How To Break A Habit

Bad habits can take over your life. They can make you fail at work, school, and relationships. It is important to address these issues. Self help books are great for this. Here are a few.

The 12 Bad Habits That Hold Good People Back: Overcoming the Behavior Patterns That Keep You From Getting Ahead is a book by Waldroop and Butler. This book focuses on bad habits in the workplace. It explains how you can understand your own bad habits and learn new ways to relate to people. They suggest that doing this will help you to advance and prosper in your career.

James Claiborn, Ph.D. and Cherry Pedrick, R.N. have collaborated on a book about all habits. It is called The Habit Change Workbook: How to Break Bad Habits and Form Good Ones. This book follows a cognitive-behavioral approach to bad habits. It uses psychological principles to get to the root of bad habits. Then, it goes into great detailed steps of how to break them. It also tells about a group of people who have bad habits and explains how each one is conquering theirs.

What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do: Bad Habits and Addictions is a short book on the subject by Henry Cloud and John Townsend. It offers a religious perspective to those who feel overcome by their failings. It gives advice on how to find ways out of habits and addictions.

One book is a rather heavy read on the subject of addictions. However, it does offer some sound psychological advice. It is titled Changing for Good: A Revolutionary Six-Stage Program for Overcoming Bad Habits and Moving Your Life Positively Forward. The authors, James O. Prochaska, John Norcross, and Carlo DiClemente, work together to put together a system of coping with undesirable behaviors. It involves six steps, which are discussed in full.

If you have children you want to help, there is a book for you, too. It is called Good Kids, Bad Habits: The RealAge Guide to Raising Healthy Children. In it, Jennifer Tratchenberg discusses the kinds of habits children have as they are growing up. She gives insight into how these habits can follow them into later life. Then, the author helps parents set up a program that is designed specifically for their child. This will help the children to break bad habits.

Of course, what subject would be complete without an “Idiot’s Guide?” Suzanne LeVert has come up with the Complete Idiot’s Guide to Breaking Bad Habits. This book is a tremendous introduction on the subject of bad habits. At the same time, it does it with a sense of humor and warmth. Reading this book may not break your bad habit. However, it may put you in the right frame of mind to do it.

Self help books for breaking bad habits are very useful tools. They help those habituated to understand their problem behaviors and find ways to banish them. It always helps to have a second opinion. Reading these books on bad habits will give you advice that you would never think of on your own.



By: Arjun Singhe

About the Author:

Author sites: Self Help Articles , Home Remedies and Free Health Tips

Other resources:

http://www.missionandjustice.org/mindless-eating-why-does-it-consume-us-health/
http://www.sundrip.com/journal/2009/04/08/on-animals-and-humans/
http://thebeautybrains.com/2008/04/03/is-pantene-putting-plastic-on-your-hair/
http://www.galeon.com/blama/acomplia/rimonaban.html
http://www.kaelisspace.com/wordpress22/2007/01/02/help-my-cat-is-killing-my-couch/

When I practiced full time as a clinical hypnotherapist, a man came into my office wanting to lose a lot of weight. He introduced himself as Jim. He looked beaten down. His shirt missed a couple buttons, and I saw tangles throughout his oily, shoulder length hair. He still had morning breath at 2:15 PM.

Jim explained to me that he had already undergone a quadruple bypass, and his doctor said that if the weight didn’t go he would die soon. He was also scheduled for his third knee surgery the following week.

He told me about all the weight loss programs that had failed him. He read every book ever published on weight loss. He probably knew more about losing weight than most personal trainers and weight loss advisors.

Still, there he sat, all 300-plus pounds of him. Even though his life literally depended on it, he was unable to keep off the weight. All his knowledge of caloric intake and how much activity it takes to burn a pound of fat didn’t help him one bit. Jim was dying.

He viewed coming to see me as a last ditch effort to save his life. He didn’t believe in hypnosis, he said, but he’d stopped believing in almost everything else, too. There was nothing left for him to try.

Because of his opinion on hypnosis, I used that tool very sparingly. Instead, I focused on getting him to open up, which he did. I learned that not only did Jim have poor eating habits, almost every habit in his life, it turned out, affected him in a bad way.

