We all have a bad habit or two that we wish we could cut down on or be free of forever. But it can be challenging to break the cycle because our brains are so conditioned to act and feel the same way we always do out of routine. However, you can re-program your brain to eliminate these bad habits through some simple changes and techniques, that over time will become second nature to you.
You have to want to change the habit to begin with, if you secretly don’t want to give up something then your mind is going to find excuses and reasons why you should have the thing that’s bad for you and you’ll not be free of its hold on you. Envisioning yourself free of the bad habit and how you will feel, act, and live without being controlled by it, is an empowering way of setting yourself free and living the healthier and happier life you’ve always dreamed of.
Whether you want to cut back on drinking too much coffee, alcohol, or fizzy drinks, eating junk food, smoking, spending hours on your phone mindlessly scrolling on social media, watching too much television, or not exercising; anything is possible if you put your mind to it and follow a few simple but very effective techniques.
Step One- Change Your Mindset Around Your Bad Habit
You need to come to the realisation that you don’t need this negative thing in your life and that you can become free of it. You deserve to live the most fulfilling, happy, successful, and healthy life that you can and to treat yourself with love and respect. Your bad habits are just in your head and you acting out of routine, you can break free from them by simply changing your mindset and small daily actions.
When you believe you’re capable of achieving your goals and that you deserve to reach your full potential and be free of anything that’s holding you back from being the best version of yourself, then you will change your life and your whole outlook on the world for the better.
There are many ways to change your mindset to a more positive one…
- Positive self-talk and affirmations
- Guided mediation
- Sleep hypnosis apps
- Journaling
- Envisioning yourself being free of the habit and how good it makes you feel
- Think about what is causing you to crave that bad thing- stress, anxiety, boredom, self-sabotage?
- Give yourself permission to have the thing if you want it and you will feel less obsessed about it
- Stop limiting beliefs- you are capable and deserving of everything you want in life
- Praise yourself and every little win
- Don’t punish yourself if you have a slip-up- don’t think “Oh, I’m a failure I might as well just give up or over-indulge in the bad habit”, accept it, move on from it and start again because everyone slips into bad habits sometimes but it’s how fast you pick yourself back up and continue that’s important
Remember
Once you believe you’re capable of achieving your goals and that you deserve them, you will be able to let go of negative and bad habits. Ultimately, you will want to be the best version of yourself possible and your mindset will be improved. Knowing that you deserve to reach your goals comes from a place of self-love and acceptance. So, working on switching your mindset to a more positive one is essential for you to succeed.
You should want to quit your bad habit from a place of love towards yourself and not hatred in your body, mind, or capabilities. Switch your mindset to “I want to eat healthy and nutritious food because it makes me feel good”. Instead of “I can’t eat chocolate because I’m fat”. This is far more effective because you’re telling your brain what you want to do, and not that you cannot do something. It’s common human nature to want to rebel against what we’re told we cannot have or do. So, making this mindset shift is vital to quit your bad habits for good.
Step Two- Figure Out Why You Have This Bad Habit in the First Place
More often than not we continue our bad habits because we’re trying to numb our minds, distract ourselves, or find temporary comfort from doing them. We don’t need to eat too much, drink too much, zone out in front of the television, or smoke. These things don’t make us feel good long-term and are often hiding other issues that we have.
When you get to the root cause of why you’re continuing the bad habit and over-indulging then you can begin to break the cycle. If you take time to notice when the need to do your bad habit comes up, you will begin to find what triggers you to act in this way.
It could be that you eat a whole tub of ice cream when you’re upset. You may drink way too much wine when you’re stressed. Or, you may avoid all kinds of exercise and slob around when you’re feeling depressed. Similarly, you may chain-smoke when you’re nervous about something.
Everyone has a bad habit they’re used to turning to when they feel certain emotions. However, being self-aware and figuring out your triggers will help you to see what’s going on in your mind. This will reinforce the fact that you don’t need to turn to that bad habit to make you feel better.
You may feel better in the moment, less stressed and comforted but you’ll regret it later on in your day or the following day. If you figure out a plan of what you’re going to do when these cravings come up then you will have the tools and other options to pursue instead.
Everyone’s different and you just need to figure out what is going to help you when these feelings come up, you could…
- Go on walk
- Do a meditation
- Clean the house
- Have a bath/shower
- Phone a friend
- Listen to a podcast
- Do a workout
- Journal
- Read a book
- Spend time pampering yourself
Pick something that makes you feel good about yourself, builds your confidence and happiness levels, and gives you time to think if you really want to do your bad habit or if your brain was just using it as a distraction for what you’re feeling.
