Seek professional help to get rid of bad habit

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Some habits become addictive. It is very difficult to change those bad habits. For example, an alcoholic cannot get rid of his habit easily.

In such extreme cases, it is wise to seek professional help. Reach out to a doctor or therapist at the earliest. Help rendered by these professionals can be in the form of motivation or medication.

Some experts feel at least two months are needed to change a habit.

It may be a long time. But it is today that you should start to make your tomorrow better by changing all the bad habits you have into good and success-creating new habits.

3 tips to change bad habits

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VISUALIZE THE AFTERMATH OF CHANGING YOUR HABIT

Visualize in your mind how the situation would be once you get rid of the bad habit.

  • If your bane is fast food, imagine how your health will improve once you stop eating it.
  • Think of the advantages you will enjoy once you start exercising.

Visualization helps in motivating you further to give up your bad habit.


NO-NO TO NEGATIVE THINKING

Keep yourself in a positive change of mind when you are trying to change a habit.

Example: If you want to stop your snacking habit, try telling your brain you can do it. Do not get discouraged if you are not able to change your habits immediately. Give yourself time and some patience and the reward will be yours to see.


FAMILY/FRIENDS SUPPORT

Set up a roadblock to a bad habit with due help of friends/family.

Your well-wishers can surely help you, whichever way you feel comfortable. They can either stop you when you are induced to perform the habit routine or give gentle reminders to give it up totally.

Do you want to break the bad habit

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Stay alert from relapse

Sometimes scenarios occur when you will be tempted to get back to your bad habit. Beware of such occasions and be extra careful to not fall back on your bad ways.

Other things you can do to break the bad habit are:

1. Take a vacation. Be away from your familiar localities for focusing on your new routines. Go on a vacation to another city or locality and concentrate on new things

2. Yoga and meditation are some methods that can help you break bad habits.

3. Train your brain on other things that can replace your habit. While a habit is performed automatically, if you train your brain and focus on it then you can change your bad habits

4. Change in routine

Take a new bus route

Start a new exercise regime

Go for walks

Change in routine will replace your habit

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WHILE IT IS FELT THAT THE CUE AND REWARD ARE IRREPLACEABLE, ONE CAN CHANGE THE ROUTINE. Change in routine will replace your habit with a better one.

Here is an example…

SCENARIO

Cue – meeting friends

Routine – smoking

Reward – socializing

REPLACE IT WITH

Cue – meeting friends

Routine – enjoying soft drinks or a light healthy snack

Reward – socializing

AVOID TEMPTATIONS/TRIGGERS

Another method would be avoiding temptations or triggers of the habit at all times possible.

Stop visiting the place that reminds you of the bad habit

A) If your habit is eating junk food then put all the junk in a place that is difficult to access

B) If cell phone notifications are your bane than shut out your phone until you really need it

Give yourself incentives/punishment to avoid that temptation

A) If you are an alcoholic, take some medicine that causes some unpleasant symptoms whenever you drink alcohol

B) If you succeed in seeing notifications on your phone for one hour treat yourself to a sweet treat

"The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same." -- Colin R. Davis

Planning and implementing how to get rid of the habit

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Habits cannot be changed overnight. This is because habits are imprinted in our neural paths and occur randomly even without our voluntary consent at times. Great efforts and planning are required to undo a bad habit and develop a good habit in its place.

This is the final step, here is how you can do it…

MAKE A REALISTIC GOAL

Choose which habit you want to change

    • Select a new and realistic goal you want to achieve to do away with your bad habit
    • Give it an appropriate time
    • Begin in a small way and improve

CHOOSE A REPLACEMENT HABIT

If the habit is not severe or addictive, then try breathing exercises when it is triggered

  • Replace your bad habit with a better one. For example – the time you use for social media can be used in reading an e-newspaper or a book
  • Take clues from the HABIT LOOP expounded by Charles Duhigg

There are three components in a Habit loop

  • Cue – the trigger that starts the Habit loop
  • Routine – the action you take when the cue appears
  • Reward – the feel-good factor that is achieved after the routine mentioned above.
HOW TO GET RID OF A BAD HABIT

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Identify

Identify the habit(s) and admit that you need to change. Stop justifying your habit or making excuses for continuing it.

  • If you are a chain smoker, admit it first. Then understand why you have to push it out of your system.
  • If you are not punctual, learn how to be so.

WRITE DOWN SOMETHING ABOUT THE BAD HABIT

It is always good to write down a note about your bad habits. This will not only help you plan on how to get rid of it, but it will serve as a reminder not to fall back on your old ways.

The following points should be mentioned in the bad habit note…

How often do you indulge in the habit? Let us take the smoking habit – write down how often you smoke in a day.

When it occurs – at certain places, times, etc. Write when and where you smoke.

Understand the pattern of your bad habit; Write down what induces you to smoke

The reason for the habit; Write down what comfort do you achieve in smoking? Is it break from boredom, or excuse to make new friends or an additive to gain inspiration???

3 common bad habits need to change

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1. Not reading

Reading is one of the best ways to understand our surroundings. Periodicals, newspapers, and books provide the latest happenings around. Some of these give us tips to stand tall/be successful in life. At least 30 minutes of a day is to be allotted for this activity.

People who do not have the reading habit may not be up-to-date on the happenings around them. Due to this, they may not see new opportunities that could have helped them grow in stature.

2. Punctuality issues

Getting delayed on one or two occasions is ok. But, constantly missing deadlines affects your credibility. You may be considered disorganized and incompetent to people working with you.

3. Being reactive

One may be used to taking life as it comes and reacting accordingly. Myopic visions will cause problems in the long run. Just reacting to situations or being in a firefighting mode will get you nowhere.

Instead be proactive, creative new opportunities for you to grow.

