Breaking A Bad Habit in 7 Days

Are bad habits plaguing you and preventing you from living to your fullest? It is amazing how many people say they have bad habits, but do nothing to stop them. Allow me to share seven steps that will help you break those bad habits.

• Step 1: Define those bad habits. If you have to, sit down with a pen and paper and write them down. Make a list of all the bad habits you’d like to break. Just seeing them written on paper can really open your eyes and force you to face them like never before.
• Step 2: Put positive reinforcements in place. Your brain has to be tricked into changing bad habits into better ones. In order to do this, you need to have positive reinforcements in place as a reward for changed behavior. This usually comes in the form of a rewards system.
• Step 3: Gather your cheerleaders. Everybody needs some cheering on, especially when you’re attempting a challenging hurdle like changing habits. Enlist a few friends or family members to be your cheering section. When you need encouragement, you can turn to them for help and motivation to carry on.
• Step 4: Now that you have a clear list of your bad habits on paper, go back and write a positive habit that you can replace each bad one with. It doesn’t matter how small or silly it seems, do it anyway. In order to release the bad habits, you need good ones to replace them.
• Step 5: Are you changing these habits for you? The only way you will be able to create a change in your life is if you are doing it for yourself. If you want to change a bad habit because somebody else wants you to, chances are it won’t last long. But when you are ready to change for yourself, it will be much easier to create new, positive habits.
• Step 6: Find a stress-reliever. As you create these changes in your life, you will probably feel more stressed out than you ever have. This is normal. It is important though to have stress relievers that you can turn to. After all, you don’t want to replace one bad habit with another one.
• Step 7: Be nice to yourself. When you make a mistake (as you most certainly will at some point), you cannot beat yourself up or wallow in a guilt trip. You have to stand up and start from where you are again. Don’t be harsh on yourself. Be just as nice to you as you would be to anyone else in your shoes.

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