How To Break A Habit

We create habits to help us establish a familiar world, and then rely on them to help us establish control. We would probably list these habits as good habits. all of us have routines that are make up our character and what we do each day.

Most of our behavior is demonstrated by our habits. But, what is a habit? Organically, habits are created through non-stop, electrical impulse signals to our mind, which the sensory nerves carry from our hearing, touch, vision taste and smell to the data processing area of our brain over our lifetime. Cognitively, habits are a repeated, often unconscious pattern of behavior that is acquired through successive repetition, an established disposition of the mind or character.

It is paramount to admit that some of those habits are not good for us. We all have habits or routines that are part of our make up and what we do each day - but there comes a time when we need to accept that some of those habits are detrimental for us. Everyone has some habits in their lives that robs their day-to-day lifestyle of a little (or a lot) of prosperity.

You may see that to successfully manage habit changes, breaking bad habits require exchanging them with new appropriate ones. Natural bad habits often include: over scheduling, over spending, over eating, and even over analyzing. We often believe that we can’t overcome an area because it is a “habit,” and methodically habits are hard to break.

How do they habits get started? We train ourselves with bad habits as written in 2 Peter 2:14, we are insatiable for sin [we] train our hearts in greed.

Bad habits are inherited from parents and grandparents. 1 Peter 1:18, shows that the useless behavior patterns that were passed down from your ancestors. But, when Christ heals you from them He makes it possible to live the remainder of your life no longer following human desires, but following the will of God.

We get them from allience. Paul warns us in 1 Corinthians 15:33, Dont be misled, bad companions corrupt good habits. Further, he notes, There are some who, out of habit formed in idolatry, still eat food as if it were offered to idols, and because their conscience is weak, they are sinning. So it is obvious that even after good habits are developed being around those who are of conflicting behavior can destroy them.

What do we need to do about our patterns?

5 steps to change an unhealthy habit into a healthy one

The first step in altering a sinful pattern is to stop trying to break it and create a plan to change it. A habit implies that a learning has resulted in behavior that occurs so automatically that the one doing it does not have to plan this action or behavior. Often you do not realize what you are doing until after it is done. You must set in place a method to identify this undesirable behavior or action.

Two, the undesirable trait is like a hole in your personality. It needs to be filled with something that is good and profitable. The Holy Spirit by His Word trains in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16) so that new behaviors become habits in place of old ones. Determine what you will do in place of the habit you intend to redeem.

Three, the time when you are most likely to engage in sinful patterns are when you are stressed, hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. You can remember this with the acronym Shalt as in shalt not! Keep watch on these moments as this is when your conscience be most weak.

Four, we were created to have relationships. Having a friend you can be real and honest with is remarkably important in changing habits. Talk with that person and ask them to keep you accountable regarding your desired change. Ask them to question you about your progress in making your change when you two talk or meet.

Lastly, practice! Hebrews 5:14, reveals to us that mature Christians are those whose faculties have been trained by practice to do distinguish good from evil. Confirm a practice that exercises the good replacement. Remember — It took time to develop your bad habit, so it will take time to replace it. Is there some habit or behavior that you keep struggling with and constantly grumble about it?

I bet you are ready to change your bad habits with better ones.

By: Michael Young

About the Author:

How to make your habits work for you and discard the harmful ones

What is a habit.

When an action is repeated often enough and becomes automatic in its response it is called a habit. There are good habits and bad habits. If a slouch is acquired through a painful shoulder brought about through an injury that would be a habit formed by an accident. But if we’re learning to type and pressing certain keys over and over again until we’re able to type automatically that would be considered a good habit.

How to Change Your Habits

You need to have habits. Without them life would be a never ending strain upon your nervous system. The right habit is our friend, a saver of time, effort and energy. A bad habit is a vice, and a hard task master. Habits are easy to form but once set and established are very difficult to break.

But there is hope. Let us assume that you’re a chain smoker and for reasons of health must break that habit. You may have a strong will power and stop smoking because you will it so.

But in most cases the craving will remain and to ignore the craving will be too strong to ignore. Somewhere along the line you’ll be tempted to take one sneaky smoke and then another and then you’ll find yourself back to “square one” again.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel. To successfully crack the solid wall of a habit; is to attack it gradually, consistently on one or more of the following fronts;

1. The “time-delay” attack.

Introduce a time change in the usual smoking routine. Start with a five minute interval between smokes. Make it five minutes to the second. When you have accomplished this time delay congratulate yourself and enjoy your cigarette. . Keep up this five minute interval between smokes, consistently, until it stops being a hardship and becomes the new habit, of lighting cigarettes five minutes apart. Lengthen the interval between smokes to ten minutes and then to fifteen minutes each. Only lengthen the time span when it has become a habit.

