{"id":93944,"date":"2023-03-07T16:56:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-07T20:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=93944"},"modified":"2023-03-08T14:27:02","modified_gmt":"2023-03-08T18:27:02","slug":"breaking-bad-habits-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/breaking-bad-habits-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking Bad Habits: 2 Strategies for Success"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Why is it so hard to break bad habits<\/a>? How can you break the tendency to engage in habitual behaviors that sabotage your success?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bad habits tend to be the behaviors that make us feel good in the short term. Because we seek instant gratification<\/a> over long-term results, bad habits often seem more appealing than many good habits that require us to put in more work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are two strategies for breaking bad habits<\/a> and forming beneficial habits in their stead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

How to Change Your Habits<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Good habits are behavioral patterns<\/a> that push you toward your goals, while bad ones take you away from your goals. Generally, habits are so hard to break because they\u2019re formed in a part of our brain that\u2019s out of our conscious control,<\/a> leaving us mostly unaware that we\u2019re engaging in them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his book Designing the Mind<\/em>, Ryan A. Bush describes two strategies for breaking bad habits: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strategy #1: Keep Track of Your Habits<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

According to Bush, just keeping track of your habits can sometimes be enough to break bad ones.<\/strong> To change your behavior<\/a>, you have to first understand and analyze your current patterns, which this strategy promotes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start by writing a list of habits you want to have and habits you don\u2019t want. For example, maybe you want to cook five nights a week and take your dog for a walk every morning, but you also want to stop biting your nails and procrastinating on your email responses. Once you have your list, keep a record of how many times you do each habitual behavior per week. You\u2019ll see how much of a hold bad habits have on your time, and you can then take the steps necessary to break them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: When trying to change your habits, Jack Canfield also argues that you should start by identifying old habits you want to change and new habits you want to implement. In The Success Principles<\/em><\/a>, he expands on this strategy: He suggests narrowing things down and focusing on changing just four habits every year<\/a>. Studies show that it takes about 13 weeks to establish a new habit, so you can learn a new one every quarter. Start by listing your four bad habits and explaining why they\u2019re potentially harmful. Then, identify a new behavior to replace the old one. Finally, create a plan<\/a> with specific steps that will help you implement the new habits, and focus on one plan per quarter.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strategy #2: State How You Plan to Spend Your Time in Advance<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

According to Bush, you can create a new, positive habit by setting clear intentions and goals for enacting it.<\/strong> We\u2019re often too vague when trying to implement a new behavior\u2014without a specific plan, we\u2019re much less likely to follow through. This is because we have to use more willpower and make more decisions when the time comes for us to actually engage in the new behavior. If you have a plan beforehand, that mental work is already done for you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When planning a new habit, express the following in specific terms:<\/p>\n\n\n\n