4 Tips for Changing Bad Habits - Vivsco.com.ng

Changing habits has to do with ones determination to quit its or her unwanted habits, below are 4 tips for Changing bad Habits 

1. Understand the Reasons to Change Bad Habits

We often label bad habits as “bad” because we know that there are positive consequences to our behavior. Your smoking habit can be seriously damaging to your health, or your impulse shopping habit can be ruining your finances. Procrastination can prevent you from succeeding in school, or overworking can damage your marriage.

Exploring why you want to change can help you stay motivated, even when you face obstacles.

Write down the benefits you will gain from breaking this habit. Let’s explore the benefits, both big and small. For example, you can stop leaving the lights on and watching TV all night. The benefits of turning off your electronics include better sleep, lower electricity bills, and reduced carbon emissions.

Breaking bad habits sometimes can be difficult. In the example above, you might decide to turn on a sound device at night because it helps you sleep.

Regularly review your reasons. Keep your list handy. Keep it on your phone or keep a copy in your nightstand. Whenever you feel tired or discouraged about your goals, review this list. You can add or remove reasons from your list over time.

2. Set the right goals

Thinking about the right goals is an important step in breaking bad habits. If the goals are too specific, complex, or difficult to measure, you may fall back into old patterns of behavior.

Learn to achieve new habits which will eventuallyreplace the old ones. So when you set goals, focus on the “how” of your new behavior (“I want to start using a stress ball when I’m stressed”) rather than focusing entirely on avoidance (“I want to start using a stress ball when I’m stressed”), I want to stop biting my nails). I’m really stressed.

Learn to make us of the SMART method. SMART which stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound. This is a general approach to setting effective goals.

• Are the goals specific? When your goals are vague, you’ll be able to change them and get tested. Instead of setting vague goals like “I want to stop oversleeping,” try “I want to wake up at 8 a.m.” every day.

• Is it measurable? Tracking how often you develop a new habit can help you identify milestones and stay motivated. It can be as simple as marking your calendar every day to wake up at 8 a.m. rice.

• Is this possible? If the goal is unrealistic or too ambitious, you may feel discouraged. For example, if your bad habit is complex, don’t expect to completely break it in a few days. Instead, consider setting smaller goals to gradually improve, such as cleaning the house room by room.

Celebrate small victories. Achieving incremental goals and knowing your successes can motivate you to keep going. Reward yourself with self-care (for example, taking a hot shower at night after a workout) rather than creating new bad habits (opening a soda can and serving ice cream as a reward).

3. Identify the triggers for bad habits

Recognizing the signs of bad habits can be difficult. Sometimes these reactions are obvious: the stress of a conflict makes you bite your nails, or a notification on your phone makes you act. Sometimes the triggers are more subtle: checking your watch after work makes you want to go to your favorite bar for a drink.

Knowing what triggers you can help you better understand what is driving your behavior and develop a plan of action. List the things that might trigger your bad habits. Remember that triggers can include:

• Emotional states such as loneliness, fatigue, or stress.

• Environments that are relevant to your behavior, such as alcohol.

• People who behave the way you do or who support your behavior.

• Time, such as the time of day you usually engage in the behavior.

• Past behaviors can be triggers, such as picking up your phone every time a notification appears on your screen or smoking a cigarette after you finish eating.

If you have trouble recognizing cues or feel like something is missing, try writing down the last time and place you were looking. Think about the people around you, your feelings, and what happened in the past. Repeat the exercise several times a week, and then review your list to look for patterns.

A bad habit can also be triggered by multiple triggers. For example, you might make impulse purchases when you’re stressed, such as surfing the Internet before bed or when you’re at the store with a close friend.

 Triggers attention

Ordinary behaviors have an element of levity. You might find yourself reaching for junk food or your phone as if you were on autopilot. Mindfulness, the practice of noticing your current feelings, can help you recognize and respond to cravings.

The next time you have a craving, try this technique (called SHI) to block the craving until it passes. The goal of this session is not to eliminate the craving, but to recognize the craving and view it as a temporary state.

As you continue to practice, you will find it easier to see your cravings and cope with them until they pass.

• Recognize when cravings begin. Perhaps you had a craving for something sweet when you were growing up, or perhaps you wanted to shop online.

• Recognize and accept the existence of cravings. You don’t have to do anything to fix them. Cravings can be uncomfortable, especially if you don’t act on them, and view them as waves that will pass over time.

• Observe the feeling. Be aware of your experience. What physical changes are happening in your body right now? What are the feelings? Your body may be shaking or your mouth may be watering.

• Observe those feelings. Say how you feel. Worried thoughts. Anxiety. A little breath. Put your feelings into words and watch them change as the waves flow. After a few minutes, you may notice that the cravings are usually decreasing.

4. Notice how you feel about the habit.

Even if you give in to your urges and become addicted to the habit, you can use your mind to your advantage. Notice how you feel when you start the habit. What does it feel like to bite your nails? How does your body feel after a few hours of social media? What taste is left in your mouth when you smoke?

Being aware of these feelings can help you understand that your bad habit is making you think about yourself. What you thought was a reward is now a consequence. It may even make you regret the behavior completely.