No one is free from bad habits. We always have a handful or more of them or even sometimes bad habits are everywhere in our lives. There are several reasons for one to get into a bad habit. Some might encounter it by chance and will make it a habit without even knowing the same. Some will get addicted to the act and soon will make it a habit on purpose. On other times, more interestingly, we do develop bad habits ourselves.
There are several causes for one to have a bad habit. In these modern days, higher credits go to the advances in technology and sophistication that makes it very easy to pick up a bad habit, just like that.
A bad habit can be broken, if you really want to get rid of it. Here’s how:
Analyse
If you are serious about breaking a bad habit, you need to spend some time on doing a little bit of analysis. Write down the habit or habits you want to get rid of. See how bad is that. For example, if you want to get rid of smoking, then you have to write down a little bit on ‘how bad smoker you are’. You can write down
- the number of cigarettes you smoke a day
- how much you spend on buying them
- how many of your friends or family members do not like this habit
- have you broke up with someone because of this
- have you lost something in life because of this habit (need not be big things, but all small things count too)
Alternatively, if you addicted to watching TV and overeating you may write down
- how many hours you spend a day in watching TV and eating
- how much you spend on buying those pizzas and crisps
- how much public activity you lose
- how much weight have you gained
- is your colleague or friend looking good and smarter than you (because you are so lazy and overeating!)
You may just write down as many points like this and do a detailed analysis. If you have the write up ready, just give it a quiet read. You will realize how bad your habit is and what are the things in life you pay to do it. You will now realize the impact of the habit and this will act as a motivator for you to work on breaking the habit.
Write down pros and cons
After doing the analysis, the next step would be to think of all possible pros and cons of the habit you want to get rid of. Think more on getting enough cons actually. You may think in terms of the habit’s influence on your health, social status, career, family and relations and so on.
Find multiple replacements
You need to write down multiple replacements for the habit. That is, whenever you feel like doing it what else can you do? Do a brainstorm and come up with as many activities as possible. Write this list down and place it in a prominent place where you will see it most often.
So while at home, if you want to smoke, just look at the list and pick something else, say eat carrots, clean wardrobe, go walking, call girlfriend, whatever.
Get help
So far you have been dealing with the habit yourself, now seek some help from others. Find a buddy or a member of family who is your well-wisher. Tell them that you want to get rid of such and such habits and you are working hard towards it.
Ask them to check on you often and ask you if you have, for example, smoked on that day. Ask them to call you or drop by at least once in a day to just make sure you stick to your plan.
The fact that someone is watching you will give you a bit more of commitment to your plan.
Focus on a productive replacement
Apart from finding replacements, just for fun or just to divert, you can also find some serious productive replacements. I know a friend of mine who was doing Ph. D in the same university as mine (we were the same batch actually). He wanted to quit smoking while he was working on his Ph. D thesis, I don’t know why, but he just got the idea only then.
So whenever he feels like he should smoke a cigarette, he jumps right in front of his laptop and starts to work on a chapter of his thesis. He told me that he was following this trick to avoid smoking. I used to wonder about the quality of the thesis that is written just to avoid smoking. But things work that way too.
When you can push your energy and concentration on something really serious (that you cannot afford to tamper with) then breaking your bad habit is not a big deal.
See what you can (have) achieve(d)
While you are working on any of the above steps, check often what have you gained or achieved by getting rid of that habit. Frequently checking this out will give you motivation to move forward in the same direction. This motivation is so necessary because the bad habit has been a “habit”, a practise or an addiction, so it is easy to come back and catch you if you do not stay motivated in the process.
How do you deal with your bad habit?
Article by JaneSheeba
+Jane is the founder of Problogging Success. She is an expert blogger, consultant, freelance writer and blog designer. Don't forget to get your hands on two FREE Ebooks she offers.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Find multiple replacements is a good point to follow. I have been tending to get addicted to the internet and spend hours surfing on it.
I just feel that maybe I should be spending more time on matters which are more important like family and friends.
Habits are difficult to let go, so I suppose it would be better to do a little bit everyday instead of trying to achieve a big change.
Hi there!! This is your blogging buddy!! I like this post! I would like to get few ideas about a small bad habit which I have, always texting some one with my cell phone. How do I go about it?
@ Kevin - Yes, introducing the change in slow fashion will certainly help to achieve a big change effectively. It is also a good practice not to startle your mind and yourself with a drastic change.
@ Mukund - Missed you a while! For the texting thing try the following:
1. Reduce the usage of your mobile as a whole, even for making calls.
2. Do not place your mobile at your working desk. Rather place it in your bag or pouch, making it not so easy to reach and not in your vision.
3. Put a note on your personal notice board, your computer or at multiple places in your home stating “Do Not Text” - Just to give yourself a warning.
4. Clear message count on your mobile every morning the first thing. At the end of the day check how many messages you have sent. Make it a serious goal to reduce that number in a slow fashion day by day. For instance, if you start with say, 50 messages today, limit yourself to 40 messages tomorrow and so on.
5. See how much you spend on texting, do the same thing as with step 4.
Good luck
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