How To Break Bad Habits

Before I tell you different ways on how to break a bad habit(s), we need to know that what is a habit? Why Habits matter?

WHAT ARE HABITS?

Habits are a powerful factor in our lives. They are mainly actions that we perform consistently. Habits define our personality, character and our effectiveness and ineffectiveness.

Habits are like a cable. We weave a strand of it everyday and soon it cannot be broken.

So, Habit is a routine or behaviour that is performed regularly and, in many cases, automatically.

WHY HABITS MATTER?

• Your habits matter because they help you become the type of person you wish to be. The most effective way to change your habits is to focus not on what you want to achieve, but on who you wish to become.

• Your identity emerges out of your habits. Every action is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.

Success is the product of daily habits-not once-in-a-lifetime transformations.

THE SCIENCE OF HOW HABITS WORK

The process of building a habit can be divided into four simple steps-

1. Cue

The cue triggers your brain to initiate a behaviour, It is a bit of information that predicts a reward. It triggers the habit. So, before performing a habit, there's a cue in your mind that will initiate the behaviour. As the connection increases, you'll perform that habit without thinking about what you are doing.

2.Craving

Cravings are the second step, they are the motivational force behind every habit. It's the "REASON" why you are performing that habit.

For example- You don't want to turn on the television, you want to be entertained.

Cues are meaningless until they are interpreted. Your thoughts, feelings, and emotions are what transform the cue into a craving.

3.Response

The response is the habit actual habit that you perform, which can take the form of a thought or an action. The response occurs mainly on two basis-

• How motivated you are to perform that behaviour

• How much friction is associated with the behaviour?

So, if the task/behaviour requires more physical/mental effort you will not do it.

4.Reward

Rewards are the ultimate goal of every habit. Cues are about noticing the reward, Craving is wanting that reward and Response is obtaining the reward.

For example-

• Your mind triggers you to watch television so you can be entertained. This is the CUE and Entertainment is the Reward you noticed.

• Now you want to watch television because you want to be entertained. This is the CRAVING of wanting the Reward Of Entertainment.

• Now you start watching Television and get entertained. This is the RESPONSE to the behaviour and you obtained the REWARD,i.e Entertainment.

So, finally, now the main question is:-

"HOW TO BREAK A BAD HABIT"?

There are mainly 4 ways that are needed to be followed to break a bad habit.

1. Make it Invisible

2. Make it Unattractive

3. Make it Difficult

4. Make it Unsatisfying

1st Law- Make It Invisible

In this law, it says that you need to reduce the exposure. Remove the cues of your bad habits from your environment.

If you are addicted to checking your phone every time a message pops up, that's because the phone is within your reach. So To reduce exposure, keep the phone in a different room, so you will not get the cue of checking the phone when a message pops up.

2nd Law-Make it Unattractive

This law states that you need to make the habit you're performing seem unattractive. It means reframing your mindset and to highlight the benefits of avoiding that bad habit.

Once you kept the phone in a different room you seem to get the following benefits of avoiding this bad habit-

• You got more productive and completed that work in less time.

• You seemed to do the work with complete focus and attention.

• You were not distracted by the buzzing of the phone and did the work with a calm mind.

Once you highlight the benefits of avoiding your bad habits, you'll try to avoid them even more to get more benefits, which will eventually eliminate that bad habit.

3rd Law- Make it Difficult

This law states of performing that bad habit difficult. Increasing the friction between you and your bad habits.

If your phone is right next to you, you'll want to check it every time for no reason. But if it is in a different room this will increase the friction between you and your bad habit

[ in this case, addiction to your phone], and you can complete your work without any disturbance.

4th Law- Make it Unsatisfying

This law says that we are less likely to repeat a bad habit if it is painful or unsatisfying.

Have an accountability partner, ask someone to watch your behaviour. Knowing that someone is watching you can be a powerful motivator.

This is because we are concerned about what others opinion of us is. Also, we do not want others to think less of us.

If you want better results, then forget about setting goals. Focus on your system instead

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