Our work together lasted about 8 weeks. We focused on making very small changes to Jim’s daily routines. We interrupted his patterns and created new habits. Instead of pizza 4 nights a week, he would only have it 3. Rather than sleeping 12 hours, he’d sleep 10.

By the end of the 8th week, Jim had not lost a pound. He did, however, learn how to create new, healthier habits. He learned he was not a slave, chained to his comfort zone, and that by incorporating the habits he had learned into his life, these became his new comfort zone.

The last time I saw Jim, he caught me off guard. We were at an art gallery. He walked up, shook my hand, and started laughing. “I get that a lot,” he said, seeing the puzzled look on my face. I almost cried when I recognized the man before me.

I’ve heard it said that the difference beween successful people and unsuccessful people are their habits. Nowhere is this more true than in network marketing. When we talk about habits, we usually refer to bad habits. We build habits by repeating action. This action, however, can be bad or good, helpful or hurtful.

To hear some people talk, you would think that habits just happen without our control. Did you ever try to break a habit? It can be a difficult and painful thing to do, but with a strong enough commitment, it can be done.

If habits are so powerful, imagine creating a beneficial habit, like a new work habit. How would it be if your prospecting tasks became automatic, like brushing your teeth? Consistency is the hallmark of a stable person. Habits create this consistency.

How do you create a habit? One word: Repetition. Repetition is the mother of all skill. If you repeat an action every day for 30 days, you create a habit. This is true whether your goal is exercise, business, or personal.

To be truly effective, start small. Instead of vowing to call 10 prospects a day, start with 1. If you can’t dedicate 3 hours a day to your business right now, start with 15 minutes. Small, consistent steps over time create huge, long-lasting results.

You must develop confidence as your primary habit. Without knowing that you have something of value to provide your customers and business associates, everything else falls flat. If you don’t believe in yourself, nobody else will, either.

You develop confidence with small, private victories. If you commit to contacting 1 prospect a day, and keep that commitment, your confidence grows. If you increase that to 2 a day, it gets even stronger.

Discipline also ranks high on any list of habits. Discipline simply means the ability to get necessary actions done. It means taking the steps, regardless of how you feel or what’s going on in your life, to insure that you will be successful.

In the US Army, my drill instructors pounded discipline into my skull. Being sick was irrelevant, because the enemy wouldn’t care if you were sick or not. They’d just kill you. The same if you were tired, or just found out your wife was leaving you (this happened to a few guys in my platoon).

You could cry all you wanted, but the drill instructors knew the ingredients of success. Whether that success happens on the battlefield or while working on your business, you still need the same habits. Rain or shine, you simply must take action.

Drill sergeants also taught me motivation. Motivation is very similar to discipline, only it require more emotional input. To exercise discipline, you need a certain amount of motivation. Believe me, when you’re cold and wet, you need motivation to climb the muddy hill in front of you.

An enemy chasing you would provide such needed motivation. For me, it was a drill sergeant with biceps big around as my waist, yelling at me. I would probably have done anything this person told me to do.

As scary as my Army experience was, today I hear my own inner drill sergeant yelling, “You better make them calls, you airhead!” It still motivates me today, even though I’m warm and dry.

You maintain motivation by reminding yourself why you do what you do. For me, motivational cd’s do the trick, especially while I’m driving. I also read books on success and self improvement. Ten to twenty minutes a day is all it takes.

Your habits determine where you’re going. Take some time now, right now, as you read these words, and examine your habits. What do you habitually do every day? If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten. Is that satisfactory to you?



By: Gregory McGuire

About the Author:

Gregory McGuire is a successful network marketer living in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

“Stop wasting time on old school network marketing techniques–find out why 97% of mlmers never make any real money.”

Visit www.success123.the7greatliesofnetworkmarketing.com

Other resources:

http://selfpursuit.com/how-to-break-a-bad-habit-a-step-by-step-guide/77/
http://www.paulooi.com/2006/03/08/dont-leave-laptop-in-car/
http://www.itfindhealth.com/when-are-bad-habits-helpful/
http://www.financialfreedomlibrary.com/on-habit/
http://www.brigidsblog.com/index.php/2007/11/30/how-to-break-bad-habits/

You may get the feeling that you have dodged the bad habits that others have, unless you spot yourself learning bad habits from others around you. The people may not pass on their bad habits intentionally, but you get affected all the same.

