Become the Person You’ve Always Wanted to be:
Habits are tough. After months, years or sometimes decades of development, habits just become a part of life. Along the way we develop many good habits. Wearing a seat belt, putting on sunscreen before hitting the beach, or calling Mom on Mother’s Day.
But most of us collect a few bad ones too. Do you have any habits you’d like to kick?
Courtesy: BrittneyBush
My attempts to cut out bad behaviors had always failed. Until recently. Within the last year I’ve been able to replace many bad habits with good. The following steps have been developed with the help of experts in this field. They worked wonders for me! Give them a try. All you’ve got to lose is a bad habit.
7 Steps to Change a Habit:
- Instead of trying to break the habit, try to change it. It’s easier to change than to go cold turkey.
- Determine your reasons for making this change. How will your life be improved?
- Visualize this improvement.
- Be specific in your goals. Instead of “trying to get more exercise,” decide to work out 3 hours a week. Or instead of “trying to cut back on soda,” decide to drink water with meals and when thirsty.
- Then change your language. Using the last example, when asked if you’d like a soda…instead of saying you’re trying to quit or cutting back…say, “I don’t drink soda anymore.” And mean it.
- Give yourself time to change. Sources claim it takes 21 days to change a habit. Give yourself at least this long to see a difference.
- Once the habit has been changed, don’t dwell on past behavior. Thoughts about how you used to be can make you nostalgic for those bad habits again.
As you implement the above steps in your own life, think about the following:
“Things do not change; we change.” Henry David Thoreau
Whether your habit involves cigarettes, sodas or failure to work out regularly–one thing is certain. The cigarette, soda or couch will always be there. That will not change. You can only change yourself and your response to such things. Good luck!
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