Content

• Steps
• Advice
• Warning

Do you bite your nails? Chewing your hair? Suck your hand? Peeling of lips? Regardless of what your bad habit is or how deeply ingrained it is, the process of breaking the habit can be the same. With perseverance and proper thinking, it is okay to break your bad habits, and the following guidelines will help you through this process.

Steps

Part 1 of 2: Change your mindset

1. 

   Commitment to achieve your goals. While it may seem obvious, it's important to understand that the first step to breaking a bad habit is to develop a genuine desire and commitment to change your life.
   • Many people embark on the path of breaking their habits without really understanding what they want to change. Breaking the habit is a difficult task, so if you don't work wholeheartedly on the process, you may fail.

2. 

   
   
   Understand your habits. Almost every familiar behavior is the kind of action evolved because they are encouraged in some way.They make it easier for you to perform tasks or deal with a variety of emotional states.
   • A "habit repetition cycle" is made up of a cue, or trigger, that tells your brain to begin engaging in behavior-related behaviors. The brain forms a "reward" from this behavior, in the form of neurotransmitters that can reinforce the repetitive cycle of habits. Part interruption behavior This cycle is a way for you to break the habit.

3. 

   
   
   Consider the context of your routine. In order to be able to identify the most effective method for breaking a habit, it can be helpful to identify the context in relation to the situation and the emotions that could trigger your routine. This can help you understand the "reward" your brain is looking for. This understanding will allow you to develop healthier ways of achieving rewards similar to what bad habits provide.
   • Many bad habits are designed to act as ways to cope with stressful or boring situations.
   • For example, for many people, smoking helps relieve stress. Procrastination provides temporary free time so they can engage in happier activities.
   • When you feel the urge to engage in familiar behavior, take notes. Often times, habits get so ingrained that we don't realize why we do it. Developing your cognitive abilities will help you identify your triggers.
   • As you take notes, write about what is happening in the present moment. For example, if you are a nail biter, you can jot down any time you feel the urge to bite your nails. Write about your feelings, about what happened during the day, about where you are, and about your thoughts.

4. 

   
   
   Planning. Once you understand the habit triggering situations and the rewards you receive from performing the unwanted behavior, you can formulate a plan related to behavior change goals and strategies for minimizing habit triggers.
   • Research has shown that a specific, well-defined plan significantly increases your chances of successfully breaking the habit. It will help you get rid of unwanted habits and also help shape new patterns of action.
5. Prepare mentally for mistakes. Don't come up with a plan that looks like it's going to fail because of a single trip. At some point, most people will give in to temptation and return to old habits while trying to break them. If you accept this in the first place, negative thought will hardly beat the whole process of breaking your habit.
   • You should structure your plan so that you can maintain your self-accountability process as rewards for your success and feedback from your habit-breaking goal advocate. You will be more successful if you share your goals with others. More detailed information on this will be provided later in the article.

6. 

   Visualize the success. In your mind, keep practicing the habit break process by imagining the scenario where you'll focus on your desired behavior rather than the bad one. Imagine a situation in which you feel tempted to engage in undesirable behavior and choose better options. This approach will help reinforce the positive behavior pattern.
   • For example, if your goal is to limit unhealthy foods, imagine you are preparing a healthy treat in your kitchen, and then imagine yourself sitting around. eat.
   • Many people find it helpful to write a "script" of their desired behavior and read it every day.

7. 