There are chances that you learn bad habits from others like they eat. In case you spend a lot of time with a person, you may start eating in the similar manner. It is always easier to prepare one meal and share it. It is always simpler to go to one restaurant to eat instead of two. If that particular restaurant offers only greasy foods, chances are you end up ordering the dishes you normally wouldn’t eat. This way you are sure to pick up your friend’s bad habit.

Smoking is another bad habit people easily pick up from others. If you share the room with your smoker companion every evening, you slowly either get sick of it or get accustomed to it. You may perhaps start enjoying it. That is when there is a possibility that you pick up the bad habit.

Arguing with each other is a bad habit which quite a few partners get into in a relationship. Your spouse may begin a brawl. You may not want to get into an argument. But your spouse might not let you walk out. However, a fight starts and soon both are in it. This may become a regular issue and thus turn into a bad habit.

In the office, sloppiness is very contagious. If one team member is also careless with the weighty gear, his stance can pollute the attitude of rest of the workers. Before you realize, they all are into bad habit of getting careless at work. In case one worker gets into the bad habit of telling all he knows, the habit spreads. If one gives out his pay, soon all will. If one talks private organization business, the gossip will spread. The bad habits can really get out of control.

In case you are in the habit proving yourself superior to others even when you are not, this habit can easily be picked up by others. A person tells something he did, and you tell a better thing you did. Somebody might follow you and try to one-up you. This may go on endlessly.

Pessimism is another bad habit. Pessimistic people always look at the negative side of all. This can rub off to anyone spending a lot of time with them. Such people can only think of bad things that can happen and before you realize you have been affected by this attitude. You may be next one to predict doom in the future.

Of course, you can not hold the other person responsible for choice you make. That is up to you. If you want to evade bad habits of others, you can if you are determined. Do not forget you need not always match up to those around you.



By: Abhishek Agarwal

About the Author:

Abhishek is a self-development expert and he has got some great tips on Getting Rid Of Bad Habits . Download his FREE 42 Pages Ebook, “How To Kick Bad Habits Out Of Your Life!” from his website http://www.Positive-You.com/33/index.htm. Only limited Free Copies available.

Other resources:

http://www.thegadgetmagazine.com/2008/07/17/how-to-stop-snoring/
http://www.marcandangel.com/2008/06/02/50-things-everyone-should-know-how-to-do/
http://hoomancan.com/blog/2009/02/youre-a-hard-habit-to-break-7-steps-to-overcome-your-bad-habits/
http://trulyace.com/blog/general-musings-on-life/diy-design-is-fools-gold/
http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/freshloaf/2009/05/06/chateau-alpharetta-website-lampoons-citys-proposed-project/

Your health and weight is determined by your eating habits. Your social habits affect your relationship with other people. Your sleeping habit dictates how well you sleep. Your working habits affect your success. Besides you’ll have sexual habits and also buying habits. The way you do things, and the things you each day are all related to your habits - like the first thing you do the moment you wake up from bed; which hand holds the tooth brush, and how you hold and squeeze tooth paste are all habits you have developed.

If you ask people what’s the meaning of habit, most will give bad habits the hard press, and say they are negative actions that people do over and over again, like smoking, gambling, over eating, and procrastination.

We know bad habits produce negative benefits, poor relationship and affect your life negatively. What if we can add positive habits to our life. What is a positive habit, you ask? A positive habit is simply a habit that produces positive benefits, attitudes and actions you want to acquire and make a part of your life.

Why is there such great power in positive habits to effect change in our life? Because by their very nature, habits are automatic. After a period of time they can become permanent. A habit becomes a voluntary action and in turn develop into an acquired behavior pattern that become part of you.

Overcoming Procrastination For the purpose of discussion on how to add good and positive habits to our life, we will confine ourselves to overcoming procrastination. It’s really quite easy. Like adding any positive habit, you simply begin repeating an action, attitude or thought process every day for at least 21 days. Ok, let’s get started with the following tips on repair works as an example.

