4 tips for motivationally breaking bad habits
Habits can come in many forms, and understanding the differences between healthy or productive habits and less productive or unhealthy habits can be difficult for many. You may have productive habits like taking the trash out every Sunday or brushing your teeth before bed.
You may have other less productive habits such as dumping your laundry on the floor instead of placing it in a hamper. You may also have habits that are not so healthy and potentially addictive such as smoking.
Most unhealthy habits tend to be caused by two things: stress and boredom. Nail biting, smoking, overspending, or drinking alcohol often are all simple responses to stress and boredom.
It’s possible to teach yourself to substitute these less healthy habits with more healthy ones. Recognizing the underlying cause of your habit and what triggers the behavior of your habits can be helpful in the process of overcoming them.
Creating or changing habits requires many steps. In other words, in order to get healthy habits to stick, and unhealthy ones to unstick, the habits you’re choosing should replace the ones you’re wanting to eliminate.
But there’s a step that comes first and is the overarching theme of whether or not your healthy habits will increase, and your unhealthy habits will decrease.
Motivation. In Behavior Analysis, we look at motivation a little differently. We’re watching behavior — and what’s either motivating you towards something or motivating you away from it.
Just like you switch up your gym routine with leg days, arms days, cardio, and core, all habits in your lives need monitoring, or you risk getting stuck in the same routine and not reaching your overall goal.
Creating any habit is a process that starts with motivation.
Motivation will come easier for some than others, and it will come more naturally for some. This is based on intrinsic value — in other words, it’s inborn.
Others will require extrinsic motivation such as constantly rewarding their efforts in order to keep them on track.
Consistency is key for building a new habit or reducing an unwanted one. A new habit needs to be practiced consistently until it becomes, well, a habit. Meaningful and measurable improvement doesn’t happen by chance.
Start Small. When we first start a new habit, we’re totally on board and psyched about it. For example, when we try a new diet, we’re all about seeing results, doing our meal prep, tracking our progress, or reading books.
Be Realistic. It’s easy for us to aim high with our goals of building healthy habits. But, back to the point — motivation — is key here, too. If our goals are too big or haven’t been properly structured or tracked, our motivation is going to dip before we’re able to make a new habit stick.
Breaking any bad habit starts with…motivation in wanting better. However, another key factor in eliminating a bad habit is accountability.
This ties into motivation, meaning you need to be motivated to accept accountability for breaking a habit. It also means you’re chances of long-term success are increased when motivation + accountability is your secret weapon for growth.
Sources:
- https://youtu.be/9ViEuzHT74c
- https://www.neworleanssaints.com/news/motivation-monday-best-strategies-for-changing-habits-saints-live-well
- https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/the-psychology-behind-the-good-habit-bad-habit-anomaly/
- https://www.entrepreneur.com/living/9-ways-to-actually-adopt-the-better-habits-you-know-will/270701
- https://readloud.net/
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