last year, not the year before? So there are good reasons. This means that you cannot retreat.

Always remember that it is only your decision to quit this or that habit. It is not the authors of motivating pictures and articles that need it, not your parents, not your boss: you need it. And no one can do this for you, even for a lot of money.

- the picture that marked the beginning of this article.