Habits can either be nice and beneficial in our personal lives or they may be bad and interfere with us. A custom is an automated routine that our body works so that our heads will be freed up to focus on more activities.
If we think about simple things like eating, walking, or even talking we have the ability to do those functions without believing. We can usually do tasks such as writing for typing readily. Our mind helps us, by habit to form a paper so we can utilize our extra brainpower to help us compose a paper rather than worry about typing.
Eating, writing, and walking are all old habits that came out of muscle memory over a time period. When we first learned to drive a vehicle, it had been very difficult for us because we needed to look in the rearview mirror, behind us, and take a look at the side mirrors. After driving for some time we became accustomed to studying all the mirrors without even considering it.
Once something becomes a habit in our lives it reduces the amount of believing we must do on our part in order to function. Our mind receives tens of thousands of signals from our senses but our brain can only manage around 30 to 40 signals at one time. Habits we acquire save us the energy necessary to process those senses, something becomes a habit then it requires less strength either emotionally or physically. That is why you often hear the phrase that we’re creatures of habit.
Great habits give us a routine order, whereas bad habits give us the reverse effect making our regular dysfunctional. 1 thing about our habits is that our brain can’t distinguish between what is a good habit and what’s a lousy one. Luckily for us, we have the capability to comprehend what are good habits and what’s bad. By taking a look at our behaviors we can figure out our certain customs and triggers.
There are all kinds of customs and most of us have habits we don’t even recognize.
Do you kick off your shoes?
Throw your clothes someplace?
Put your keys in a specific place?
We all have some kind of ritual when we get home from somewhere, especially in our bedrooms. Putting your keys in a certain area is a neutral habit, it is not good or bad. But throwing your shoes in the corner not organized seems like a bad habit to me personally.
Some bad habits we’ve maybe drunk a lot especially if about friends, doing something addictive such as smoking, drinking coffee when we do not need it, stopping at our favorite fast food place on the way home. Some of the things we do not even crave but they’ve become such a significant part of us that our habits lead us. Imagine if our lives were stuffed will great habits in everything we did.
Habits are hard to break because they are wired so deep inside of us. However, there is an obvious way where they start, sometimes it may be emotional, a lot of the times it’s to do with anxiety and stress. When we have anxiety or stress we tend to want a drink or go smoke, then these are learned habits.
Habits are patterns that run our own lives. Just how much can you think about catching dinner, with a drink, and watching the tv? I bet it’s so routine to you that you just do it without even thinking.
How to break your personal habits.
Look at your behavior and find examples.
When you look at your behavior it’s important to write down concrete cases and times, you are going to be somewhat surprised. I used to smoke and I wrote the time down at the end of the day whenever I went to smoke. The first thing in the morning I’d go outside and smoke, then once I got to work I would find a cup of coffee and make the rounds at the workplace then go outdoors, then before lunch, after I’ve had an email or assembly along with a bit stressed out. Most of this is merely from habit, but I know when I would head out for a smoke before lunch it was since I had been triggered by stress. You have to find concrete examples of your own habits.
Identify the cause.
Moving house and taking a look at the TV might be a cause to turn it on. Possibly turning to the BBQ makes you want to start a beer. Whenever you are out with friends in a crowded bar you wind up drinking because you do not like crowds. Describe what triggers you to enter habit manner, occasionally this can be difficult to see. It is likely you can ask someone near you about your habits, close friends aren’t afraid of being honest. When you determine the cause you have to figure out what is happening emotionally within you.
Dealing with being triggered.
You need to stop and recognize what’s happening emotionally. If you are home and are likely to BBQ open a soda or find some water before you start BBQing so you do not wish to get a beer. It is all about recognizing the cause and stopping it in its tracks.
It isn’t about stopping.
Breaking habits you don’t want is not about quitting, it is about replacing a poor habit for a great one. Say you want to hit the crap food directly when you get home from work. You’re stressed and just need something greasy to consume. Rather than going to the pantry, then go to the fridge and pick out some carrots or possibly get some healthy crackers using some dip. It is about finding an alternative to eating a whole bag of chips on your own. It’s about being proactive and understanding yourself good enough that you know you will want to go catch the chips straight away, instead, pick the health stuff once you can.
Change little things.
Say you wish to form a new goal of working out every day and you have been going after work every day off and on. You can not appear to ever be consistent by working out because by the time you get off of work it is currently 5:30 pm, you have hit rush hour traffic, you’re stress, and just want a drink and unwind. The last thing you need to do is go punish yourself in the gym. There is nothing better than going on your day knowing you have already exercised, you feel good. Now that you are working out every day until you move every day. You changed one little thing and now you are in better shape and feeling good.