2. The “time-check” attack.

Use your clock or your watch as a reminder, to curb or confine your smoking to certain periods. Maybe it could be on the half hour and the full hour during the day. In the evening it could be the quarter hour or the three quarter hour. The purpose of this is not to turn you into a clock watcher but to give you a measure by which it will help you put in place a time element into your smoking schedule. The purpose of the “time check” attack is to interfere with your established smoking habit.

3. The “time-out” attack.

Set aside a certain period of time during your waking hours when you’ll reject to light a cigarette regardless how strong the urge. . Let it be a “break” a “stay-away” time when you use your self-will, and place yourself under complete control for that period of time. The period selected is not as important as the deliberate step that you have taken to stand against the habit and your conscious effort to hinder your smoking routine.

4. The “interference” attack.

Change the usual mode and manner of smoking by introducing different interrupting factors. For instance, if you enjoy smoking best by sitting down or leaning back in your seat, get up and remain standing or start walking around the room while puffing away at your cigarette. If you are in the habit of taking long, leisurely puffs, change to short, nervous pulls at the cigarette. If you usually inhale stop doing it. The object of the exercise is to change your way of smoking from one cigarette to the next. Mix things up. Do it systematically, purposely, and consciously. To interrupt the old smoking habit you want to introduce as much confusion as possible.

5. The “substitution” attack.

Change brands of cigarettes, from a regular to a King size, to a filter type, to one having mint or menthol in it, to a brand milder or stronger. If that does not help much change to a pipe. Then, in between, pop a piece of hard candy or a stick of chewing gum into your mouth instead of a smoke. Give your lips and your mouth something else to do for the time being. Continue such substitutions until your system begins to accept them as part of the old smoking habit and eventually its hold upon you will be weakened.

These five ways of gradual frontal attack and deliberate interruptions with your set pattern of the smoking habit can be adapted to attack and interfere with any other non-desirable habit and prove just as effective in breaking its hold upon you.

With tenacity and belief in yourself make these “attack” techniques work for you to kick that habit.

I will leave you with a positive quote:

“Out of our beliefs are born deeds; out of our deeds we form habits; out of our habits grows our character; and on our character we build our destiny.”

- Henry Hancock.

By: Lynn Zingel

About the Author:

“The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.” Albert Einstein

Make substantial changes in your life by paying attention to your habits and shifting them as needed. About 90% of daily actions are a reflection of habits. Thoughts produce and prevent actions. Often these actions are set on autopilot due to shortcuts the brain creates to save time. It is mind-boggling that no one has ever told us to check in on our habits to see if they are uplifting us or holding us back when they ultimately create the results we get.

Be Aware of Your Habits~ Shift Those that Hold you Back from the Vastness of Your Abilities

The only thing that holds us back from filling the gap to our greatest abilities is ourselves. As a child my mother would ask me to pick up my toys. I was fortunate at the time to have a very efficient mother who if left a short period of time would end up doing the job herself. The habit to procrastinate served me well as a child but as time went on you can imagine how it held me back. It was a habit worth shifting. We often develop habits for a specific purpose but later on that purpose becomes irrelevant. It is our responsibility to take action to create the change.

Live Consciously! Notice your thoughts and how they affect your choices and actions.

Ask yourself:

What habit holds you back instead of supporting you to be your best?

What self-limiting talk holds you back from the vastness of your abilities?

Self talk can be a voice from the past, a self-limiting belief, or perception. Examples include, “I don’t want to”, “you’re going to make a fool of yourself”, “you’re not good enough”, “you’re too old/ young”, “you don’t deserve it”, “it’s a waste of time,” “there’s not enough time in a day”, “you can’t do that”, etc. Thoughts produce actions or not. Therefore thoughts must shift first in order to shift actions. Let’s look at the old behavior and then explore the thought patterns behind it. Here is an example to demonstrate the steps to create a new habit. Remember, one new habit a month equals twelve a year. What difference could that make in your life, career, or business?

Example: Sheila is busy all day but at the end is left feeling unfulfilled. When exploring the feelings behind the lack of fulfillment she finds that she is handling responsibilities but has put her goal to be a nutritionist on the backburner. If Sheila were to explore further she may find a fear getting in her way.

5 Steps to Change Habits:

1- Identify the Habit You Want to Change- Sheila will change her old habit of ‘taking action on secondary goals’ to ‘taking action on her primary goal first’.

2- Replace self limiting thoughts behind the behavior by creating a mantra- Sheila tells herself “I don’t have time”. While she is busy she knows she can block time if she prioritized. Behind the avoidance phrase “I don’t have time’ she discovered the fear of failing. David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D. explains in his book ‘Power vs. Force’ that, “Our vision of consciousness is aligned with our concept of self: The more limited the sense of self, the smaller the parameter of experiencing is.” Sheila created a new mantra in present tense that expresses her motivation which is, “Being a nutritionist fulfills me by helping people to be healthy. It gets top priority”.

