All of us have habits, some of them not so pleasant. The good thing about habits is that they can be changed in just two weeks! For instance, are you a nail biter, or a junk-food addict, or Netflix binge-watcher?
These are all things I can definitely put my hand up for doing in the past (among many others!). I can honestly say that I don’t have these habits in my life anymore, living proof that habits CAN be broken!
It’s the time of year when we want to better ourselves in starting off the new year well. Perfect timing to find out some ways to kick your bad habits to the curb!
1. Recognise the Habit Trigger
The first step to identifying a bad habit is recognising the habit when it’s happening, and what happened directly before it. Usually, bad habits are a result of something else- there’s usually a reason why this habit manifested. Perhaps you click your pen constantly when you have a stressful deadline, or you bite your nails when you’re in a tough situation. Maybe you binge-watch TV series because you are bored, restless or your passion & purpose soul food needs nourishing. Identifying these triggers is the key to eliminating the habit in its entirety!
2. Redirect the Habit
Now that you’ve established when your habit is taking place and have recognised the trigger, aim to redirect that habit to something rewarding. For instance, if you are a nail biter when you’re stressed out during a major launch or with a project deadline, use a stress ball and give that a few squeezes, or try using a fidget spinner to stop you from biting your nails when anxiety hits.
Once you have distracted your attention and the urge to bite your nails has passed, immediately redirect your attention to making a detailed list of how you’ll accomplish the work you need to do to avoid the stress associated with strict time lines. I love doing a brain dump as a way to clear overwhelm where I write down everything that’s on my mind and then prioritise the three most important tasks to complete in one day from the list.
3. Make Small Changes to Your Routine
Make small changes to your routine to further stop your bad habits. If you overeat while binge watching the latest episode of Suits, try turning off your iPad for dinner time and mindfully eat at the dining table without any distractions. Combating a bad food habit is as easy as having healthy snack alternatives available rather than chips, or having a variety of stress management tools within reach.
4. Practice Self Care
Practicing self care and enriching your life so that you are nourishing your soul foods every day is also helpful when it comes to ending your bad habits for good. Many times our bad habits are relate to negative emotions or being unfulfilled in our lives. Making sure we look after ourselves, meet our emotional needs in a loving and compassionate way and live a life with passion and purpose, the habits will disappear from our live without us even really noticing the shift. If you are stuck for ideas on ways you can nourish your Soul Foods, download my free e-book by entering your details below- it has loads of habit-busting ideas (101 suggestions, in fact!)
5. Reward Yourself
Finally, making sure we reward ourselves can be really motivational. When you feel a bad habit start creeping into your life again, remember not to suppress your thoughts, but rather, acknowledge the habit you are dissolving from your routine and proceed to redirect that habit! After a week of not biting your nails or binge watching Netflix and over-eating on junk then reward yourself with a spa day, mani-pedi or another treat that you know you will enjoy. You deserve it!
If you need a bit more guidance and support in shifting some of your habits and resetting your mindset and routine, then you will love my 6-week home-study program, The Unstoppable Woman Project.
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