Use reminders.
What you are trying to do is break a pattern of terrible behavior by creating reminders for yourself to keep you on course. Place your gym bag right next to the counter all packed and ready to go, and put out your workout clothes for when you return so that you can have a quick transition to your day.
Get help.
Get a close friend to help you break some bad habits, let them understand which you want to call them when you feel triggered so it’s possible to throw off the undesirable customs. Instead of having that 5th cup of coffee at work, go for a walk with a coworker with a bottle of water. It’s about finding people that will assist you along your journey.
Rewarding yourself.
Do not get discouraged if you’re having a hard time. Know that you will likely fail in breaking the habit, this is something you have been doing for quite a while now, regardless of why it is so tough to break. It is common for us all to feel discouraged but continue looking forward. Start little, going cold turkey anything is extremely hard. Instead of a package of smokes a day function towards just half. If you’re progressing then you need to reward yourself.
Patience and persistence.
Changes in life can be hard and you must have patience. Know that it is not the end of the world if you do not break your entire habits in 1 day. Give it time, relax, and don’t take life too seriously.
How to make good personal habits.
Start small.
It’s simple if you want to start a fantastic habit you just don’t go overboard. I once had a friend who was really excited about exercising and needing to eliminate a lot of weight that quit two days after. He bought all this gym gear and spend 2 hours in the gym each day, and then the next day he got active and stopped moving. The key is to start small, if you are going to start working out, exercise for 20 minutes every day, don’t go overboard. Work your way up to 45 minutes, it is very good to maintain a balance.
Keep moving.
At the end of the day write down if you did your own new habit or not. See how many times in a row you can keep doing your habit. Keep this up! People are using their program daily because both people communicating want to keep their streak alive.
Understand exactly what you are doing.
You cannot be vague about the change you want to see in your life. If you wish to stop smoking you can’t say I am going to try and not smoke 20 cigarettes each day. You must have concrete strategies like, “Every day this week I’m only likely to smoke 10 cigarettes a day, then weekly then I am going to smoke less until I stop smoking.” Have a fantastic strategy is a part of success in anything in life.
Utilize your customs to work together. Now that you’re likely to be smoking you can begin running since you can breathe better. You can say, “Should I get this job done, then I can go ” “If I don’t smoke a pack of smokes a day, then I can exercise much better now.” “When I get home I won’t smoke, but I’ll go to get a job instead.” Make your life better by minding your good habits.
Program, program, schedule. The more you schedule your good habits the longer they will get done. If you don’t schedule something in your day then you’re missing and it will never get done. How do I find time in my day to go to the gym when I don’t schedule a time to go?
Celebrate.
It’s much better to think positively about your new customs. Give yourself a while and use this as inspiration to keep going.
Change your living space.
If you want to eat healthier at home then take all the crap food off the counter, actually just throw it in the garbage. If you would like to quit drinking alcohol then get it all out of the house. As I said before you do not want to be intense about it at first but take it from the home as gradually as possible and don’t buy more. Clean your house so you feel great about being home, that’s where you recharge and your reality comes from.
Be proactive.
It does not work if you go to bed at the regular time. You need to give yourself some breathing room. Getting proactive and on time to matters always feels better. For some reason, we think that we are missing out on something if we don’t drop what we are doing and proceed to another task.
25 Good habits to form.
All of these are self-explanatory so no description required.
- Go to bed at the exact same time nightly.
- Take care of your teeth, brush more, and floss.
- Eat a big breakfast, lunch, medium lunch, and dinner.
- Never snack, just eat at mealtimes.
- No fast food.
- Keep a journal of what you are eating.
- Have healthy snacks in case you need to snack.
- Sit at a table and eat not in front of a tv.
- Go to bed early.
- Wake up early.
- Do not answer or text calls passed a certain hour.
- When in bed don’t use your laptop or telephone.
- Do some exercise every day
- Find different ways to motivate yourself.
- Take time to pray or meditate.
- Think about all of the great things that have occurred to you now.
- Spend time in silence.
- Get a list of books to see, read a novel per week.
- Learn from reading.
- Clean out your home and give the excess to those who need it more.
- When you meet people become friendly and smile.
- Help out someone and inspire them.
- Don’t be afraid to express feelings.
- Say ‘sorry’ if you are wrong.
- Know how someone else is feeling.
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