3- Create new impressions in the brain until a new pattern/ habit is formed- In the book ‘The Power of Your Subconscious Mind’ author Dr. Joseph Murphy says, “You form habit patterns in your subconscious mind by repeating a thought or act over and over until it establishes tracks in the subconscious mind and becomes automatic.” Read your new mantra morning and night. Be ready to cut off your old habit and recite the new whenever the old habit shows up. Allow your mantra to help you choose actions that support your goals in an unlimited way. In addition, Sheila eliminated her fear of failing by studying to become highly educated in her field.

4- Add structure and accountability for support- Until your new habit is in place have a daily structure in place to review your progress and keep you on track. Recruit a friend, associate, family member, or coach to check in with you to add accountability. We tend to do more for ourselves when someone will be asking. You can pick up a complimentary Rewarding Daily Habits Worksheet to help you keep track of your progress at the author’s website.

5- Make a commitment- It is easy to get excited over an article. Follow up with daily action. Embrace the initial discomfort that comes with change in order to gain greater results. It is worth it. It is worth it!! It is worth it!!! Make a commitment.

It is likely that you have habits that serve you well and have gotten you to where you are today and others that may need to shift to raise you to the next level. Are your habits encouraging you? Do they propel you into action? Do they support you to see many choices? Are your daily actions providing the results you want? Change one daily habit this month that will provide the greatest positive results. Change habits to change life… starting now!

Copyright 2007 © Beth A. Tabak, All rights reserved.

By: Beth Tabak

About the Author:

For most people who are overweight, overeating is the result of habits formed over a lifetime. But the good news is, if you can take aim at those habits and see them for what they are the overeating and ensuing weight gain will end.

Humans are creatures of habit. Most of what we do in our life is because of habits we formed in our ‘formative’ years. That’s why they call them our formative years. It’s the time in our lives when we form habits and patterns to guide us through the rest of our life.

But often when the habit is being formed, the ramifications of that habit aren’t felt for some time. These habits start with little changes; many times we don’t even notice we’ve made them. They solve an immediate problem and all is well. However, it’s often much later when they’ve become a habit we realize the problem we’ve created for ourselves and the situation is very difficult to resolve.

Many overweight people have any number of habits that together make what we are today. It’s usually not as simple as, oh I just need to give up soda and other than that I eat a healthy diet. No usually, if we have one thing we need to change, we have several.

And if our habits have been in place for some time, we may have spiraled into such a state it may seem like the insurmountable challenge to correct the seemingly endless list of bad habits needing to be corrected. We eat food of poor nutritional value, which fails to nourish our bodies, so we’re hungry and eat ever increasing amounts of food in an attempt to keep ourselves satisfied.

For instance, do you often find yourself eating in reaction to a particular feeling you have, a situation or state of mind? Many people eat if they’re sad and depressed. Loneliness makes us want to eat a row of Oreos, but often being happy makes us want to do the same thing. Our emotions can trigger the need to eat.

These habits triggered by our emotions are often the most difficult for us to break because we are simply unaware they exist. Even when we do identify them, realizing we are in the emotional state that triggers eating in time to ‘highjack’ and resolve the habit is almost impossible.

As they say, hindsight is 20/20. After the fact, you can see the destructive patterns, but when you’re in the moment, all your attention is focused on feeling better and your habitual belief is that food will make you feel better. It’s not until the ‘crisis’ is over that you are able to look back and say, “Doh, I did it again.”

Here are several suggestions to help you change your eating patterns:

-Take a week and write down what you eat each day, and any physical activity you do. I know, I know you hate to keep a log. Part of the reason we hate doing it is we hate seeing what we do. And yes, I know, you want to lose weight not keep logs. But you may be surprised how easy it is to keep. It only takes a few second to log in what you’re eating, and when you begin doing so, you’ll soon see the benefits.

-Quitting a habit you’ve had for years is extremely difficult. Replacing a habit you’ve had for years is relatively easy in comparison. Don’t focus on stopping the old habit; focus on replacing a destructive habit with a good one.

-Remember, you’ve probably had these bad habits for years; it will take time to resolve them. Be patient with yourself. Chances are you’ll slip up sometime on your road to recovery, but take heart; it only takes 28 days to develop a new habit.

-Focus on one habit at a time. You didn’t develop all these habits at the same time, and you won’t be able to fix them all at the same time. If you try, you’ll be setting yourself up for failure. Determine which of your habits is the most detrimental to your health and diet success and focus on that one habit for the time it takes to replace it with a new healthy alternative. Once you’ve established a new habit to replace the old one, move on to the next.

