Habits come in many forms, some are good, some are bad, it is how we monitor and influence our own habits which can make a difference in our everyday lives. Good habits can be formed through discipline and perseverance, by practicing what we want to do more of we can form a habit after a period of time, making it almost second nature for us. However, none of us make an effort to form bad habits, these happen over time from influences and repeating behaviour.
During the COVID-19 Pandemic we have all had our lives disrupted. Our social lives and work lives have changed and we have been restricted to our own homes, our hobbies and good habits have most likely been affected. This has opened many of us up to forming bad habits during this period.
With light at the end of the tunnel and the vaccine rollout in full swing, things are looking like we could return to some form of normality soon. But we don’t want to carry our new bad habits with us so we need to look at breaking them. Below are a few things to think about if you have some bad habits you would like to break.
Identify your bad habits
What are the habits you want to break? Try to work out what triggers you to perform this bad habit. Take some time to track it and see whether there are any patterns, when do you do this bad habit? Is it in a certain place, scenario or with certain people? Being able to identify these things is the first step to recognising how the habit has formed, and what you need to focus on to undo it.
Think about why you want to break it
Why do you want to change this habit? How will it positively benefit you? Thinking about this can help motivate you to get through breaking a bad habit, writing all the reasons down can help draw better focus to the positives that will come.
Don’t be afraid to get support from others
Sometimes recruiting the help of another person can help motivate you to break the habit. Sometimes it could be a habit that you and someone else both want to break such as smoking, or scrolling on your phones too much. By bringing someone else into the challenge of breaking the habit you can support each other through it, give encouragement on the wins and offer support when things are hard.
Replace the old habit with a new one
If you have a bad habit that you’re wanting to break you can try replacing that with a new and better habit. This can mean you hit two birds with one stone, break the old bad habit, and get a new good one. Snacking for example, if you are in the habit of having unhealthy snacks and you want to break it, if you fancy a snack try to replace the unhealthy snacks with more fruit or a healthy alternative.
Don’t beat yourself up if you slip up
Breaking bad habits can take time and persistence, it took time to develop them so it’ll take time to break them too. If you slip up once in a while don’t think that everything you’ve done so far is in vain, these things will happen and it’s important that you continue on your mission to break it rather than giving up at the first slip up. Perseverance is key.
Don’t try to do too much
You may be feeling a new lease of life in anticipation for things returning to some form of normality and you might be feeling like you want to change lots of things at once, but don’t overdo it. Trying to break too many bad habits, or create too many new good habits at once can often be a little too much and it’s more likely that you struggle to fulfil each one which will demotivate you making it even harder to do
Useful sources & more Information:
Some of the information sourced for this article was originally published by Healthline. If you would like to access this and further information in more detail please follow the link below –
https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-break-a-habit
If you would like to view the Webinar on ‘Breaking Bad Habits’ is being delivered live on Friday 16th April at 12:00pm please use the following link to register for this session –
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4604186663616388876
If you are unable to join the webinar live, a recording of the session can be accessed using the same link above after the webinar has taken place.
If you feel you may need some support, you can contact Care first. Care first is a leading provider of confidential, professional counselling, information and advice services. All employees are eligible to use Care first, our services include; telephone counselling, information services and online support. Call Care first on the Freephone number provided by your organisation and you can speak to a professional in confidence.