10 Steps to Change Bad Habits

Some habits are deeply rooted in us that we barely realize we’re doing them, but these unconscious things can significantly affect our lives. Though the effects of good habits and bad habits may not seem like much at first, they often build up over time and cause us to become more prone to depression or more successful in life.

Bad habits make it easier for you to engage in destructive behaviors – they act as triggers that can initiate any number of other things, like smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol. Bad habits also take a lot of willpower to break, and the more you have to expend on breaking a bad habit, the less resolve you’ll have left for other things.

Then there are good habits. Like bad habits, they can be hard to break as well (creating new good habits is just as hard as breaking old bad ones), but they help us in an entirely different way. Good habits help us get into better physical shape, give us more energy, and keep stress levels down. They help us be more successful and make it easier to stick to a diet. They also lead to better relationships with other people, which is why good habits are so important.

While good and bad habits can affect our lives, we need to understand the difference between them. To choose which ones we want in our lives, we need to have clear ideas about what they are, how they affect us in different ways, and how they differ from one another.

Once we identify our bad habits and our good ones, we can replace the bad things with good things.

It’s not always easy, but when we keep our end goal in mind and take it one step at a time, we’ll find that breaking bad habits is more accessible than we might have thought.

There are many ways to change your bad habits. Here are ten tips to change our bad habits.

1. Determine Your Goal Habit.

The first step is to identify the goal habit. Write down your goals and be specific. Once you have established your goal, it’s time to list out your habits.
Make sure you have time for yourself to think about the habit changes that you are trying to make in your life. Think about what you want and write it down. Set realistic goals for yourself. Make your goals public to keep you accountable. Make your goal something achievable and realistic for your lifestyle.

2. Be Passionate.

Be passionate about your change or your desire to change the habit. Ask yourself how do you feel about the habit now and how you would like to feel. Please think of the benefits and reward yourself when you achieve them.

3. Change a habit one at a time.

​Change one habit at a time. If you can’t get rid of the bad habit, then at least cut down on it or substitute something like walking or exercise for something else that you can live without or cut out some of the junk foods from your life that will help you stick with the changes and eventually make them better than before.

Don’t go too fast because then it will be too much to handle, and you might end up giving up on the habit changes you are trying to make. If you’re giving up on changing your bad habits into good ones, then it’ll just waste more time and energy.

4. Create a plan.

Create a plan that you are willing to stick with. Develop a routine that is easy for you. Set and stick to a plan.

Always have a plan for how you will achieve your goals. There are many things to think about when it comes to changing some of the bad habits you have. Many experts can help you in this process, and there will always be people who want to tell you what they think.

​You’ll stick to the changes if you have a clear plan of what you want to do and how you will go about doing it.

The trick is to use your common sense and do what makes the most sense. The more that you let your mind wander, then there’s going to be no point in trying to change things because it will only slow down the process that you’re working on

5. Put your plan into action.

Put your goal into action by making a plan for it. Make your plan of action without overthinking about it, and go ahead with it to get things done and not procrastinate any longer.

Let’s says your goal is to lose weight then get rid of all the junk foods from your house so that you will be able to focus more on making the changes and not thinking about what you can indulge in when it comes to food.

To keep your new habit going, you must be consistent in your approach. You need to continue getting started, and you also need to be consistent with your actions every day. It doesn’t matter if it is once a week or even just once a month; you should keep building up the habit by performing the habit again and again until it becomes a “truly” brand new habit.

6. Reward yourself.

Reward yourself with small, immediate rewards for doing something good instead of using something expensive or extravagant to reward yourself for changing a bad habit into a good one that is beneficial to you and can help you live a healthier lifestyle.

​Reward yourself with things that you enjoy. ​Reward yourself with small things at first, such as rewarding yourself with small amounts of food that you enjoy or can eat to keep yourself from feeling deprived and not losing all hope in changing the bad habit into a good one.

You can also use rewards for your desired habit. What rewards have worked for you in the past? Many people like small tokens of appreciation such as a gift or recognition from their peers and superiors.
Reward yourself for sticking with the changes by using small rewards that will help motivate and keep you satisfied along the way.

Reward yourself for sticking with the changes and look forward to them, rather than just looking at them as challenging or not fun to do.
Use things that make you feel good and reward yourself with small amounts of high protein and quality carbohydrates to keep you satisfied and not become deprived.

7 . Change your environment.

This is why many studies suggest you quit smoking or drinking by finding social activities that get you away from the temptation.

You can also change your routine by scheduling different times for these habits in your life. We all wake up at a specific time every day. If this schedule is disrupted, it can turn into a problem. We should arrange our daily activities to be structured around our bad habits instead of challenging them.

If you struggle to get adequate sleep, you may want to try exercising before bed to help you get rested.

Modify your environment to help you stick to the habit. If you want to stick with your new habit, you should remove anything that will distract or tempt you from sticking with it, especially foods high in sugar, fat, and calories that will decrease exercise.

Use things that you enjoy to stick with the changes and become better than before, such as listening to music while working out or running or even eating healthy foods daily.

8.Make yourself accountable.

By telling others about your goal to change the bad habit into a good habit that will benefit you long term.

Ask your friends or family for support. Make sure that you have your support system with you if possible, and they know what the plan is for reaching your goals so that they can be supportive to you when times get tough on you.

9. Keep a journal of your progress.

Once you’ve made the changes, highlight them in your journal, and reward yourself with something you enjoy.

10.Use visualization to help you succeed at first.

Once you’ve made the changes into good habits, then you will be on your way to a healthy lifestyle that will positively benefit you in the long run.

Don’t let anyone else influence you to do things that are unhealthy for yourself, especially if it’s your mother, father, boyfriend, or girlfriend.

In Summary

The foremost thing is to accept and recognize we are what we repeatedly do. When you want to change your bad habit to a good habit, then it is paramount that you do the opposite of what is not working. Most of the time, our brain loves to be lazy and not do things, even if they are for our betterment. Our brains always want to take the easy path, but ultimately what we do with our bodies is almost always a path that will get us further down the line. You can learn more about this by reading The Willpower Instinct.

“While we know that willpower is limited, we also know that there are many situations where acting on impulse or doing something nice for others will produce more good than bad. So rather than focusing on whether your willpower is used up or not, think about what you can do at the moment to be your best self.

Don’t think of a bad habit as something impossible to break or change because it’s possible to break bad habits if you know how to and why you should do it.

Stick with the changes and don’t give up if you fail the first time because it’s possible to make changes into better habits than before.

Be proud of what you’ve done because it was a significant accomplishment and one you should be proud of. After all, it’s better to try and fail than to give up without even trying at all. Be decisive about making the changes, and don’t give up too quickly, even if they get tougher than before. Sticking with the changes will make you want to, more than anything else in life.

You might not see immediate results but stick with it because the long-term effects will pay off in the end.

Be honest with yourself about the changes you’ve made, and don’t beat yourself up about them. That way, you won’t feel like giving up making the changes, even if they are more complicated than before. Go back to it day by day and try not to go back too far in time so that you don’t fail at making the changes again.

Once you start to make changes, then there will be an enormous sense of discipline and determination that will come over you that will help you continue to stick with the changes and, if necessary, make them even better than before.

Make what you do into something fun and enjoyable for your body and mind so that you will want to do it more than anything else.