5 Steps to Changing Bad Habits
How difficult is it to change a bad habit? Well, according to Brian Tracey, bad habits are easy to develop but hard to live with. Some bad habits take at least 21 days to break. Of course, in difficult cases, it can take as long as a year.
Here is an example of the process of how to change an unhealthy habit to a healthy habit. Suppose you have decided that smoking is not good for you and right now, you smoke ten cigarettes daily. The new habit you would like to instil is to eat chewing gum to replace your crave for cigarettes.
At first, it may be challenging to break the bad habit of smoking. You will have to use self-discipline for the first few months but gradually it will get easier. Once you are able to change the old habit to a new healthier one, it will serve you very well.
Habits are remarkable because they do not require thinking. You just “do it” for years until you find yourself changing the habit again.
Here are 5 easy steps for changing habits:
1. Awareness: You must become aware of your habits. You must understand how this habit is affecting you and others.
2. Wanting to Change: As someone with a health problem, you must decide that breaking bad habits through a conscious effort is a worthy goal. You must convince yourself that the change in the habit is worth the effort involved.
3. Commitment: You must be determined to do whatever it takes for breaking bad habits so that you can better control your life. You do the work required to stop.
4. Consistent Action: It is important to focus on changing just one habit at a time. Then, take consistent daily actions for breaking the bad habit that has been causing problems and take the actions to develop a new one.
5. Perseverance: There will be times when you question whether it is all worth it. You will say to yourself that breaking these bad habits is too difficult. Your old self, often so comfortable living with the bad habits, is trying to hold on.
Now, you are armed with a 5-step process for breaking any bad habit or other condition that requires changing. You may require additional professional help or a support group to help you quit your bad habit.
