How To Break A Habit

Millions of people around the world make new years resolutions each year. A very high percentage of them are in hopes of breaking bad habits that have seemingly overtaken their lives, but have left many disappointed, and realizing just how difficult breaking un-wanted habits can actually be.

To break bad habits one must first understand what they are and how they are developed in the first place. Until one can really understand how these habits are developed, they will never accomplish the task of getting rid of them. So I have personally put in thousands of hours to find effective ways in helping people get rid of what I like to call their “hook habits”, of which, I am now ready to share my conclusion with those who have an interest. So let’s get started.

What Are Bad Habits?

Bad habits are repetitious actions, deeds, and motives that have no profitable outcome for one’s life at all. In almost all cases, bad habits either do harm to a person’s body, causes them to look bad, feel shame, get in trouble with the law or their spouse, lose friends and love ones, or to spend a lot of money just to start the negative repetitious process all over again. It sounds like something someone would really want to be a part of huh? Well, don’t be surprised, there are millions of people throughout the world who are trapped, hooked and overtaken by bad habits, and some would do almost anything to get freed from them!

How Do People Develop Bad Habits?

Most people develop bad habits by practicing or emulating what they see or hear in others. People in general have a tendency to pick up a little “Character Development” from here and there, although often time, the very thing they pick up is definitely not what they need.

There is also a percentage of New Born Babies born with what I call “Fixations”. They are born with that something within that causes various behaviors not taught nor exposed to them, to manifest themselves in their characteristics at a very young age. For instance, you didn’t have to teach little Johnny to lie about the cookies he took out of the cookie jar when you weren’t around, although, you did ask him if he had taken the cookies, and of course, he said no. Did you teach little Johnny to tell that lie? No you did not, but it was in him all the time, he was born with it in him. But there is good news; all bad habits can be broken!

Surely most bad habits weren’t developed over night, and I can assure you that they won’t go away over night either. But those who take in the following information will surely find their way to victory over these un- wnated and un-needed habits:

Instead of making new years resolutions every New Years Eve, start making changes by replacing every bad habit with a better habit. That’s right! It’s just that simple. Most people try to go “Cold Turkey” when it comes down to breaking a bad habit. But I have found out in my personal experience, that if a person would find something they enjoy doing (that’s not a bad habit of course), and they don’t mind it becoming habitual, then that person should gradually replace the bad habit with the better habit until the better habit becomes the new habit. How is this task accomplish, buy simply being conscious of every time the bad habits manifest themselves, and then stopping the bad habits one by one immediately once noticed, while at the same time implementing the new things you enjoy doing until they becomes the replaced habits.

Sincerely written by,

Michael Bell

http://www.buymusicfromus.com



By: Michael Bell

About the Author:

Michael Bell, Lansing, Michigan.

Other resources:

http://ourbestversion.com/2008/06/breaking-and-building-habits/
http://polyglotconspiracy.net/?p=312
http://5thirtyone.com/archives/1083
http://noank6.com/2009/01/12/ten-steps-to-a-ten-figure-income/
http://readpress.net/blog3/2008/09/05/measurable-objectives/

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

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