Bad habits are often tempting and breaking them can be tough. While some habits, like daily teeth brushing and regular bathing, are healthy, others can harm our well-being. Since habits take practice and repetition to form, the same is true when it comes to breaking them. If you're feeling stuck in a cycle of negative or addictive behaviour, follow these basic steps to break bad habits.
Find your triggers
Figuring out how to break a bad habit starts with introspection. Identifying the triggers behind your habitual behaviours is an essential step in moving past them. Note down somewhere to keep track of the pattern of your habits. Like where does this habitual behaviour come from, and at what time of the day? How do I feel when it happens? Does it happen right after something else?
Whatever it is, understanding the triggers behind your journey will be a powerful intrinsic behaviour in tough times and help kick the bad habit.
Build your action plan to disrupt the cues
Understanding the triggers of bad habits is the first step to overcoming them. Once you know what causes these habits, you can disrupt their flow. Proper planning is essential. Create barriers to bad habits and replace them with new, healthier habits. Then, establish a routine around these new habits. For instance, if your alarm prompts you to hit the snooze button every morning, try placing it on the other side of the room. This small change can disrupt the snooze habit and help you start your day more productively.
Out of Sight, Off Your Mind
If you struggle to stop scrolling through your Instagram feed or watching YouTube shorts, try removing or uninstalling the Instagram app or Facebook app, or keep the phone in another room as it might help in keeping your mind off it and help reduce the usage of it. Reduce the cues that trigger your bad habit.
Ask a friend for help