Tag Good Habits

How to Break Free of Bad Habits

Steve Keating Leave a comment

First off, I want to make sure you read the title of this post correctly. It says breaking free of BAD habits. I think sometimes we are programmed to believe that all habits are bad. That is absolutely not the case.

Sometimes we can’t agree on what’s a good habit or a bad habit. For instance, many people would tell me that my Diet Coke habit is bad. I strongly disagree. But there are many good habits that we can all agree on. Eating healthy. Living within our means. Being kind to others. Being kind to ourselves. Those are examples of good habits.

But we are talking about bad habits in this post. Habits that are limiting our ability to live our best life possible and reach our full potential. It seems logical to me that since the habits are bad for us, we should have the motivation and discipline to “break free” of them rather easily.

But nothing about eliminating bad habits from our lives is easy.

Breaking bad habits can be incredibly challenging. Still, with the right mindset and strategies, it is entirely possible. Here are some ideas to help you break bad habits.

1. Identify the Habit and What Drives It

• Self-awareness: Recognize the habit you want to break and understand why you do it.

• Drivers: Identify the drivers of the habit. This could be certain times of the day, emotional states, environments, or specific people.

2. Understand the Cue-Behavior-Reward Loop

• Cue: The trigger that initiates the habit. (For instance, seeing a donut.)

• Behavior: The action you take in response to the cue. (For instance, eating the donut.)

• Reward: The benefit you get from the behavior, reinforcing the habit. (The donut tastes good)

• Understanding this loop helps in identifying what needs to change. (This is bad example; I have no intention of ever giving up donuts)

3. Set Clear and Realistic Goals

• Specific: Be clear about which habit you want to break.

• Measurable: Set criteria for measuring progress.

• Achievable: Ensure the goal is realistic.

• Relevant: Make sure it aligns with your overall objectives.

• Time-bound: Set a deadline for achieving the goal.

4. Develop a Replacement Habit

• Positive Replacement: Replace the bad habit with a healthier or more productive one.

• Small Changes: Start with small, manageable changes rather than attempting to overhaul your behavior all at once. Quitting something “cold turkey” rarely works. Remember, breaking free from a bad habit isn’t a race. Slow and steady most often makes the break permanent.

5. Change Your Environment

• Remove Triggers: Alter your surroundings to minimize exposure to triggers.

• Supportive Environment: Surround yourself with people and environments that support your goal. If your goal is to quit smoking, then hanging out in smoking lounges is a bad plan.

6. Use Positive Reinforcement

• Rewards: Reward yourself for making progress and sticking to your new habit.

• Celebrate Successes: Acknowledge and celebrate small victories along the way. All progress is progress; keep that in mind and enjoy even the little successes along the way.

7. Stay Accountable

• Share Your Goals: Tell friends, family, or a support group about your goal.

• Track Progress: Keep a journal or use apps to track your progress.

8. Be Patient and Persistent

• Accept Setbacks: Understand that setbacks are normal. Don’t get discouraged by occasional failures.

• Consistency: Keep working towards your goal consistently, even if progress is slow.

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have a few bad habits. We are, after all, human. But the more we can replace bad habits with good ones, the better off we will be. It is just a question of determination, motivation, and discipline. If you really want to live your best life possible, you need to realize the biggest obstacle to overcome is likely yourself and your bad habits.

That’s actually great news because it means breaking free is completely within your control. So, if you want your best life, all you need to do is go get it.

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Good Habits, Bad Habits

Steve Keating 6 Comments

Do you have any habits? Let me help you with the answer to that question. Yes, you do have habits. If you’re a normal person you have both good habits and bad habits. 

It has been said that people create their own futures. That is not exactly accurate. What people create are habits and those habits create their futures. 

Just so we’re all on the same page a habit is a routine behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously. The American Journal of Psychology defined a “habit, from the standpoint of psychology, as more or less a fixed way of thinking, willing, or feeling acquired through previous repetition of a mental experience.”

So basically a habit is stuff we do repeatedly, most often without even thinking about it. 

But I’m going to ask you to stop doing anything without thinking about it for a week. Think about EVERYTHING you do. Take note of everything you do during each day of the week and track it on paper or in your phone. At the end of each day honestly look at everything you did that day and ask yourself six questions. Why did you do it? Did it need to be done? Was a productive? Did it add value to my life? Add value to the lives of the people around me? Did it benefit my employer in any way?

Be honest with your answers or don’t bother doing this exercise. 

How many of the things you do each day do you do without even thinking? How many do you do simply because you’ve “always done them?” How many of them are you struggling to assign any value or benefit to? 

How many of them would you define as good habits vs bad habits? Remember the honest part. 

Now, which of the bad habits are you willing to part with? I’ve been told that cracking open a Diet Coke at 4:30AM is a bad habit. Mind you, this is being told to me by people drinking their 4th cup of coffee which they apparently consider to be a health drink. It doesn’t matter to me whether it’s a bad habit or not, the Diet Coke ain’t going anywhere. 

If you choose to hang onto a bad habit that’s fine, but you need to be aware that you’re doing it. You also need to be aware that the more bad habits you hang onto the less room you have in your life for good habits. 

The bottom line here is this…think about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. That’s hard to do all the time but very successful people make a point to do it at least now and then. I’m willing to bet it’s entirely possible you’ve haven’t done it in a long long time.

So do it now!