How To Break Bad Habits – 5 Steps To Break Any Bad Habit In 30 Days
Want to know how to break bad habits? Here are 5 surefire steps to break any bad habits in 30 days. It can definitely be done!
This post was originally published on my InspiringMomLife.com website
Hey my friend,
Have you ever had a bad habit? I know I have!
If so you may be aware that bad habits can be hard to break.
For the record here are some examples of both good and bad habits.
BAD HABITS INCLUDE:
1 – Smoking
2 – Stress eating
3 – Nail biting
4 – Chewing on your hair
5 – Spending too much time on social media
6 – Swearing
7 – Drinking alcohol
8 – Emotional shopping
9 – Eating junk food
10 – Late night snacking
11 – Drinking soft-drinks
12 – Playing video-games
13 – Constantly snacking
14 – Going to bed late
15 – Overmedicating
16 – Skipping breakfast
17 – Sleeping with makeup on
18 – Interrupting people when speaking
19 – Procrastinating
20 – Eating with mouth open
21 – Always losing your phone or wallet
22 – Not doing your homework
23 – Hoarding
24 – Gambling
25 – Being messy
26 – Grinding teeth/fidgeting
27 – Sleeping in
28 – Never exercising
29 – Not changing sheets weekly
30 – Being jealous/excessive complaining
GOOD HABITS INCLUDE:
1 – Brushing teeth twice a day
2 – Flossing teeth
3 – Exercising
4 – Making your bed
5 – Good table manners
6 – Visualizing
7 – Journaling
8 – Saying please and thank you
9 – Being responsible with money
10 – Revising your school work
11 – Reading
12 – Goal setting
13 – Asking questions
14 – Properly listening to people when speaking
15 – Listening to podcasts
16 – Eating a healthy diet
17 – Preparing healthy snacks
18 – Going to bed at a reasonable hour
19 -Waking up early
20 – Throwing litter in a bin
21 – Prioritizing
22 – Practicing gratitude
23 – Learning to say NO
24 – Networking
25 – Making lists
26 – Setting aside time to relax
27 – Drinking 2 Litres of water every day
28 – Meditating
29 – Setting aside time for prayer
30 – Sticking to a schedule
Regardless of the bad habit, you need to know that destructive behaviors keep you away from the life you desire.
Unhealthy habits can have a negative impact on both your physical and mental health and leave you feeling as if you don’t have enough control over your impulses.
While change is frequently challenging and I know breaking a bad habit is difficult, having a plan can make it easier.
This step-by-step plan can help you eliminate any bad habit:
HOW TO BREAK HABITS
TIP # 1 – Monitor the habit for a week.
Once you have worked out the bad habit you would like to eliminate from your daily life, make note of the times you’re likely to engage in the habit.
Maybe you only smoke around certain friends.
Perhaps you bite your nails when you’re stressed or bored.
At any rate, identify under which circumstances your habit is most likely to rear its ugly head.
You can change any behavior that you aren’t aware of! Knowledge in this instance is definitely POWER.
HOW TO BREAK HABITS
TIP # 2 – Find out why.
Whether you realize it or not, your habit is satisfying some need in you – do you recognize what that need actually is?
FYI – You’re gaining a benefit or you wouldn’t be exhibiting the behavior at all.
Figuring out the positive aspects of your habit will help you understand why you keep doing something that you secretly wish you wouldn’t do.
Once you understand the purpose behind it, you can begin to change it.
HOW TO BREAK HABITS
TIP # 3 – Develop a substitute behavior.
You will absolutely need to find a more acceptable alternative that satisfies the same need that was being met by the old bad habit in order to get rid of it.
So if your habit helps you to deal with stress, what are some healthy alternatives?
Yoga? Other exercise? Deep breathing?
Meditating? Singing? Watching a comedy? Calling a friend?
- What could you do instead that isn’t harmful? Better yet, what could you do instead that would be healthy for you?
- Start substituting the new habit for the old. It will take a fair amount of attention at first, but begin intentionally substituting the new behavior each time you would automatically use the old behavior.
- It’s likely to be challenging, but with a positive focus, you can do it.
HOW TO BREAK HABITS
TIP # 4 – Measure your progress.
Keep track of how many times you engage in the old habit and how many times you engage in the new habit.
Progress can be difficult to determine without measurement.
After all, if you don’t know where you are, how will you know if you’re moving forward or backward?
By measuring your progress, you will accomplish two things:
- You get feedback so you know how successful you are.
- You have the added motivation of seeing your progress.
HOW TO BREAK HABITS
TIP # 5 – Be patient.
Take one step at a time.
Complete perfection is unreasonable in life, but a little perfection can work wonders.
But please don’t be upset when the inevitable slipup occurs while you’re trying to breaking your old bad habit.
Just examine the situation dispassionately and determine a better solution for the next time.
You still will gain a lot by decreasing the frequency of your old bad habit.
- A good idea is to focus on having one perfect day today.
- The idea of JUST ONE DAY without the bad habit may seem quite reasonable – and doable – to you.
- A string of perfect days is a lot easier than thinking this is it forever – I need to be perfect for an extended period right off the bat.
- For tough habits, a perfect hour might work better for your short-term goal.
So now that’s you’re armed with a process, you can start eliminating that bad habit today.
In 30 days, the new, healthier replacement habit should be a part of your routine without requiring as much conscious effort.
Yes changing to more positive habits can be challenging (I know this from experience!) but you will gain a wonderful feeling of accomplishment and sense of freedom when you do so.
The truth is: you don’t break a bad habit; you replace it with a good one. Denis Waitley
Change might not be fast and it isn’t always easy. But with time and effort, almost any habit can be reshaped. Charles Duhigg
You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine. John C. Maxwell
A change in bad habits leads to a change in life. Jenny Craig
Depending on what they are, our habits will either make us or break us. We become what we repeatedly do. Sean Covey
Before you go…
- If you’re curious about how you can make your life instantly better, I have a great cheatsheet here for you.
- If you’d love me as your private life coach check out THE DREAMING TO DOING COACHING EXPERIENCE
- You can listen to the Dream Big My Friend podcast here on Spotify or via Apple Podcasts.
- If you want to learn how to manage your mind to get any result you want out of life check out THE MANAGING YOUR MIND MASTER COURSE
- All my other courses (more than 40!) can be found here in my Inspiring Life Teachable store.
- Finally if you want to stay in touch feel free to join our DREAM BIG TRIBE for your weekly dose of inspiration. The mere fact that you are here right now means you would be perfect fit!
Until next time, dream big my friend xx
If you enjoyed this post, please feel free to share it!
With a degree in psychology, Frances Vidakovic is a certified life coach for goal getters, author of 20+ books, host of the Dream Big My Friend podcast and course creator. Her superpower: transforming moms from dreamers into doers. Frances has been featured on various platforms, including Scary Mommy, Thrive Global, Medium and SBS Radio.