1. When you think that a work can afford to be delayed, it can also afford not to be delayed. By having the work done without further delay, you feel a sigh of relief making the load of work on our back lesser or lighter, which eventually makes you feel better. Do it now overcoming procrastination immediately.

2. Do you have things on your pending list? Then attend to them after being busy with something more important and you have time to spare. Don’t wait as delaying is one of bad habits.

3. If the reason you delay some work is because you feel it is difficult, then delaying will make it even more difficult. For example, a leak on the roof may not be harmful if it doesn’t rain; but once it rains, water goes into the house resulting in wet floors and carpets and eventually, the extent of damage could be more than can be imagined. A stitch on time saves nine.

4. When you are not sure if work that needs to be done will be effective, you must seek advice from people who are more knowledgeable on this field. Procrastinating won’t help.

5. Delayed work due to incomplete materials will remain delayed unless you fill in the incomplete items. Remember, overcoming procrastination is a must.

6. Make a list of all pending work in the house and post it on the refrigerator door to constantly remind you about them.

You may feel lazy at times and tend to delay some work that needs your attention. It’s understandable that ’starting’ to get a job done is the most difficult part, but once you have started, the rest will be easy.

Remember you will reap the benefits of positive habits for as long as you maintain that habit which can change your life entirely. Research has shown that action is likely to become a permanent habit, if it is repeated for a minimum of 21 days.



By: Ronald Yip

About the Author:
Ronald Yip has been learning and applying intuitive and creative processes in personal, business and community life helping people to improve their life. Visit Self Improvement for more info.


Other resources:

http://www.just4business.eu/2007/11/five-weaknesses-of-chinese-companies-operating-abroad/
http://www.climateaudit.org/?p=4757
http://www.lifeevolver.com/break-bad-habits-autopilot-mode/
http://www.nynaeve.net/?p=159
http://www.discoverdebtfreedom.com/2008/05/07/record-breaking-debt-how-did-we-get-this-way-and-how-do-we-get-out/

hanging a habit is a tough thing to do isn’t it? We start out full of hope and positive expectation. We build our resolve, take some advice and start out with enthusiasm. But little by little it begins to fall. Until suddenly -– snap! We’re back to our old ways again. By recognizing this reality, and getting a grip on what habits are, we can prepare for building the skill of habit change.

The first thing to realize is that we are our habits. Everything we do is a habit. When we carefully watch a presenter on cable we will notice words repeated. Favorite words they use -– habitual words. We are made up of thousands of habits, some small, some big. Habits are the automatic behavior that happens without the need to think. Oops, thinking can be a habit too. Maybe we have a habit of thinking about the bad things in life! So if we want to change a habit, recognizing that we are actually changing a little bit of ourselves is a useful insight.

Next we need to understand that our habits have been around a while. So long we don’t have to think about them. True, we may notice that we’re still picking our nails, but the impulse is deep in our subconscious and overrules our thinking. Your mind is already made up before you consciously try to resist that next chocolate. Only by shifting the subconscious can we avoid the battle than follows.

Finally, we need to accept is that our habits have found a way to exist together. Similar to a group of people, they have worked out how they can all survive with each other. They may bicker but more or less they rub along together okay. They are a tightly knit community of habits that treat newcomers with suspicion. If our new habit threatens one of the existing habits – the fight is going to be bitter.

By recognizing these truths we can give our new habits a fighting chance. Rather than just throwing them in at the deep end, plan carefully. Select habits which will find it easy to survive within you before you send in the big ones. Make habit chance a life enhancing skill. For more tips on changing habits, see resources below.



By: Charlie Dodds

About the Author:

Charlie Dodds is a self development expert with nearly 20 years of experience helping people to achieve their goals in life and work. As a professional coach, trainer, speaker and author, Charlie has helped thousands of people to succeed. Visit him today!

