Do you have any bad habits? Well, who doesn’t have any? Are you someone who is desperately trying to quit smoking or stop taking too many selfies? Habits are something that becomes our default and we are used to them. Well most of us are trying to break free from cycles but are somehow unsuccessful. If you are one of those people who find it difficult to break habits, welcome to this blog. Here are 12 useful tips on how to change habits in 2023. Hope it helps you to get rid of any toxic or unhealthy habit you are trying to break free from.
12 Useful Tips on How To Change Habits
Dive right into the article to understand some psychological tips behind breaking habits. Gradual implementation of them in your life will help you!
Find out what you would want to change about yourself
Often we are unable to realize that we have a bad habit so sit down with a notepad and make a list. Try to figure out what you want to change but don’t be too stressed about it either.
Figure out how the habit is affecting you
Do you bite your nails when stressed out? Or eat sugar or drink wine when you are sad? Or are you hooked on social media badly? Make yourself realize how these habits are leading to drawbacks instead of benefiting you. Eating too much sugar will make you gain weight or spending too much time on social media will make you less productive.
Use your discretion
Do you end up binge-watching your favorite show on Netflix before going to bed and wake up late the next morning? To get rid of this bad habit, remind yourself how this might give you less sleep, and make you cranky and late for work. Apply this to all your bad habits and your wisdom will guide you.
Focus on one bad habit at a time
Several times we tend to focus on too many problems at a single time and that often leads to a lot of confusion and we lose our concentration on the major issue. If you are trying to quit smoking and quit social media at the same time then you are bound to get deviated and lose focus from everything and might end up messing up things. So avoid sailing on two boats.
Use reminders to stop triggers
Keep yourself occupied. Set reminders on your phone or sticky notes like “don’t smoke, don’t eat the cake” around you. Hence every time you get the urge to do something you are willing to stop, these reminders will prevent you from doing it.
Spend time doing something you like
Every time you are about to give in to a wrong habit of yours, spend time with your loved ones. There is nothing that an hour of reading, playing with your dog or spending time with your loved ones cannot fix. By indulging in things you enjoy you get a much-required diversion. Find your best hobbies to focus on how to change habits in 2023.
Start with healthy habits first
Try to develop healthy habits like waking up early and following a routine. Following a proper routine that includes a proper sleep cycle or healthy food will make your mind more focused and you will be able to stick to your goal. If you are trying to lose weight, develop some funny exercising activities and think positively about yourself.
Get rid of triggers
If a cigarette or a piece of cake triggers and makes you then get rid of them. Remove these things from your house and avoid buying them. If you want to eat healthily but keep ordering in or do a lot of shopping online then uninstall the apps from your phone.
Look for ways to distract yourself
Whenever you get the urge to do something you are trying to avoid like binge-watching Netflix before going to bed or eating a lot of sugar when you are stressed and try things like back counting, deep breathing or tapping your head for thirty seconds and focusing on doing them to divert your mind from your cravings. Keep telling yourself why you are trying to get rid of the habit and what its ill effects are.
Think about the future benefits
Trick your brain into thinking about how these changes will make your life better and enable you to reach your long-term goals. Think how by not shopping online you will save money that will come to your aid during emergencies. Or consider how you will lose weight by not eating junk food.
Reward yourself
Every time you don’t give in to a bad habit and follow your routine religiously reward yourself. This will help your mind to refrain from any bad habit you want to quit because the incentive would make the diversion easy.
For example, every time you convince yourself against eating junk food daily, give yourself a treat at the end of the month like buying a dress or going to a movie. Our minds respond faster to rewards and perks. However, do not make this indulgence an excuse.
Punish yourself as well
Sometimes our mind reacts to punishment better than rewards. Fear prevents us from doing something we are not supposed to do. So if you see yourself reaching for that extra piece of brownie then make yourself workout for extra 20 minutes at the gym. The fear of pain will stop you from eating wrong.
Towards the conclusion
As mentioned in Atomic Habits, a book by James Clear, “Hence habits are a four-step pattern, the cue triggers a craving, which motivates a response, which provides a reward, which satisfies the craving and, ultimately, becomes associated with the cue.” Habits form you, they determine how happy or unhappy you are, successful or unsuccessful you are and form the person you are hence it is important to have good ones.
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