Make a commitment to change. The first step in breaking a habit is asking yourself why you want to change. Are you bored with the routine? Is your health suffering? Do you feel like you’re not living up to your full potential? Once you have an answer, write down your reasons for wanting to quit your bad habit so that you remember them when times get tough.
Identify the root cause of your bad habit. If you know what caused you to develop the habit in the first place, it will be easier to stop doing that thing. For example, if biting your nails is something that helps relieve stress, then instead of cutting them off entirely, try using another way of coping with stress such as deep breathing or meditation.
Find healthy alternatives for your bad habits. If you’re struggling with quitting smoking, for example, ask yourself what else could fulfill the same need for stimulation or stress relief that smoking does. If eating snacks is part of your bad habit, pick up healthy snack options instead. Replace one bad habit with another good one and keep that new habit going until it becomes second nature!
Give yourself rewards when you do something right. This works great for children because kids like getting rewards and it also teaches them how making good choices will lead to positive things happening in their lives as well as negative ones if they make poor choices instead of good ones all the time. You can apply this same principle when dealing with yourself too!
Set realistic goals for yourself so that when you reach them, you will feel proud of yourself and motivated to continue working toward your goal. For example, if your goal is to stop using swear words when talking with people at work, set a realistic goal by saying “I will only say one swear word today” instead of “I won’t say any swear words today.”