Identify and change your bad habits

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Self-doubt and putting yourself down

Insecurity is one bad habit that can break you. Just make a list of all your skills and talents whenever you feel low and feel good about them.

Also, treat yourself with respect. If you don’t trust yourself how can you achieve the targets you set to do in the beginning?

Negative thinking

Some of your thoughts can be negative. They are the main reasons for depression and exhaustion.

Encourage only positive thoughts that show your way forward.

Perfection intention

Nobody is perfect!

Waiting to get a perfect job done at all times only delays your work. Instead of redoing a job to achieve perfection, advance to the next level as soon as you attain the basic benchmark or standards prescribed for it.

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Find your bad habits

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Seeking validation

Seeking reassurance for each and every action is another bad habit that will cause more damage than good. People-pleasing wastes your time and energy. This same energy could have been put to some other productive use.

You may have noticed that many successful people shy away when they are recognized. The main reason behind it is that they feel their sense of purpose is more central to them than other people’s recognition of their success.

Certainly, there are times when you need to seek approval officially… but doing so for every mundane thing will only waste your time and bring down your confidence.

Discover your bad habits

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Not thinking long term

This is a very bad habit practiced by many. Short term decisions give immediate results – victory or otherwise. But it is just a small morale boost and has no long term implications.

Life is long; if you do not want to get stuck in the same loop, you should start planning long term.

Of course to achieve that long term goal you can divide it into small parts and allocate short deadlines for achieving that small part of the long term goal.

For example, if you want to become a Doctor (long term goal) break the goal into short term goals as follows:

Step 1: Prepare well for your higher secondary exams and aim to score high marks in science subjects

Step 2: Write a Medical entrance test

Step 3: Once you obtain results of the above test, start applying for colleges offering a Bachelor’s degree in Medicine

Step 4: Complete your Bachelor’s and apply for a Residency or Master’s Program.

Step 5: After clearing all the above exams and getting your certificates, you can start practicing.

Some common bad habits are

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COMMONLY CLASSIFIED BAD HABITS

And there are some habits, other than those mentioned above, that are universally classified as bad…You can also understand how adversely the said bad habits affect your fortunes.

Making excuses and blaming others

Focusing on things that you can do rather than the ones you cannot is the need of the hour.

Blaming your situation, circumstances or people for your lower performance may badly affect your performance.

Assuming things or second-guessing

The past is the past. Taking decisions always involves considering various factors. But once the decision is taken it is done and you are responsible for all the outcomes it results in. Yes, second-guessing decisions would only retard further progress.

Bad habits waste your time or money or strength

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Watching useless videos or engaging in social media for long hours when a school project is due.

Buying fancy and in-fashion clothes when you really don’t need them.

Doing others work as an obligation, more than once, though it deviates you from your own goals all the three examples your focus deviates away from your goals. So, know that the habit you are cultivating is bad when important aspects like time, money and strength are being wasted.

BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH

Some habits can impact your health adversely. Smoking, eating fast food, etc., can be classified under this category.

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What are the top 8 bad habits?
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According to a recent survey, these are the top 8 bad habits we wish we could kick but just can't:
  1. Smoking.
  2. Swearing.
  3. Picking your nose (Better than picking someone else's nose)
  4. Biting your fingernails.
  5. Drinking too much coffee (Wait...this is a bad habit? Uh oh...)
  6. Watching reality TV.
  7. Fast food.
  8. Alcohol.
What are the 8 bad habits?
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8 bad habits that might actually mean you're smarter than you think
  • Nail-biting.
  • Procrastination.
  • Running late.
  • Chewing gum.
  • Complaining.
  • Keeping a messy workspace.
  • Using the words “like” and “um”
  • Daydreaming.
How do I give up a bad habit?
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  • Fine Yourself for Each Offense.
  • Understand What Triggers Your Bad Habits.
  • Go Slow and Make Tiny Changes.
  • Spend a Month Thinking About Your Habit Before Taking Action.
  • Remind Your Future Self About Avoiding Bad Habits.
  • Change Your Environment.
  • Coach Yourself Out of Bad Habits.
  • Do a Review When You Have a Bad Habit Relapse.
How to change bad habits

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Somebody rightly said, “Man is a creature of habits.” Everybody develops some habits as they grow up. Some habits help lead a successful life. Some retard growth.

What you think, what you believe and what you do each day will determine your personality. Your life takes shape from the habits you have.

In short, we are a sum of our habits, and they decide whether we are:

  • Happy or not happy
  • Successful or not

MANY SUCCESSFUL MEN AND WOMEN HAVE ATTRIBUTED THEIR SUCCESS TO THEIR HABITS THAT HIGHLIGHT DISCIPLINE, TIME MANAGEMENT, AND AWARENESS OF THE ENVIRONMENT THEY ARE IN.

Changing a bad habit needs a lot of will power, time and planning. Sometimes even our efforts become fruitless and professional help must be sought. Here is a step-by-step process of changing a bad habit.

1.) IDENTIFY

2.) WRITE DOWN SOMETHING ABOUT THE BAD HABIT

3.) START PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTING HOW TO GET RID OF THE HABIT

4.) STAY ALERT FROM RELAPSE

5.) VISUALIZE THE AFTERMATH OF CHANGING YOUR HABIT

6.) NO-NO TO NEGATIVE THINKING

7.) FAMILY/FRIENDS SUPPORT

8.) PROFESSIONAL HELP

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How to change bad habits

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Somebody rightly said, “Man is a creature of habits.” Everybody develops some habits as they grow up. Some habits help lead a successful life. Some retard growth.

What you think, what you believe and what you do each day will determine your personality. Your life takes shape from the habits you have. In short, we are a sum of our habits, and they decide whether we are:

  • Happy or not happy
  • Successful or not