by Michal Dorcak

Created on: April 21, 2010

We all have our own habits. They usually give us pleasure or make our lives easier. However, pleasurable does not automatically mean good for us. Many habits are health-threatening in a long term. Some of them may even hurt others too. It is always a great idea to get rid of those habits. While some bad habits can be hard to break, most of them are not much of a problem. Every bad habit that did not develop into addiction can be broken by following a few useful tips.

Identify your bad habits

Pay attention to things you do throughout the day. Do this for several days and write down things you do repeatedly. You can even ask another member of your family to watch your behavior and note your habits. All these things, if they are unnecessary and give you some kind of a pleasure are your habits. Also ask your friends and relatives. There, surely is something they do not like in your everyday behavior (for example that you always correct mistakes they do during the conversation). Now, analyze your newly discovered habits. Consulting with someone else will help too. It is important to look closely at each one of your habits to find out which ones can have a negative impact on you and your surroundings. You may be surprised how many bad habits you have.

Reason

Now that you know which of your habits are problematic, you should think of some good reasons to break them. Reasoning will kick-start you onto the road of breaking these habits. There is always a good reason for getting rid of any negative habit. Some may be health threatening, other might destroy your relationship with someone or make you unpopular amongst your peers. Just stop and think about the reasons why you should break that particular habit. This will provide the necessary motivation needed to start the whole process. No one puts any effort into something he/she is not motivated to do.

Get rid of the items associated with your bad habits

There often are things that are associated with a bad habit, for example cigarettes, lighter, favorite food etc. Having these items around will make it hard to break that habit. Getting rid of them is the right way to go. This way pleasurable memories connected to them will stay off your mind. You are also less likely to return to your previous habits.

Replace them

You will not be able to break the bad habits in a long term if you do not find a replacement. Look for something useful or at least harmless to substitute the old habits. It is important that the new habits

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