Is it possible to free yourself from bad habits and increase your effectiveness, well-being, and life satisfaction? The answer is a resounding “Yes.” Along with, bear in mind that you have to exert some effort at changing. Change comes with commitment. Come along as we explore how to get rid of bad habits.
Habits emerge as the brain looks for ways to save effort. The Habit loop starts with the cue, the trigger that stimulates your brain to go into automatic mode. Next to, there is the routine or habitual behaviour, which can be physical, mental or emotional. Capping it up, the reward helps to convince your brain that a particular habit loop is worth remembering for the future.
Freeing yourself from bad habits starts with you realising that you are responsible for your feelings and problems. Of vital importance to freedom is propping up the belief that you are capable of effecting change in your life. Coming to terms with your reality helps to set you to the idea of how to get rid of bad habits.
The idea of how to get rid of bad habits aligns to the route stated hereunder. It is important to see breaking your bad habits as a process.
1. Admit That You Have A Serious Problem
Defending your bad habits is a self-destructive behaviour. A general sense of hopelessness will continue to plague you if you keep denying your problem. Resisting anything that reminds you of your problem will not bring succour to you. To blame others for the problems of your negative habits opens a path to denial. In truth, this path will eventually lead to regrets. To be in denial is to loose control of the problem and your life. Regaining a measure of control over your life means becoming aware of the need to free yourself from a bad habit.
2. Make A List Of The Benefits Of Changing
Envisioning your life without the bad habits motivates you to make a serious commitment to change.
3. Practice Self-awareness To Discover What Triggers Your Habitual Behaviour
This awareness training gears up the habit reversal process. In line, an alcoholic habit could be triggered by anxiety; a nail-biting habit, by a tension in the finger tips. The habits can be changed by learning new routines or behaviours that draw on the old trigger and provide a familiar or like relief or sensation. In good truth, self-awareness helps you to make the best of the idea of how to get rid of bad habits.
4. Identify the Craving Driving The Habit Or Behaviour
Indulging in this exercise keeps you from shifting responsibility for your problems to others. It readies you to substitute healthy new habits for old destructive ones. Change begins to come into view as your commitment to it heightens.
Fact to note with, As a habit becomes stronger and stronger, the brain begins to anticipate the reward conceived as a relief or sensation. Once you start expecting your reward as soon as you see the cue or trigger, a craving is born. Cravings drive the habit loop. When you crave a nicotine rush or a sugar high, your anticipation equates with the actual experience of the reward or pleasure. Anger and depression often follows when a reward is denied. When you identify the craving behind your bad habit, you are ready for the next step of how to get rid of bad habits.
5. Insert A New Routine Or Behaviour That Delivers A Familiar Relief Or Pleasure
Changing a bad habit entails keeping the old trigger and inserting a new routine or behaviour that delivers the familiar relief or sensation. Coming on, you can lace up your sneakers and run instead of reaching for a cigarette. The endorphin rush from running, compares to the pleasurable reward of a nicotine rush. You need to practice your new habit to an extent that makes your brain to start anticipating a pleasurable rush of endorphins. When that happens, the habit becomes automatic.
6. Know When The Temptation To Quit Is Strongest
This knowledge enables you to conceive in advance relaxing and coping strategies. In challenging times when the temptation to relapse back into the old habit is strongest, you can relax by imagining yourself in a serene natural setting, deep breathing or stretching. Relaxation helps you to concentrate your energies and apply them to your new constructive behaviour. Following through with your new behaviour at the time of your greatest trial helps you to build up your will power. Practicing consistency drives the essence of how to get rid of bad habits.
7. Leverage On The Power Of A Supportive Group
Believing that you can cope with the stress or anxiety connected to kicking a bad habit headlines important. This self-belief keeps you from relapsing into the bad habit even when you have a bad day. Success rides along self-belief. Further along, a supportive group where shared experiences abound, where evidence of change appears real in the eyes and behaviours of members, teaches you to believe that you can kick your bad habit. It is easier to cultivate self-belief in a supportive community. Devote yourself to the idea of how to get rid of bad habits, by cultivating self-belief.
8. Exploit The Advantages Of Small Victories
Small wins motivate you to accomplish other small wins. In this way, small wins fuel transformative change. To continue with, small wins could be hourly or daily abstinence from a bad habit. You stick with the new behaviour. The tiny advantages of small wins build up into a pattern that convinces us that bigger achievements are possible.
With self-awareness, self-belief, and diligent effort, change is possible. The ideas behind how to get rid of bad habits acts as a focus that motivates us to pursue a better life.