No matter where you are in your quest to improve your health and diet, remember to keep your eye on the goal. It’s not about the discomfort of the moment when you’d like to grab those Oreos or that slice of pizza. It’s about that healthy body in great shape you’ll have when you succeed. Once you replace your unhealthy habits, staying in shape and eating healthy will come naturally. You’ll be one of those naturally thin people.

By: B.J. Gordey

About the Author:

This book shows us “How habits affect our character” and “how character affects our destiny”.1 It encourages us to live by specific “principles”, which represent the seven habits of highly effective people.2 There are many more principles that contribute to your overall success, but these ones are specifically geared to help you build a foundation for maturity, accomplishing your goals, and continuous growth. The seven habits help us develop into highly effective people by living them everyday. Habits are the convergence of knowledge, skill, and desire. This book also explains how we move through the maturity continuum by adopting the principles of each stage in our daily lives. Initially, we start as dependent people working towards independence and the private victory. If we learn the first three habits, we move from dependence to independence.

The first habit is “Be Proactive”.3 Have you ever lived your life in reactive mode? You feel like you have very little control over what happens to you. You are always stressed and trying to put out fires at the last minute. Deadlines are past due and your boss is not happy with your performance. You take you spouse for granted. Your relationships with family, friends, and your significant other are weak or deteriorating.

You get up, go to work, and do the same robotic things every day of your life. Sounds like hell, doesn’t it? Being proactive is a lot like being motivated and organized. It is setting priorities and timelines, and working towards your goals everyday. It means always having a gap or buffer created by being ahead of your personal and professional expectations. Imagine how much better your life would be “at home” and at work by taking a more proactive approach to what is really important.4 After we live the first habit, we focus on the second habit.

The second habit is “Begin with the end in mind”.5 This means that we are always focus on our goals and making sure that are efforts and behaviors align with those goals. It requires that we monitor ourselves and consider the details that will influence our lives both personally and professionally. After we live the second habit, we focus on the third habit.

The third habit is “Put first things first”.6 This means that we prioritize what is most important and work on those things first. Covey used the example of having an executive put all the big rocks in a glass container. The big rocks represented what is most important. After the big rocks were in the container, they poured in the small rocks. The small rocks represented the things that were not important. However, if they put the small rocks in first, they would not be able to fit the big rocks in the glass container. After we live the third habit, we become “independent”.7 Now we start working towards interdependence and the public victory. If we learn habits four through six, we move from independence to interdependence.

The fourth habit is “Think win / win”.8 This means creating a situation that is better than compromising, which is lose / lose. It is also better than win / lose, which is the private victory at the expense of others. Win / win means that both parties get what they want. One thing that I noticed is that it is easy to create win / win situations when you are being proactive and much harder when you are being reactive. I think this is more than just psychology; being reactive dramatically reduces your options. After we live the fourth habit, we focus on the fifth habit.

The fifth habit is “Seek first to understand, then to be understood”.9 This means that we must understand others and show that we value their point of view before we can create win / win situations, resolve conflicts, and focus on the public victory. How do you feel when someone voices their demands and ignores your feedback or point of view? You may not want to help in any way, because a person that only thinks of their own needs is selfish and they do not care about your situation. After we live the fifth habit, we focus on the sixth habit.

The sixth habit is “Synergize”.10 This means working as a team and working towards becoming a highly effective team by building “trust”, respect, and inspiring people by showing consistent leadership and successes over a long period of time.11 After we live the sixth habit, we become interdependent. Now we work on the seventh habit to improve our effectiveness.

The seventh habit is “Sharpen the saw”.12 This means that we periodically review our goals and behaviors to determine whether we are living the seven habits.

Studying the seven habits alone will not change our lives unless we are willing to change and examine our thinking and even our perceptions. It means learning them to the degree that they are second nature in everything we do. You can ask any great martial artist, athlete, or expert what the secret to their success was, and they will most likely tell you practice and attitude. Practice is making an investment in ourselves and consistently improving our skills, our habits, and our effectiveness. It is also “investing in others” by building teams. Attitude mirrors “emotional intelligence”, because it influences whether we quit when fail or learn from it, dust ourselves off, and keep working towards our goals.

Bibliography

Adams, Troy & Janet Bezner. “Principle-centeredness: A values clarification approach to wellness.” Measurement & Evaluation in Counseling & Development 1995: 139.

Covey, Stephen. “The 7 habits of highly effective families.” Working Mother 1997: 43.

Covey, Stephen. “Covey on Trust.” Training & Development 1996: 50.

Covey, Stephen. “Investing in people.” Nursing Management 2003: 32.

Covey, Stephen. “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” New York: Simon and Schuster, 1989

Dominiak, Mark. “The Independence Bounty.” Television Week 2006: 40-41.

Fenner, Elizabeth. “The Secrets of His Success.” Fortune 2004: 156-158.

By: Daniel Nase

About the Author: