How to Break Bad Habits and Create Good Ones
We all have some bad habits we would like to break. Whether it is nail biting, cheek chewing, unhealthy snacking, procrastinating, overspending, smoking, gambling, or alcohol and substance misuse, a bad habit is any pattern of behaviour that has a negative impact on your life. Habits can be hard to change because they are automatic and often performed without conscious knowledge. Yet, with a little planning and committed action, bad habits can be broken. Following these five steps can help you succeed.
Decide to Change
The first and most important step is deciding you want to stop your habit. Once you decide to change your unwanted behaviour, you can devise a plan on how to take action. Making a decision to change activates the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, the areas of the brain responsible for executive functions linked to logical and rational thinking that are critical in action planning and commitment. Activating these regions allows you to imagine living a life free of your negative habit. This mental blueprint provides you with motivation to succeed.
Monitor the Behaviour
The second step is to monitor the behaviour you want to change. Keeping track of the reasons and how often you may engage in your habit brings your awareness out of autopilot and helps you identify triggers and frequency. Start by writing out what your negative habit is. Then identify the advantages and disadvantages of your unwanted behaviour. Bad habits usually have short-term benefits but long-term costs. For example, Netflix may provide the benefit of entertainment when you are bored but it may also have the cost of fatigue from staying up late and increased stress, if binge-watching serves as a procrastination tool to deter you from tasks. Similarly, smoking cigarettes may provide the benefit of instant relaxation but also the long-term cost of increased anxiety, tension, and risk of disease. Snacking on junk food may bring instant enjoyment and satisfaction but at the cost of feeling sick and unhealthy and with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Evaluating benefits and costs can help you have more insight and control over your habit. You may then identify that you engage in your bad habit at certain times and situations. Perhaps you bite your fingernails while stressed and working at the computer, or snack when you are bored rather than when you are hungry. Maybe you have an alcoholic drink when you get home from work to unwind, then with dinner to enhance your mood, and finally a drink as a nightcap to help you sleep. You may find that you drink, smoke, spend money, gamble or engage in some other unhealthy behavioural pattern when you are in the company of a certain group of friends. By slowing down and paying attention to our behaviour we are more likely to change. Writing down everything you notice about your habit will help you set a realistic action plan.
Set Action Plan
After you have gathered information on why and when you engage in your negative behavioural pattern, you can set an action plan of how you will kick your habit. Begin by writing down your goals and break down the steps in how you will achieve these goals. Going cold turkey rarely works. Start off instead by setting reduction targets. For example, if you smoke 10 cigarettes a day, try to initially reduce to eight cigarettes a day. If you binge-watch streamed shows five hours a day, cut down to three hours a day, or reduce seven days a week to five days a week. Next focus on how you will achieve your targets. If you want to decrease your drinking, you may make a conscious effort to replace your third glass of wine with an herbal tea to signal that it is time to stop. You may choose to set yourself reminders, such as post-it notes, or set timers to limit your time in engaging in your habit. There are a number of smartphone apps that offer support to help keep you on track. You may have identified that certain emotional states trigger your habit. Is it stress, boredom, sadness? What other behaviours may alleviate these emotional states? Exercise can be a useful substitution for managing bad habits as it can delay cravings, elevate mood and relax your body. You may choose to keep some benefits of your habit but swap out some of the costs. For example, if you noticed that the act of chewing decreases your anxiety you may try chewing gum instead of your fingernails or munching on carrot sticks rather than a pack of chocolate bars. If you procrastinate, try procrastinating by cleaning the house rather than by scrolling through social media. If the company of certain friends triggers your habit, you can make adjustments in your schedule. Instead of catching up with a friend for a drink or a shopping spree, try catching up for a coffee, for a walk in the park, or experimenting with a new hobby. Enlisting support from family or friends can further be an important factor in helping you achieve your goals of changing your habit.
Accept Setbacks
New learned behaviour takes time and practice before it becomes a habit. Setbacks are a normal part of progress. Be kind and reward yourself when you succeed but don’t be discouraged if you lapse. Use setbacks as learning and monitoring opportunities for revising action plans and goals. Keep trying and engage extra support and assistance if needed. Your habits may be driven by other underlying problems that may need to be addressed.
Stick to It
Breaking bad habits initially involves self-discipline and perseverance but gets easier over time. It is important to remember that habits are natural and an integral part of human behaviour. Breaking one negative unhealthy behavioural pattern offers the opportunity to embrace a new positive and healthy one. Good habits like brushing teeth, making your bed, taking a shower were all learned and practiced until they became habitual. Evolution has cleverly outsourced some behaviours to automatic pilot so that we can free up our minds for other tasks. With practice and repetition, you can rewire your brain so that you can kick your old bad habits and bring in new habits that have a positive impact on your life.