Content

• To step
• Part 1 of 3: Noticing mistakes and understanding them
• Part 2 of 3: Preparing for change
• Part 3 of 3: Making changes
• Tips

Everyone has some ingrained habits that we would like to change. It is part of human nature to be prone to repeating the same behaviors. However, changing those old habits can be difficult and take time. But this is possible with some good planning and a positive attitude as you work towards your goal: avoid making the same mistakes.

To step

Part 1 of 3: Noticing mistakes and understanding them

1. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Making mistakes can be a good thing. The key to turning mistakes into is valuable is learning from them. Investigate a mistake you have made as closely as possible and see what may have been the reasons for making that mistake. That way, mistakes can actually help you achieve success.
   • Being overly confident can also cause you to miss information and make a mistake as a result.
   • Many circumstances or situations can cause a mistake, from fatigue to having a bad habit.
2. Don't think you can't avoid making mistakes. This can keep you from making them and keep you from learning from your mistakes. Your brain can actually help you avoid making mistakes. A study has shown that the brain responds to things that have resulted in mistakes in the past within 0.1 seconds by sending a warning signal to prevent us from making the same mistake again.
3. Focus on the things you do well. While it's valuable to learn from your mistakes, it's also important to focus on what went well. Focusing on what you are doing well can help you feel better about your efforts as you improve and avoid mistakes.
   • List everything you've gotten over and all of your successes.
   • Write down qualities of yourself that you value.
   • Read this list often to motivate yourself and as a reminder of your progress.
4. Start correcting mistakes. Once you've noticed some mistakes you've made, you can start correcting them. The method you use to correct them will depend on the error you are trying to correct. Take a look at the following examples to get an idea of ​​some of the corrections you can make:
   • If you regularly forget to transfer a bill on time, post a reminder for yourself in visible places.
   • Don't be afraid to ask someone for help. For example, if you're trying to make your grandmother's soup recipe, but it just won't work, ask her for advice yourself.
5. Stay focused on improvement. It can be tempting to set your goals high and try to be the best at whatever your goal may be. However, it may be easier to succeed by focusing on gradual improvement over time, rather than the end result.
   • Perfectionism can cause you to become anxious about your goals and your progression.
6. Practice every day. Part of improving, being successful, and avoiding past mistakes is getting enough practice. Getting plenty of daily practice is essential as it helps keep your skills sharp and allows you to slowly but surely improve. For example, you can regularly try making your grandmother's soup recipe to get better at it.
   • Set aside time to practice every day.
   • Keep a log of the time you spend exercising each day.
   • If you can, slowly but surely try to spend more time exercising each day.
   • If it is not possible to practice certain things every day, it can help to use visualization. For example, if you don't have a guitar handy for a while, you can visualize practicing the chords or a song.

Part 2 of 3: Preparing for change

1. Identify what behavior you want to change. Before you can avoid making the same mistakes or displaying the same behavior again, you will have to determine which behavior you want to change. Consider your life and look for any behavior you would like to work on.
   • Look for the habits and ingrained behaviors that you feel are the most important to work on first.
   • Don't take too much on your fork at once. Focus on a select few points that you think deserve the most attention.
2. Find out what triggers your behavior. Investigate which situations or events can cause you to make the same mistakes or to engage in the same unwanted behavior. There are underlying reasons for the behavior you want to change. Once you have identified those reasons, you will be able to change your response to that situation as well as avoid the behavior in the future.
   • You may also find that your stress makes you crave a cigarette or an unhealthy snack.
   • If you are nervous in a certain social setting, you may notice that it causes you to drink, while otherwise you never do.
3. Look for something to replace the old behavior. If your goal is to stop repeating certain behaviors, you will need to replace the old behaviors with something new. Without building in new behavior, you will be more likely to fall back into your old, unwanted behavior.
   • For example, you could replace eating chips with a celery snack or doing 10 push-ups.
   • If you find yourself getting angry quickly, get into the habit of taking a deep breath before the anger overtakes you again.
4. Write down your goals. After you've figured out what behavior you want to stop and what to replace it with, it can be helpful to write down your goals. This serves as a reminder of what you want to achieve, which you can review whenever you want.
   • Place the goals you wrote down where you can see them often and easily. For example, you could hang them in your workplace, or set a reminder on your phone.
5. Do not hurry. Changing old habits can be very difficult and takes time. It will take dedication to succeed in replacing your old habits with new ones that you have chosen. Stick to your plan, stay positive, and achieve your goals.
   • Changing a habit can take anywhere from 15 to 254 days, depending on your motivation, replacement behavior and the number of repetitions.
   • Remind yourself what your goals are and the benefits they bring to stay motivated.
6. Don't worry about setbacks. Don't let setbacks discourage you as you work toward your goals and replace old habits with new ones. Setbacks can happen, but that doesn't mean you've failed or it's time to stop. Learn from these setbacks and keep working towards your goal.
   • Setbacks can be positive in that they alert you to circumstances or events that push you back into your old habits.

Part 3 of 3: Making changes

1. Think about the changes you want to make. The first phase of any behavioral change is to think carefully about the changes you are about to make. Think about the benefits of the changes and any difficulties that may arise.
   • Make a detailed list of the benefits and positives that your new behavior will bring.
   • Carefully list potential problems. These can be things that cause you to revert to your old behavior or keep you from making the new behavior a habit.
   • For example, exercising more can make you healthier, but lack of time may get in the way.
2. Prepare for obstacles. Before you take action and start making changes, you will need to make a few preparations. The preparation phase involves making a plan for dealing with obstacles that you can foresee that may prevent you from achieving your goal. By preparing thoroughly, the changes you want to make will be easier to realize.
   • The preparation phase helps you to be ready to remove any obstacles that are between you and your goals.
   • For example, if you think that lack of time is going to be a problem if you want to exercise more, you can start by allocating your time or thinking about ways to get some exercise in spare moments.
3. Start making a change. After you decide what new behavior you want to learn and how you plan to overcome obstacles, you can take action. During this step, you focus on your progress, overcoming obstacles and rewarding yourself with the new, desired behaviors.
   • Carefully track your progress to stay motivated and catch mistakes.
   • Think ahead to avoid obstacles. Avoid situations or events that could cause you to revert to your old behavior.
   • Reward yourself every time you achieve a goal. Watch your favorite movies or take a relaxing bath.
4. Keep track of your changes. Once you replace the old habit with a new one that you have chosen, you will have to maintain that habit. Make your new behavior stronger and continue to enjoy this new way of doing things.
   • If possible, try to expand your original goals. For example, if you wanted to stop avoiding exercise to get more active, keep tightening those fitness goals.
   • Keep things interesting. As you work towards your new habit, it is good to try this in different ways to keep it exciting. For example, if you want to avoid junk food by eating healthy, keep learning new recipes.
   • Stay positive and don't let setbacks discourage you. If you experience a setback, learn from it and keep working towards your goals.

Tips

• Be patient as you work on your goals. Changing old habits can be difficult and takes time.
• Think ahead of any obstacles that may arise in order to prepare for them.
• Don't let setbacks stop you. Learn from that and let them help you succeed.
• Body and mind, that's the key. Only what you allow on the inside will affect what happens on the outside.