How to Change Bad Habits

Bad habits can be ruinous to people’s lives. They can cause people to become unhealthy and to lose their money and friendships. To change bad habits, a person has to have a conscious wish to change that habit. Once the person wishes to change and puts some effort behind it, any habit can be broken.

Instructions

1. Notice the circumstances surrounding your habit. If you know what causes you to indulge in your bad habit, you can change those circumstances. Notice why you indulge your bad habit, how it starts and how often you think about doing it. Those are the patterns that you will have to work on changing.

2. Be consistent with your efforts to change your habits. If you have a sincere wish to change, keep trying every day. For some people, that may be keeping their minds occupied with other things. For others, it may be substituting a good habit for a bad one.

3. Continue your attempts to change the habit for at least 3 weeks. Studies over the last few years have shown that a habit becomes ingrained after about 3 weeks. In order to change a bad habit, you have to try to modify that behavior for at least that long. After you have changed the habit, you have to continue in your good habits for 3 weeks or longer to see a lasting change.

4. Get support when you need it. Friends, family and even professionals can be of help to you when you need to stop engaging in a bad habit. There may be a group that you can join that will offer you support, or you may just talk to friends about encouraging you in your new habits. Stay away from people who engage in the habit or who want you to fail in your changes.