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We all know that humans are creatures of habit. Having a regular daily routine gives us comfort and a reasonable knowledge of what is to come. As a result, we may find that we pick up habits that are detrimental to our health. The first step is to identify the habit you want to break or reduce.
This post explores easy ways that we can all utilise to help us break bad habits that we have developed over time and adapt to a healthier routine for good.
Go Slow
A sudden change in habit can have an adverse effect. This is especially significant in cases of sugar and nicotine addition. It helps to take the challenge on gradually. You’ll find that weaning yourself off can give far better results in some cases rather than totally cutting a habit out altogether immediately. In some cases, it can be more a case of moderating intake rather than total exclusion.
Set Goals
Setting goals can also be useful in helping to break habits. Don’t be overly ambitious all at once. It’s also about learning to have less of the item you are trying to cut down. If you jump all in, there is a larger chance that you’ll fail. Little steps mean we get used to the adjustment, accept it and then proceed to improve even further.
Reminders
A reminder can work in your favour or against you. A constant reminder of a habit you are trying to break can have the negative of effect in bringing it to the front of your mind. The more you think about it, for example, some of the delicious offerings from hotel chocolat in my case, the more I want it! It’s not always easy to give in to cravings as many chocoholics will know.
Along with this, having something to remind yourself why you’re quitting your habit can be a great antidote. I’m looking forward to a break we have booked abroad and am thinking about fitting in a swimming costume – a good way to help me to cut down my consumption of this yummy sweet treat. Not having any in the house helps too!!!
Replacements
Cutting a bad habit isn’t impossible although sometimes it can feel that way. Sometimes finding suitable chocolate replacements can be a challenge. For me, it‘s all about the sugar content as I’m trying to limit this. I’m pleased to see there is a Hotel Chocolat Less Sugar H-Box available. For habits like smoking, there are more alternatives readily available. This is what makes e-cigarettes work well for a lot of people. An RTA tank may provide a healthier option and furthermore increase the chances of kicking the habit altogether.
Support
There are few better tools than a support network when you’re trying to quit a difficult habit. Supportive family members and friends can encourage you to try that much harder. Be open and honest about your aims, enable the people around you to apply some pressure when necessary. Most people don’t fall back into previous habits when its public knowledge especially in public and the less you succumb to an addiction / bad habit the more likely you are to succeed in quitting it. The hardest part can be asking for the initial support to start with.
What do you think is important for kicking bad habits?
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I think you have to be in the right frame of mind before you start. It’s really easy to give up so if your hearts not in it, you will never succeed.
That’s very true. It only happens if you really want it.
I have to admit something this is such an important post – I have so many habits I need to break but I want to do it straight away, I always forget to go slowly and take my time with it all.
It can be hard to kick bad habits. Once we have learnt how best to approach them we find we can tackle them better.
Great tips, Mel. It can be so hard to break those habits but we feel all the better for it when we do
It can be hard to break habits especially when we have been doing them for a while.
I do agree about not being too ambitious when setting goals, you can take baby steps and achieve smaller things then edit your goal until you get where you want to x
It is easier to take it slow. Attempting too much can become overwhelming and prevent your reaching your goal.
Taking things slowly is a great tip – going cold turkey on anything just leads to failure!
C x
Going cold turkey can work for some but it tends to be very few I’m afraid.
Kicking a habit, especially those that really do give us so called comfort or stress solutions, is so hard. But not impossible. You’ve given some really sound advice here. It is particularly important not to lose faith in yourself, or set the goal too high too soon. Little steps get your to the same end result and can have a far bigger success rate.
The reduced sugar chocolate is such a good idea, and I imagine they have a much more chocolatey flavour with less sugar.
It’s great that there is reduced sugar chocolate available – I’m sure it must sell very well.
I absolutely agree with every point here! I’ve slowly been trying to reduce my sugar intake too, it’s a challenge.
Sugar is highly addictive so it can be very hard. I’m finding a slow approach is working very well.
I find setting myself small goals and the. Rewarding myself when I’ve completed the goals helps me stay on track when trying to break a bad habit x
Rewards can be a great way to keep you on track. Glad you have found a method that works for you Stephanie.
That’s interesting to read about how going cold turkey can be worse than weaning gradually. Something to keep in mind when changing eating and drinking habits.
I don’t know what the trigger is, but you absolutely have to be in the right mind when you start, otherwise you fail straight away.
I crack my knuckles and I know it is a terible habit! I am really going to make an effort to stop!
A very useful summary. Thank you. I have used all of them in the past but also recommend positive affirmations for brain training. If I were to say: ‘I enjoy a healthy, low-sugar diet’ often enough, my brain would eventually begin to accept it as the truth and my behaviour would be modified. Affirmations must be repeated often, every single day, though.