Break up with your bad habits

 BREAK UP WITH YOUR BAD HABITS

  Changing habits is difficult. We are all aware of this, whether it is because we recently failed at a diet (again) or feel compelled to update our Instagram account rather than working on a task at work that was due long ago.

There are a lot of people in the world that want to kick harmful habits. Feeling like a slave to our behaviors, regardless of the specific habit one is trying to break, is crippling, constricting, ad depressing. Being in control less is terrifying.

There is however hope. Even if the change may be gradual, such obedience will help us replace negative habits with healthy ones.

You're interested in learning the secret of quitting a bad habit. Unfortunately, I don't have one for you. Consider how unique you are as a person compared to the individual sitting next to you. Can you envision using the same method to help you both break a bad habit? it cannot be done.

Anyone who claims to have a method for quitting a bad habit is lying.

Nevertheless, there are other approaches you might take to break a negative habit. Some may be effective for you while others may not. You might find success with all of these or even none of these. Although there are no assurances, trying to give up produces greater results than never even trying.

These are the methods people have used to break harmful habits. You might or might not find these useful. No harm in trying, as I said.

➤ Take baby steps:

                

 By simply trying to do too much, too soon, many people are unable to free themselves from the grip of their addiction. Not biting off more than you can chew is the most crucial factor to keep in mind when trying to quit any bad behavioral practice. You run the risk of being disheartened and giving up if you try to handle the larger picture right away.

Consider ending your bad habits in the same manner that you would consider gaining muscle in the gym. You don't walk into the gym for the first time and try to lift a 50-pound dumbbell in each hand. Starting with a 2 to 5 lb dumbbell, then you can gradually increase the weight.

Focus on only one pattern in your life that has to change if you want to stop having bad behaviors. Seize every opportunity to interrupt these habits, no matter how small. Decide which aspect or behavior you want to alter, then concentrate on it for a period.

➤Train your thoughts:

 

Any habit must first be formed in he mind before it can be practiced. Keep in mind all the drawbacks the habit has on your life rather than thinking of it as enjoyable. Use the drawbacks of that habitual pattern to motivate your contempt for the conduct itself.

Hold that notion hostage whenever you feel the want to indulge an old habit. Think about where and why the thought came from. Was the urge sparked by a friend? Was it a location? Did you feel alone? Avoid the source of the urge at all costs, no matter what brought it on. 

According to Berkman, even when a smoker tells himself not to smoke, his brain continue to hear "smoke". On the other hand, he says, if you tell yourself to chew gum every time you desire to smoke, your brain is forced to take a more constructive, tangible action.

➤ Set better goals:

 Instead of concentrating on a more general aim, such as I won't grab a cookie on the way out of the cafeteria, Poldrack advices seeing in more detail how you'll carry out this goal in your day-to-day activities. According to Poldrack, all it may take to break a habit is to think back on how you handled the issue in the past and figure out how to avoid the cookies in the future. This can simply entail staying away from the rank of sweets itself. Poldrack asserts that reacting based on a previous plan will always be simpler than trying to come up with a fresh strategy on the spot.

➤ Plan what you will do if you fail:

               

For a few days, most people are able to break a bad behavior. One mistake and everything goes wild. After a brief period of quitting, some people go back to their old habits while others dive even further into them.

Relapses like these occur if you don't prepare for failure. Slip-ups might happen while trying to break a negative habit. After the initial slip-up, it could take weeks, months or even years to try again to break the negative habit.

For instance, after months of stopping, smokers and drinkers resume their normal quotas after they slip once. Tell yourself that if you falter once, you will resume your quitting behavior the following day. It's not necessary to start smoking a pack of cigarettes again just because you had few drags in a bar with your best friend. You don't have to smoke one a day for the week just because you smoked one yesterday. It does not follow that you must smoke every time you drink because you just did it this time.

➤ Conclusion: 

 Consider adopting mindfulness to help you break harmful habits the next time you catch yourself engaging in one by posing for a moment. It's possible that your behaviors won't alter right away, but persevere. With the help of my techniques, maybe you can finally change bad behaviors and observe cravings without feeling any discomfort.