How to Stop Swearing

As bad a habit as chewing your fingernails, swearing is a part of many people’s lives. Although it seems hard to stop swearing, it is just like getting rid of any other bad habit. The key to stop cursing is being aware of your actions and having the will power to stop.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Admit that you have a problem with profanity. Swearing is a bad habit. Before you can stop swearing, you must admit that you do it and that it is a problem. If you admit to yourself that you have a problem, it will strengthen your resolve to stop this habit.
2. Seek help for your problem. Inform someone who is close to you or someone whom you see very frequently of your decision to stop swearing. Then tell them that any time they hear you swear, they should please bring it to your attention.
3. Set goals for yourself. Setting reachable goals, such as keeping all profanity out of friendly emails and out of phone conversations, will help you see some progress in getting rid of your bad habit.
4. Find reinforcement for your behavior. Good or bad, you should reinforce what you’re doing. One way to do this is to set up a swear jar, where you drop in a dollar every time you use a swear word. Then you take all the money you’ve saved and buy yourself a gift when you finally break the habit.
5. Speak and write more slowly. If you slow down the pace at which you speak or write when sending emails or other friendly correspondence, you will have more time to think of words that will express how you’re feeling without using profanity.
6. Be aware at all times. If you are thinking about swearing all the time, you will be less likely to let the words slip out of your mouth.

Tips & Warnings

• Remember, breaking a bad habit takes time. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t break your swearing habit immediately. It will not happen in a day.
• Some people try wearing a rubber band around their wrist and snapping it against the skin every time they use a swear word. Their minds then eventually associate swearing with the pain and it helps them stop.
• Don’t become obsessed with breaking your bad habit to the point that you pick up other ones to replace swearing.