How to get rid of bad habits, without effort
Motivation / / December 19, 2019
1. Change only one habit
Sometimes you think that your whole life - a cluster of bad habits, and you will finally realize that the time has come to change everything. Yes, starting tomorrow. For a while you hold, then say: "One time is not considered." And then pluck.
Try to start small: focus on one habit at a time. Gradually you will be able to get rid of all.
Charles Duhigg (Charles Duhigg) in the book "force of habit"Advises to think about change as a long-term project. If you try to change the habits at once, it is likely that everything is very quickly get out of control. Now you can be upset by the fact that getting rid of bad habits it will take eight to nine months. But think about what a huge impact it will have on the rest of your future life. It is worth spending a month to change a habit. You will benefit from this in the next decades.
No need to radically change their lives. Just get rid of a bad habit. Give yourself this month, and then proceed to the next.
2. Do not stop immediately, just consider
Do not seek to immediately quit the habit once and for all. Do not try to get rid of the habit - to get rid of impermanence.
In other words, do not try in a moment to stop smoking - try to smoke the same number of cigarettes per day. Or check Facebook no longer his usual 90 times per hour. This small effort over time will lead to the complete emancipation of the habit.
This is confirmed by experiments. Psychologist Howard Reychlin (Howard Rachlin) in his study He proved that by focusing on a constant habit, rather than herself, you're more likely achieve success. Smokers who were asked to smoke the same number of cigarettes per day, gradually began to smoke less, even if they claimed they were not going to throw.
If you simply pay more attention to the numbers, it will lead to big changes. It turned out that counting calories on the labels before eating affects weight loss more than exercise. Subjects who read the composition of the product and count caloriesUsually dumped more than those who are simply doing exercises. That is, you can still get rid of the extra kilos, and if you read the labels and do the exercises.
No need to immediately deny yourself everything. Just pay attention to the numbers and continue to behave badly. But be sure to solicit constancy.
3. Do not change yourself, change their environment
Every day I install Instagram on your phone and delete it every day. It sounds normal? Not really. This is the easiest way to check it once a day. I no longer want to check Instagram 600 times a day. You need to make the effort to download it. And that's one big secret to get rid of bad habits.
Do not change yourself. Change the context. Habits have tightened due to triggers in the environment. getting rid of triggers or reducing their impact, you will be drawn into undesirable behavior less likely. Environment affects you much more than you think.
The environment affects us. According to Dan Ariely (Dan Ariely), a professor of behavioral economics, is one of the most important discoveries of the social sciences in the last 40 years. If you walk up to the buffet and the food is placed in one way, you will have one. If food is placed in a different way, you'll have another. We think that to make decisions on their own, but largely affects the environment on us. That's why we need to think about how to change things around.
Keep it that attracts you, away from you. Writer Shawn Achor (Shawn Achor) advises to use usually twenty seconds. Make your bad habit that was difficult to start, and the chances that you will take for it to decline markedly. Too much watching TV? Remove the batteries from the remote control. A delay of 20 seconds, which would be required to return to the place that leads to the fact that people are starting to include less TV.
No need to change yourself right now. Change the things around you.
4. Relax
That often encourages you to bad habits? Stress. If you are relaxed, your brain is more likely to take the right decision, neuroscientists say.
Stress It weakens the prefrontal cortex, and in this part of the brain is not endless resources. It can not at all times be vigilant. Until it loses some care because of stress, it connects the striatum, which advises you to drink a beer or eat biscuits. But if you get rid of stress, the prefrontal cortex is able to keep your habit under control.
Do not press down on yourself. Stay calm, and your behavior will change for the better.
5. Do not remove the bad habits - replace them
When you say the words "I'm never going to do ...", the probability that you will do it again increases.
Charles Duhigg in his book "The force of habit," writes that all studies of this topic agree on one thing: bad habits can not simply be eliminated, but they can be replaced. When you feel the compulsion to chew, put in your mouth does not roll, and sugar-free gum. The trigger is the same as the desire is satisfied, but you replace unwanted behavior good.
We know that the habit can not be uprooted - it should be replaced. And we know that most habits easily amenable to transformation, when applied the golden rule changing habits, if we keep the same trigger the same reward, the new behavior will become a habit.
Think about what triggers provoke bad behavior, and then replace your normal reaction to the new one, which will give you a different (but still pleasant) award.
6. "If" and "then"
Simple plan will help you resist temptation. What do you do before you are accepted for a bad habit? For example: "Every time I sit down on the sofa, I endlessly stuck in the Internet." Now use these two words make up a tiny plan: "If I sit down on the sofa, then I take with me a book."
Planning - is really powerful tool that will help you achieve any goal, from diet and exercise to negotiation and time management. Your chances of success are greatly increased if you are a premeditated action to achieve its purpose ( "If the meeting is over at four o'clock, I come back to the office and do all the scheduled phone calls").
Too simple to be true? Nothing like this.
it was found during the experiment: 91% of subjects who were small plans, continued to do the exercises regularly. From "neplanirovschikov" - only 34%. Similar results were also obtained in experiments on the introduction of the habit to take care of their own health. Monthly self-breast continued engage 100% of the subjects from group "schedulers" (compared with 53% of individuals from the group, not planners) and annual screening for cervical cancer - 92% from the group planners (versus 60% of those without planning).
Just two words - "if" and "then" - opens up tremendous opportunities.
7. forgive yourself
You may have thwarted. It's okay, it's okay. Keep in mind that old habits can come back. Think of it as a temporary step back, not as a reason to abandon all planned as a whole.
For example, you promised yourself that you will not have a cookie. And inadvertently ate it. This does not mean that the whole diet is disrupted. The diet is over, when you eat one cookie, say, "I give up," and then the rest will knead pack.
What to do when you lose control? Forgive yourself and move on.
Self-criticism entails motivation recession and decreased ability to self-control. It is also one of the main indicators of impending depression. In contrast, the loyal and kind to yourself leads to increased motivation and better self-control.
You are trying to improve their lives, and do not worry if sometimes stumble.
Finally
So, here are the secrets that will help you get rid of bad habits:
- One at a time. Focus on one bad habit a month and in a year you'll be a different person.
- Do not stop, just counting. Do not try to immediately get rid of the bad behavior. Achieve consistency in their allegiances.
- Do not change yourself - changing environment. Typically twenty seconds. Make repeat the habit has become a bit more difficult.
- Relax. Due to stress harmful things become more attractive. Stay calm, and your behavior will change for the better.
- Do not dispose, as a substitute. You can not completely eradicate the bad habits, but you the strength to replace them with new ones.
- Simple Plan with the words "if" and "then" It helps you not to be tempted.
- Forgiving yourself. Flagellation only worsen the situation. Good attitude to help yourself get back on track.
And another tip for last. Pressure from the side - it's a good thing if you use it for strategic purposes. Mom wanted the school you communicated with the good guys, because they set a good example for the behavior? Mom was right.
It is also very simple recommendation. Communicate with people who want to be like. Lot prokrastiniruete? Spend more time with friends superproduktivnymi. Do you want to be in shape? Constantly communicate with friends, obsessed with exercise rooms and healthy eating.
Over time, you learn from the eating habits, lifestyle, and even career aspirations of those with whom to spend time. If you are in a group of people who set themselves really high goals, will strive to do the same. Conversely, if your friends are not ambitious, then you will lower their own standards.
Enough talk. Now is the time to write a friend to whom you want to be like, and arrange a meeting. Friends do not just make us happier. They help us to become better.