Everyone has a bad habit or two that they would like to break, but unfortunately, habits are difficult to break. Whether you have a bad habit of overspending, procrastinating, or swearing or something else that you want to get rid of, here are the top six ways that you can break free of your negative behavior patterns.
Fine Yourself for Each Offense
You might ditch your bad habit for good if you make it a little bit more painful. Money can be a great motivator, so you can use the “swear jar” concept to help you break your bad habits, or even better, pay your friends $1 anytime they catch you engaging in the habit that you’re trying to quit. You can also reward yourself for beating a habit every day that you can avoid engaging in your bad habit.
Understand Your Triggers
Understanding how we make the decisions that we do is crucial to conquering all of your bad habits. Often, we will repeat our bad habits without even knowing that we're doing them. Usually, five cues contribute to every bad habit, and being aware of them can help you learn what's behind those not-so-pleasant behaviors.
Give Yourself Reminders
Even when we have the best of intentions, we tend to fall into bad habits when we have a drop in our willpower. You might promise to have just two drinks when out with your friends but completely forget that promise as soon as you step in the bar. You can set up reminders for yourself in your calendar for your weakest moments. Your future self will thank you.
Change Your Environment
If you engage in your behaviors in the same place, over time, your surrounding will become your trigger. If you like to go to your office parking lot to smoke, then the parking lot becomes your cue to smoke. You can start to break these bad habits by switching up your surroundings. Even the smallest of changes can be beneficial.
Make Tiny Changes
It takes time and effort to form better, new habits, but breaking bad habits that are already established can be even harder. That's why it's essential to be patient and only focus on one habit and taking the smallest steps to overcome it.
Trying to break your bad habits won’t be an easy process. However, if you follow these five easy tips, you’ll be able to break your bad habits in no time and start living a happier life.
