How to Kill your Old Habits for the New Year?
Bad habits can’t be all that bad if they can help you in some way. Beat them at their own game
by pitting them against each other.
Getting rid of all your bad habits from day one of the new year is unrealistic, even if you have
resolved to do so. But bad habits can’t be all that bad if they can help you in some way. Beat
them at their own game by pitting them against each other. Before you learn how to do that,
it’s important to understand the hold they have over you. Let’s begin.
The Common Solutions
When it comes to a bad habit, the advice to “just stop doing it” never seems to work. If you
resist temptation in one area of your life, you’ll succumb to it somewhere else.
There is no dearth of online resources to help you break your bad habits and adopt good ones.
Among the most well-known ways to counter bad habits are:
Replacing bad habits with good ones
Changing your environment
Finding an accountability partner
Creating obstacles to give yourself pause for thought
Avoiding temptation
Take Small Steps To Setting Patterns
Patterns don’t take hold instantly. It takes time for a pattern to become a pattern or for an
action to become a habit. Pretend you drink everyday (at least once), and you have a goal of
completely becoming sober from drinking alcohol. Instead of quitting cold turkey and suddenly
stop drinking, meanwhile putting yourself at risk for withdrawal, it is easier and more efficient
to limit yourself to smaller drinking patterns. Setting small goals such as only allowing yourself
one drink today with dinner rather than a drink with every meal makes it easier to follow and
easier to track how well you are progressing in your goals, therefore motivating you to continue
your journey.
Stay Away From Temptations That Help Feed Your Addiction Or Bad Habits
Staying away from temptations is a lot easier than you think. You contribute to your addiction
or bad habits when you put yourself in familiar places where your triggers are present. The
world is full of fun activities; you don’t have to be limited to a bar or a pill to have a good time.
If your friends try forcing you to come out and drink or do drugs with them while you are
attempting to get sober, then be honest and upfront with them. Good friends will help you
achieve your goal, not set you backwards.
How bad do you want to be successful at breaking a bad habit and forming a positive one? Use
that strength to remove temptations from your life. Certain people also trigger giving into our
habits. Avoiding these people and their influence is the best solution to getting away from any
triggers they may cause. Out of sight, out of mind.
Replace Your Old Habits With New Similar Ones
Finding something similar to your bad habit can help you easily replace it. If you only have the
choice to give into your habit or stay at an equilibrium, your habit will likely influence your
choosing. If you have two choices, one new choice and one old choice, you have a better
chance at picking the new choice that will help you form a positive habit since it puts you at an
elevated level compared to where you were before.
For example, when someone who uses drugs feel stressed, they are more inclined to use the
drugs than to not use the drugs and deal with stress on their own. Using the drugs puts them at
a higher point than before but not using keeps them at the same stressful level. Instead, if you
have the option to use drugs or go for a walk to get rid of stress you might pick going for a walk
since the walk will likely de-stress your mind and body and put you at a better state than
before.
If you drink alcohol when going out with friends and want to get sober, try a new non-alcoholic
drink. You will still enjoy having something in your hand and tasting a good drink (keeping the
same patterns as before), but this time it won’t be giving into your bad habit. As you start to
replace your bad choices with better choices, you will likely reach for the better choice first,
without even contemplating it!