   Practice mindfulness (mindfulness). Increasing your attention to everyday life can help you become more aware of your own actions instead of working in an "automatic" mode. Mindfulness focuses on perceiving your own experience in the present moment without avoiding or judging it. With practice, mindfulness can become a healthy habit to help you fight off the bad habits you want to avoid.
   • Mindfulness trains your brain to respond differently to situations. It can actually "reprogram" the way you respond to situations and stressors. It can give you some time before you start reacting to something, and reduce the tendency for "automatic thinking" to be formed in response to situations.
   • Know when you are tempted to give up on a bad habit. What situations lead to undesirable behavior? What feelings in your body or thoughts help drive unwanted behavior? Understanding them without judging yourself will help you resist your behavior.
   • Do not refrain from thinking about habits. Ironically, when you try not to think about something, you begin to notice that it is ubiquitous and overwhelms everything.
   • For example, trying not to think about smoking can make you extremely sensitive to any factors that remind you of smoking. It's better to acknowledge your craving and the situation that drives this craving, and face it off to deal with the problem.
   • Try mindfulness meditation. Taking a few minutes each day to calm yourself down and focus on your breathing will help you develop self-awareness and thinking.
   • Yoga and tai chi also complement meditation, and they are great for your health.
   • Notice when you feel the urge to practice bad habits, but don't judge those thoughts. You could say something like, "Right now, I'm really craving smoking" or "Right now, I really want to bite my nails." Recognizing your emotions will help you get over them without getting stuck in your thoughts.
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Part 2 of 2: Behavior change

1. 

   Change of living environment. Research has shown that sometimes our habitat can cause us to engage in specific behaviors, even when we are actively trying to eliminate them. So breaking habits is part of reducing your triggers until you can develop new ways to deal with them.
   • The novel situation will stimulate the part of the brain that is more inclined to conscious decision-making than to fall into automatic behavioral patterns.
   • A good way to stay away from bad habits is to find ways to change the scene and see if your bad habits are less tempting to you. For example, if you like smoking on the porch, remove the chair you normally would smoke in and replace it with a pot of plants. If you tend to eat a lot while sitting in a certain position around the table, you can move to another seat or rearrange the furniture so that you will sit facing a different direction from where you are. you usually sit. Slightly changing your surroundings can make you less likely to subconsciously memorize your habits and force your mind to reevaluate what's going on.
   • Build relationships with advocates of your desired behavior. You don't have to ignore old friends altogether, but a new friend whose lifestyle is what you want can help you reduce your triggers.
   • If possible, go on a trip. One of the most effective ways to break old habits is to put yourself in a completely new situation for a while, and develop new, healthier habits that you can incorporate into. your daily life back home.

2. 

   Create barriers to habits. If you can, create obstacles that make it more difficult and uncomfortable for you to try to stick to your habits than others; This can help you break down the factors that have previously strengthened the habit. Here are a few pointers:
   • Talk to your supporters about your habit break plan, and ask them to remind you when you made a mistake. This will help you to have consequences when you are unable to withstand the temptation.
   • Or better yet, find someone who wants to break the same habit as you, and take responsibility for each other and get rid of it together.
   • Any method you use to break the sequence of events that often lead to undesirable behavior will help. For example, if you are trying to stop smoking, you can keep cigarettes in another room. If you want to stop using Facebook during business hours, you can disconnect from the network or use an available application to block access to a website similar to this one. Even if you can easily overcome obstacles, they are sometimes the things you need to break the behavior pattern that leads to unwanted behavior.
   • Set small "penalties" for mistakes. For example, you could use a swear jar for this process: every time you get back into your old routine, put 10,000 dong (or more) in a tin or jar. Fill the jar with the amount of money you don't want to give up every time you give up the urge, and stick to the rule. When you succeed in getting rid of the habit, you can use that money to buy a reward or donate to charity.
   • Or, if you're trying to stop overeating, you can add 10 minutes of exercise every time you overeat. Punishment related to behavior is probably the most effective.

3. 