27 Tips to make Habit Change Successful

Other resources:

http://ravivora.com/blog/have-energy-all-day-without-caffeine
http://mpwilson.com/?p=3694
http://puyallup.neighborhoodsundressed.com/2008/01/23/indulge-cupcakes-in-puyallup/
http://www.name-selector.com/wordpress/?p=21
http://www.remoteviewer.nu/?p=4014

A bad habit can be like a weight on your shoulders that you bear every day whether it is something minor like biting your nails to something social like a need to put people down to something unhealthy like smoking or drug addiction. If you have decided that you need to stop whatever habit it is that is plaguing you the question of how to stop bad habits needs answering if you cannot seem to just turn it off. The problem most people encounter with bad habits is that if they were easy to stop repeating they would have a long time ago, but now they have been doing it for years it is ingrained and will be a subconscious action most of the time. Sometimes this habit can be so overwhelming that we can label it an addiction where the need to continue is so strong we give in and continue because it feels comfortable or pleasurable even if we logically know we need to stop doing it. So what do you do to quit a habit that you desperately want to be rid of?



1. Identify Causes

One thing many people do not take into account when trying to lose a bad habit is identifying the original cause of the habit. While for some this may not apply, for many habits there are triggers that make you do them or some event that made you start that you need to understand. If you start doing whatever your bad habit is stop and analyze what just happened before you acted that might have been a trigger. Was it something someone said? Was it something you saw? Was it sheer boredom perhaps? There are an infinite amount of reasons so you must find the one that affects you! Once you know the triggers you can then trace them back to the original cause of why these triggers activate you habits. This may not help you quit straight away but armed with this knowledge you can make better decisions and maybe sort out issues in your life that trigger the habit making it less of a problem.

2. Be Positive

I used to think positive thinking was just a load of hogwash but once you try it you realize it is not a magic cure-all to problems but it does have an impact on how you think and act. If you become negative you can become apathetic or give up on ideas much more quickly. If you concentrate on the good side of things your body and mind actually help you stay on the positive and happy side aiding your effort to break a habit. To help stay positive think of all the good things that will come from breaking your bad habit. What benefits will come from this, write a list down and keep it in your pocket if that helps but do not think of all the bad things associated with quitting or it becomes a slippery slope you may slide down.

3. Reward Yourself

While it may feel like you are training a dog don’t be embarrassed, people learn in the same way as well! Celebrate your successes with some small rewards to keep you motivated and keep you looking forward to that reward. Set small goals and when you achieve them have that reward then set a new tougher goal to achieve. It can become like a game and it builds your confidence like no other.

4. Replace Your Habit

One pitfall with some habits is that when you stop doing them you are left with a hole in your time that you have nothing to fill it with leading to a fall back into the habit if you do not have a new option. One action you can take is to find a new habit to replace it … but this time make it a healthy or good one. Spend that time exercising maybe or take up a fulfilling and creative hobby. Find something to occupy your mind that is a positive influence in your life rather than a negative one.

5. Build on your Success

Every success and achievement of a goal should be celebrated and every failure should be ignored. If you focus on failure you will invite more failure and if you focus on success you will find more success. What is the point of thinking of your failures? all it does is bring you down and make you lose belief in yourself. Put it out of your mind and think of the successes and I guarantee you that your successes will start becoming more frequent than the failures until before you know it all you have is success and a habit you USED to have!



Using these tips I hope you can start quitting your terrible habits and start a new chapter in your life. The answer to how to stop bad habits is never though so you must tailor the solution to your own life.



By: Hengster

About the Author:

Do you feel you may be able to stop that habit now?
Do you want to know more amazing, insightful ideas that will help you break them first time?
If you are ready to quit a habit that is ruining your life click here for more information!
http://www.kick-addiction.com/Break-Habits-In-21-Days.html
-

Originally posted at:
http://ezinearticles.com/?How-To-Stop-Bad-Habits-Positively—5-Tips-To-Stop-Repeating-Your-Habit&id=963722
-

Other resources:

http://www.dirjournal.com/health-journal/who-wants-bad-memories-edit-your-emotions-and-be-happy/
http://dangerousintersection.org/2009/02/01/should-we-slap-warning-stickers-on-our-friends-to-avoid-picking-up-their-bad-habits/
http://20-forty.com/2008/11/02/hes-just-not-that-into-youwtf/
http://www.elharo.com/blog/pop-culture/videogames/2008/06/18/age-of-slonan/
http://robert.accettura.com/blog/2007/09/29/demofall-07-browseros-statistics/

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: