6 Effective Ways To Get Rid Of Your Bad Habits

Bad habits are difficult to break because they are ingrained into your subconscious. Breaking a bad habit depends on many factors, including your dedication to quitting and the habit in question. However, research suggests that the average length of time taken to get rid of a bad habit can range anywhere between 18 to 254 days. There are countless benefits to enjoy from breaking certain habits, including enhanced self-esteem and longevity. If you wish to learn more about eliminating your bad habits effectively, please consider the following points.

Find Healthier Alternatives To Your Bad Habits

You may still get urges to indulge in your old habits in the midst of quitting, a challenging reality that overwhelms many people. However, finding healthier alternatives to your habits is an effective way to satisfy your cravings. For instance, if you are trying to quit junk food, you will undoubtedly get hungry occasionally. As such, you can have healthy snacks like fruits, nuts, and vegetables on hand instead of settling for crisps and fizzy drinks.

Similarly, you can substitute smoking cigarettes by exploring vaping or e-cigarettes. This way, you can still get a specific amount of nicotine without the undesirable side effects of smoking cigarettes. You can even invest in e-juices, flavors, 18650 IMR batteries, chargers, replacement pods, and other vape accessories to enjoy smoking while keeping an eye on your health.

Have A Better Reason For Quitting

Being aware of the devastating effects of a bad habit isn’t enough to kick the habit, so it is always prudent to find better reasons to quit. According to Elliot Berkman, an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Oregon, replacing a bad habit with a better one might still be challenging because the old vice has a better biological reward than its substitute. For example, suppose you are chewing gum to replace smoking.

 In that case, your brain can readily tell that gum isn’t nicotine, and therefore, won’t produce euphoric feelings that you will experience from smoking cigarettes. Consequently, your reason for quitting smoking must extend merely beyond wanting better health. Instead, consider giving up smoking to spend more years with your family. Also, you might want to eat healthier to get more energy for outdoor activities you used to have an interest in. Therefore, always find a better reason to quit your bad habits as a stronger intrinsic motivator than generic benefits.

Identify Triggers And Stay Away

All bad habits have associated triggers, so a practical step to getting rid of these habits is identifying and avoiding their triggers in time. A trigger is a behavior, place, thought, or event that leads to an action that manifests your bad habits. Therefore, identifying and avoiding triggers may differ among people based on their unique circumstances, so keep this in mind. For instance, you may feel the urge to smoke cigarettes while hanging out with a group of friends who smoke. As such, avoid going to smoking zones or accompanying friends to such areas since it can trigger your smoking habits easily.

Similarly, suppose you are an alcohol addict. In that case, avoid socializing in bars to distance yourself and alcohol, making it easier to quit drinking. Therefore, list down all possible triggers of your bad habit so you can avoid them successfully, especially in the early stages when the urge is powerful. Also, many experts identify stress and boredom as two fundamental triggers for all bad habits, so it would help to manage your stress and keep yourself preoccupied at all times to keep these habits at bay.

Find An Accountability Partner

There is indeed strength in numbers when trying to quit a bad habit. As such, it is never advisable to do it all alone since you are likely to falter and regress even deeper into your undesirable habits. Instead, find an accountability partner who can keep you on track to achieve your goals. This person can be a friend or family member you report your progress to. For instance, a 2018 study discovered that people who had accountability partners in setting weight-loss goals were more successful than their counterparts who didn’t.

On the other hand, your accountability partner can be someone trying to quit the same habit. For example, you can join forces with a friend to quit drinking or smoking together, motivating each other along the way and celebrating little milestones together. This way, you are less likely to pick up your old habits since looking forward to results with someone strengthens your resolve to quit.

Set Realistic Goals

The well-known adage “Rome was not built in one day” is highly applicable when breaking a bad habit. Consequently, it is essential to be realistic with your expectations to avoid undesirable consequences. To begin with, understand that eliminating your bad habits won’t happen overnight because you would have no bad habits if the change were instant. Then, set small, incremental goals instead of making massive efforts that can demoralize you in no time.

For instance, if you drink five cups of coffee each morning, cutting down your consumption to a cup or two in the first few weeks of quitting is more realistic than avoiding coffee altogether. Similarly, you can start with ten minutes workout sessions if you want to eliminate physical inactivity instead of jumping on a treadmill for 45 minutes on your first day. Setting realistic goals ensures that you don’t take on more than you can handle, so always approach your habit change efforts realistically for the best results.

Plan For Failure

Slip-ups are common when breaking bad habits, so plan for them instead of beating yourself up over mistakes. You can easily slip back into these old habits in the early stages since your new habits aren’t solidified yet. Therefore, accept the inevitability of failure and plan to move on when it does happen. However, view every slip-up as a growth opportunity, ensuring that you learn from your mistakes to find better approaches to make it easier for you to break your bad habits in the long term.