Do you have a habit that has you thinking, I should really stop doing that? Or is there a good habit you wish you could adopt but can never seem to stick to We all have good and bad habits we’ve picked up over the years, and sometimes it feels impossible to drop the bad ones or get started with the good ones.
A bad habit may truly be bad for your physical or mental health, such as smoking, working to exhaustion, or eating too many processed foods. However, a bad habit could also be something you do that doesn’t benefit you, causes you stress, or simply makes your life more difficult.
The good news is no matter your current habits, you have time to kick the bad ones and pick up good ones. Keep reading for ideas to help you replace your bad habits by building healthy ones.
How to Kick Bad Habits
Ready to kick your back habits? The National Institute of Health has a simple and effective method for changing bad habits:
- Know your habits. Awareness is key! You can’t change something you aren’t aware of doing. Pay attention to what you do each day and how it affects you.
- Make a plan. A plan doesn’t have to be complicated. Start simple. Create a plan that’s small, with reasonable goals and specific actions you’ll take to improve each day. Start by writing down three goals you want to achieve and what you’ll take to achieve them.
- Stay on track. Easier said than done, right? But think positive! Keep a record of your progress so you can spot a pattern if you start falling behind. Be a cheerleader for yourself. If you do happen to fall off course, don’t beat yourself up. Revisit your plan and start again. Self-control doesn’t often come naturally. Most of us need practice.
- Consider the future. If you’ve decided there’s a habit you need to break, that means you already feel a need to live a different future than what you’re experiencing right now. When impulses arise or frustrations come, think about why you’re doing this. Think of the future you want and remind yourself that all the steps you take now will lead you there.
- Be patient. Breaking yourself away from bad habits won’t happen overnight or even in a week. It’s not easy, but you can do it. Don’t expect perfection and certainly don’t expect perfection in one try.
How Hard Is It to Break a Habit?
Breaking a bad habit can be difficult. It’d be silly to think it could be done with no effort at all. If that were true, we wouldn’t have to “break” the habit.
A habit is literally part of how your brain functions. If your brain’s neurons fire at the start and end of a task, the action becomes a habit. Over time, not only do you physically complete the behavior, but it also becomes a pattern in the brain, meaning breaking a habit refers to ending the physical behavior and teaching your brain to stop the pattern as well.
Instead of referring to this as breaking a bad habit, we ought to say we’re training ourselves to build a healthy habit.
How to Build Healthy Habits
We hear a lot of talk about breaking bad habits, but let’s reframe the focus. Instead of breaking, let’s rebuild. Building healthy habits is what the goal should be!
Creating healthy routines can impact your life in more ways than you realize. Habits have a way of affecting more than just the single action you’re taking. As you introduce healthier habits, you’ll see improvements in the quality of life you lead.
doTERRA is ready to help you build healthy habits in four simple steps:
Four Steps to Build Healthy Habits
- Get started!
- Choose a habit you want to change.
- Track your habits.
- Work on building a healthy habit daily.
Healthy Habits You Can Begin Right Now
- Habit 1: water intake
- Habit 2: daily movement
- Habit 3: restful sleep
Who is ready to start?
Lets share on socials what habits we are creating and support each other!