How to replace bad habits good

1. find substitute

"One day my little baby took my car keys, - says Granger - and on the day we were late and so badly. If I just took away his keys, he would burst into tears. So I took a toy panda and enthusiastically began to play with her. The child immediately dropped the keys and reached for the panda. This gave me a lesson. I realized that adults not very much different from the children: we also need a "Panda" - a substitute for our bad habits. "

The brain does not like being told "no", no less than a small child. So try to find a suitable alternative to the brain could say "yes" habit-substitute. So, if you want to give up coffee, get another drink for himself, which will charge you cheerfulness in the morning, such as yerba mate.

2. Choose short-term goals

Few who manage to fulfill the promises made to ourselves for the new year. And all because we usually set goals for the whole year ahead. Such long-term goals do not work when it comes to our bad habits (for example, the habit after dinner there is something sweet, instead of going for a walk, or eat an apple).

Set a short term goal. In the beginning it can be hard to maintain the habit of even a week. So think about how to do something at least one hour, one morning, one day.

3. make a bet

For example, arrange with a friend, that if you do not go to the gym today, you will give him a thousand rubles (or two or three). The amount may be any, as long as you were not easy to part with it. This forces you to fulfill the promise.

4. Set yourself goals, processes, and not goals Results

Usually we just set ourselves the goal of Results, for example: "I want to lose 10 kilos in two months." Objectives set out in this way, poorly integrated into our daily routine life. Instead, formulate goal as a process. For example, drinking a glass of water with lemon before every alcoholic beverage or another cup of coffee.

5. Do everything consciously

Most of our bad habits - this unconscious action. We wake up in the morning and run them automatically.

When we like some action, our brain secretes chemicals that are responsible for pleasure, such as dopamine and oxytocin. Because of this, every time the brain will give us the signal to repeat this action. That's why we sometimes so hard to get rid of habits and addictions.

Try to notice where the habitual action begins. If you want coffee, notice how the saliva in the mouth is formed. Make sure that where the origin of your need for caffeine: in the stomach or in the mouth. What thoughts come to your mind? When the body starts to act? When it comes to the feeling of pleasure: before you take a sip, or after?

We can not control what is not aware of. Therefore, what we realize treat their habits, the more chance we have to turn them into conscious action.

6. Be aware of your weaknesses

We have a limited supply willpowerAnd when we are exhausted emotionally, physically or mentally, these stocks are even smaller. Therefore, if you know that tomorrow is a heavy day in advance to prepare it.

"If I know that tomorrow I get up early (and hence, in the morning I'll be tired and irritable), I fall asleep in the evening in the mat maker - says Kari Granger. - It helps me cope with the desire to drink coffee in the morning. "

7. Is accountable to someone

Tell me what happened and what did not work. Do not equivocate. This "report" to the other helps keep track of your progress.

8. Create a reward system

If you have chosen five times its "Panda" (habit-substitute) instead of bad habits, you deserve a reward. Rewards must be really important to you and at the same time must strengthen a new habit, and not to support the old. For example, if you're five times to go to the gym, you can buy a new album on iTunes (not cake).

9. Find a compelling motive

It is important to know the motive behind our goal. It is unlikely that one thought that doing sports is good for health, can help you get up at five in the morning and go to the gym. Perhaps for someone enough desire to have the perfect body, but most of us to find a compelling motive, will have to dig deeper. This is where it is worth remembering about their long-term goals.

10. Take 300 to 3000 repetitions

We need 300 reps to remember the body a new habit, and 3000 repetitions to fully master it. Yes, it will take a lot of time, but remember how often we are too early to rejoice in his victory, and then do not stand up and go back to the old habit. Now you know exactly how much time you'll need.