   Start small. Some habits, such as procrastination, can be difficult to change because the solution looks rather difficult. “Stop procrastinating” will be such a huge task that it cannot be completed. Try breaking your goal down into achievable small steps. You'll get a "reward" for realizing that you will succeed quickly, and your brain will be less likely to see your ultimate goal as "too big" and unfulfilled. . Instead of saying, "I'm going to stop snacking," say, "I'll eat breakfast healthily." Instead of saying, "I'll go to the gym more often," say, "I'm going to yoga class every Saturday morning." Once you have succeeded in each of those small steps, you can work up to your ultimate goal.
   • For example, instead of saying "I will stop procrastinating today", set a goal for yourself like "Today, I will focus on working for 30 minutes".
   • The popular “time management (pomodoro)” method can help. Use a timer and set the amount of time that you will spend focusing on work and not on something else. Please set each short interval, no more than 45 minutes. This time can be as long as 20 minutes. The goal is that you should set up the task appropriately and easily.
   • After you've finished that amount of time, you can take a break! Do some fun activity, surf Facebook, check your messages. After that, continue to put another amount of time to work.
   • This technique can "trick" your brain into establishing new, better habits because you see immediate success (something your brain likes).

4. 

   Reward yourself for your success. Habit is formed when behaviors are rewarded in some way, so a great way to form new habits is to reward yourself with good behavior.
   • The most successful reward is the one that appears right after you perform the desired behavior, and this is the behavior you really want or enjoy.
   • For example, if you're trying to break the habit of being late for work, you could reward yourself with a special cup of coffee each day when you arrive at work on time until you no longer need your reward.

5. 

   Look for a replacement factor. Try to replace your habits with something new and positive in your life. The key here is to plan for alternative actions when you want to practice bad habits.
   • For example, if you are trying to stop smoking, you can suck on a lollipop, do breathing exercises, or walk around the neighborhood when you want to light a cigarette. Filling in the gaps of your old habit with another activity will help you avoid falling.
   • Make sure the alternative action won't be boring or unattractive. If you can make your new habit something you really want to do, something you enjoy, or one that produces obvious positive results (and ideally immediate results. ie), you will be able to easily initiate the change.

6. 

   Please be patient. Behavior correction is a long process, and it takes time to break the habit, so you need to stick with it. Be patient and be kind to yourself.
   • Common sense and self-help books state that it takes 28 days to break a habit. The truth is even more complicated, as recent research has shown that the rate at which the process of change progresses depends on the individual and the habits of each person, and can take as little as 18 days. or at most around 245 days for this process.
   • Even if the process is different for everyone, you can be sure that the first few days will be the toughest. Many neuroscientists advise people to undergo "detox" in the first 2 weeks, because our nervous system will have difficulty changing the chemicals that stimulate the "signaling center" reward "of the brain.

7. 

   Be kind to yourself. Telling yourself that you can't do something is a bad cognitive habit, because it reinforces the belief that you can't do it. Remember: Thinking too hard on yourself during difficult times or making mistakes won't help you, and it can make bad habits worse.
   • If you find yourself criticizing yourself, remember that seemingly contradictory things can co-exist. For example, say you want to break the habit of eating unhealthy food, but you "give up" and have a bag of chips ready for lunch. It can be easy to blame yourself for doing this. However, being kind to yourself will help you to see your mistakes and realize that this is not failure. You don't have to keep giving up just because you've made a mistake once.
   • Try to add words and into your statement and plan positively when faced with future challenges. Example: “I ate that bag of chips for lunch. I am very sad about acting like that, AND I can help myself by bringing a snack to the company so that the vending machine cannot tempt me. ”
   • You can also add the word "but" and include a positive statement, for example: "I ruined everything, BUT everyone can make mistakes from time to time."
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Advice

• When things get tough, think about what will happen in the future when you finally get over your bad habits.
• Deal with one routine, at most two at a time. More than this amount will leave you feeling confused.
• Many find it easier to gradually reduce familiar behavior, many others prefer a "sudden" stop, completely stopping all actions at once. Try to determine which method is right for you, even if it means taking some effort to try it out.
• If you have a habit of biting your nails, paint your nails. This way, your nails will look so cute that you can't bite, and the taste of the nail polish will be pretty bad too.

Warning

• See a mental health professional (psychologist, psychiatrist, or counselor) if you cannot control your habits, especially if they are dangerous habits.
• Substance abuse, eating disorders, self-harm, or self-destructive actions can all be signs of addiction or a mental disorder. Seek professional help so you can combat these behaviors.