Replacing A Bad With A Good

We all have bad habits, one…two…three…maybe more. These may come in the form of: nn * Going to bed too late and not having the necessary energy to get up the next day ready to work outn * Binge eating your way out of a stressful situationn * Smoking or drinkingn * Using a simple excuse to convince yourself missing a workout is OKn * Promising your self that you will “start again” or “do better” tomorrown * Allowing your mind to wander during your workouts ·
* Drinking coffee with sugar or whole milk

The good news I’d like to share is that is it very possible to change bad habits. Read through the hundreds of internet articles, they basically all say the same thing: It takes roughly 21 days to break a habit, sometimes up to year if it’s something difficult like quitting smoking. The basic pathways to breaking a bad habit are universally:

1) Understanding the habit - What is the bad habit you want to break? Start simple and focus on only one of them. Fully dissect the habit you have chosen to break. List out all the “bad” associated with this habit. Let’s say that you want to exercise at least 3 days per week but you are having a hard time sticking to this commitment. First you want to flesh out all the negative impacts associated with not working out 3 days per week. Now root out the causes that prevent you from working out 3 days per week. I suggest you write both lists down on to a piece of paper since I firmly believe the power of seeing it on paper.

2) How bad do you want it? – Slipping, losing, not reaching your goal or creating a new habit is a direct bi-product of your own personal desire to make it work. Reverse the bad associated with not going to the gym 3 days per week that is on your list. So if you wrote down something like; not going to the gym consistently 3x’s per week will leave me feeling sluggish, you would reverse it to a positive by saying; going to the gym 3x’s per week will make me feel energized. These positives should be written out on a 3rd sheet of paper. Once you have written down all your positives, committee yourself to their importance.

3) Commitment – Promise yourself, above all, you will do everything to stay on your new path. Make it a challenge, contest, or war that you must fight all by yourself and no matter what, you must channel all your energies to see it through.

4) A little bit at a time goes a long way – Habits are hard to break. We are free, independent, and able to move from one point to another with little effort and are highly crafty. If we found ourselves stranded on a deserted island imagine how many habits you would break. Quitting smoking or drinking would be easy since there wouldn’t be a place to buy cigarettes or alcohol. No fast food restaurants, jobs to consume our waking hours or friends to sap our motivation. The famous term “cold turkey” is sure fire and 100% successful. In the real world you pass by a multitude of liquor stores and fast food restaurant, your blackberry chirps frequently with invites and issues cold turkey is an option but often times not the correct path to success. Doing things in moderation is the best. If you go to sleep every night at 1AM in the morning and wake up at 6AM feeling horrible try going to sleep at 10AM 2 to 3 nights per week. Work your way in to your new habit, one cautious step at a time but ensure you make progress until your changes become a good habit to own and enjoy.

5) Don’t give up – Stick with it. Don’t fool yourself and assume your new habit is going to form in the course of one night. It won’t. Read your lists daily. Let others know what you are up to. If you want to eat healthier, let your dates, spouse, children know this so your date doesn’t order pizza and fries for a Sunday afte
oon lunch. True friends will sense your sincere desire to make your new habit work and they will go out of their way not to become an obstacle or serpent in the Garden of Eden. You can even find support groups to join, focus time reading positive literature specific to the new habit you are going to form. When the going gets tough, when you find yourself fractions of seconds away from slipping back, close your eyes, breath in deep through your mouth, hold it for 10 seconds and slowly release it through your nose. Repeat this breathing exercise 10 times all along seeing your list of positive results of your new habit inside your mind.

Start with an easy one and learn how to develop good habits.You can also halve bad habits. By this I mean (using smoking as an example) deciding to reduce the amount of cigarettes you smoke per day over the course of the next 30 days. If you smoke 10 cigarettes a day, try to smoke only nine or instead of smoking first thing when you wake up, wait until 9AM to have your first cigarette. Treat yourself to a special gift when you successful complete your first 30 days. Then move on to further reducing this smoking habit over the course of the next month. Before you know it, the habit of smoking will be gone, you will be healthier and happier.

Best success,

Angela