It’s important to pick something that’s going to benefit you in some way and not say “Oh, I’ll just go on my phone… that will distract me”. Because ultimately you will be replacing one bad habit with another. You can get out of the cycle of bad habits by changing your thoughts and remembering the root cause of the bad habit and that it’s not going to change it in the long run.
Tackle the source of the problem and do things that make you feel calm, happy, confident, productive, etc. This will help to stop the feelings of stress, anxiety, depression, loneliness, boredom, etc without giving into your bad habit.
Step Three- Catch Yourself and Old Behaviours, and Train Yourself to Change Your Mindset and Actions (which leads on from step two)
You will inevitably have moments that test you and where you feel like you want to give into your bad habit. However, you can change your habits by doing something that you’ve never done before and make a different choice. You can re-wire and re-programme your brain to see your negative patterns of behaviour and stop them before or when they occur.
It’s important to remember that your mind is going to try and resist the change because we are creatures of habit and routine. You just need to remember why you want to break the cycle and power through. You will come out the other side happier and healthier once you beat your habit.
Our brains don’t know the difference between us saying to ourselves “I will not smoke” and “I’m going to smoke”. It doesn’t register the “not” in our subconscious. That’s why if you’re trying not to think about something, you’re more likely to obsess and think about it more.
If you reword your goals to more positive ones that say what you’re going to do; “I will eat loads of vegetables because they’re tasty and make me feel good”. Or, “I will be healthy and smoke-free”, these are a lot more powerful and register in your brain more effectively.
Similarly, if you tell yourself you can’t have or do something, then that’s all you’re going to want to have and do. Allowing yourself to have that thing if you wanted to and that you have the option without banning yourself, is a really powerful tool to use.
Simply say to yourself “If I want chocolate today, I’m going to allow myself to have some”. Remember that everything in moderation is OK. If you fancy chocolate allow yourself to have it, but don’t over-indulge or binge, simply have a few bites and leave it there.
Tell yourself that you can have chocolate if you still fancy it after doing your distraction technique from step two. Take a step back from your current cravings, let all the feelings consume you about the pros and cons, and if you still want it then you can have it. 9/10 you’ll not even feel the need to give into temptation once you’ve done step two and have stopped the mindset of banning the habit completely from your brain.
Remember
You will give into your cravings sometimes and that’s OK. No one’s 100% perfect and life would be boring if we never treated ourselves once in a while. But you need to learn to do everything in moderation. Don’t be hard on yourself if you have a few bad days. Simply bounce back and get back on track as fast as you can.
It takes time to retrain your brain because it’s so used to routine and old habits. It takes around 21 days for most people to form new habits, for them to stick and then become second nature. So, give yourself time and don’t be too hard on yourself. But following your bad habit prevention technique should help with the majority of your cravings.
Step Four- Act As If You’re the Person Who Already Has the Things You Want.
The final step for cutting down on your bad habits for good is to act as if you’re the person who already has the things you want. Envision yourself in the future being free of this bad habit. Vividly picture how you will think, feel, act and move. This will help you to remember your why, and why you want to give up the bad habit in the first place.
If you act like the person who has the things you want, and as the person who deserves to be free of these bad habits, then you’ll begin to feel and act this way more naturally over time. Whenever you feel the urge to give into your bad habit, close your eyes or step away from the situation. Vividly imagine your future self and how it feels. More often than not you’ll remember why you want to cut down on this habit and do something else instead until you’re certain you want to do it and you’re not thinking about it because of emotional reasons.
Summary- Find What Works for You
Everyone’s different and different techniques work for different people. You just need to find out what works for you and stick to it. Some people prefer to go cold turkey and cut out the bad habit straight away fully. Whereas, other people find that gradually cutting down has more longevity for them.
Just have a clear why of the reasons that you want to cut down on the habit and keep them in the centre of your focus. It’s better to cut down slowly and allow yourself to have that thing if you feel you really need it once in a while. Because if you feel too deprived you’ll be more inclined to go on a binge.
Unless you have amazing willpower and can just cut something out fully straight away and not relapse. But no way is the right way, as long as you get the same results, do what’s best for you and what works.
“Change might not be fast and it isn’t always easy. But with time and effort, almost any habit can be reshaped.”– Charles Duhigg
Remember…
- It’s ok to give in sometimes but bounce back quickly
- Don’t feel bad if you go off track- don’t self-sabotage and start bingeing, just enjoy a little of it and start again
- Everything in moderation
“Commit to stop making excuses. When we make excuses, we lie to ourselves and continue bad habits.”– Joyce Meyer
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