Most of life is habitual. You do the same things you did yesterday, the day before and every day for the last month. It’s estimated that out of every 11,000 signals we receive from our senses, our brain only consciously processes 40.
Habits, good or bad, make you who you are. The key is controlling them. If you know how to change your habits, then even a small effort can create big changes.
I’ve been using these techniques for years to re-engineer many aspects of my life. That includes overhauling my diet, exercising regularly, cutting out television, and bulking my e-mail and work routines. Little changes that, when put on autopilot, can result in an improved quality of life.
Here are some tips to get you started:
One Habit For 30 Days - Steve Pavlina, popularized the 30 Day Trial. You focus on one change for thirty days. After that time it has been sufficiently conditioned to become a habit. I’ve used this as the basis for most of my habit changes. It definitely works to sculpt the automatic programs that run in the background of your mind.
Use a Trigger - A trigger is a short ritual you perform before a habit. If you wanted to wake up earlier this might mean jumping out of bed as soon as you hear the sound of your alarm. If you wanted to stop smoking this could be snapping your fingers every time you feel the urge for a cigarette. A trigger helps condition a new pattern more consistently.
Replace Lost Needs - If you opened up your computer and started removing hardware, what would happen. Chances are your computer wouldn’t work. Similarly, you can’t just pull out habits without replacing the needs they fulfill. Giving up television might mean you need to find a new way to relax, socialize or get information.
One Habit at a Time - A month may seem like a long time to focus on only one change, but I’ve found trying to change more than a few habits at a time to be reckless. With just one habit change you can focus on making it really stick. Multitasking between three or four often means none become habits.
Balance Feedback - The difference between long-term change and giving up on day 31 is the balance of feedback. If your change creates more pain in your life than joy, it is going to be hard to stick to. Don’t go to the gym if you hate it. Find diets, exercise, financial plans and work routines that are fun to follow and support you.
“But” to Kill Bad Thoughts - A prominent habit-changing therapist once told me a great way to nuke bad thinking. Anytime you feel yourself thinking negatively about yourself, use the word “but” and point out positive aspects. “I’m lousy at this job – but – if I keep at it I can probably improve.”
Write it Down - Don’t leave commitments in your brain. Write them on paper. This does two things. First, it creates clarity by defining in specific terms what your change means. Second, it keeps you committed since it is easy to dismiss a thought, but harder to dismiss a promise printed in front of you.
30, 90, 365 - I’d like to say most habits go through a series of checkpoints in terms of conditioning. The first is at thirty days. Here it doesn’t require willpower to continue your change, but problems might offset it. At ninety days any change should be neutral where running the habit is no more difficult than not running it. At one year it is generally harder not to run the habit than to continue with it. Be patient and run habits through the three checkpoints to make them stick.
Get Leverage - Give a buddy a hundred bucks with the condition to return it to you only when you’ve completed thirty days without fail. Make a public commitment to everyone you know that you’re going to stick with it. Offer yourself a reward if you make it a month. Anything to give yourself that extra push.
Keep it Simple - Your change should involve one or two rules, not a dozen. Exercising once per day for at least thirty minutes is easier to follow than exercising Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays with yoga the first day and mountain biking the third day, except when it is raining in which case you will do… Simple rules create habits, complex rules create headaches.
Consistency is Key - The point of a habit is that it doesn’t require thought. Variety may be the spice of life, but it doesn’t create habits. Make sure your habit is as consistent as possible and is repeated every day for thirty days. This will ensure a new habit is drilled in, instead of multiple habits loosely conditioned.
Experiment - You can’t know whether a different habit will work until you try it. Mix around with key habits until you find ones that suit you. Don’t try to follow habits because you should, but because you’ve tested them and they work in your life.
Post Your Change Here - Pick a change you want to work on and post it right here in the comments. You’ll get the benefits of writing it down and making a public commitment. The best time to start is right now.
Image by acqyr
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Fantastic post!!
Mu current habit I am trying to develop is regular blogging. What I’ve done is [as you suggest] gave up on television and switched to my laptop. But then email notifications killed me - so I turned it off. Now I am focused to invest my time in blogging research and content creation – 90 minutes each evening
thanks
practica,
Good luck with the blogging habit. It’s one that I’ve definitely been working on since I started this site and have made a lot of progress.
Getting away from email and other interruptions is a big help. The good news is that the longer to do it, the easy and better your blogging becomes.
Nice article and important topic. I recently wrote a similar article on my own blog called Get Off Autopilot and Change Poor
Habits with Self-Remembering.
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[…] For example - Has anyone ever tried to change a bad habit? This article provides a step-by-step process and encouraging ways to help you create new and positive habits… Cultivating Good Habits […]
Great post! I especially recommend the idea of telling someone about it. One of the things that forced me to finish writing my first book was telling a close friend my plans. He kept on asking how it was coming along and so I had no choice but to deliver!
[…] Read the rest of Pick The Brain’s post at http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/strategies-for-breaking-bad-habits-and-cultivating-good-ones/ […]
[…] Posted in Daily life at 10:42 am by LeisureGuy Periodically one wants to drop a habit and/or add a habit and/or modify a habit: habit revision. Different tactics work for different people, and today Pick the Brain has a list that works for some: […]
The thirty day part is definitely true. The first thirty days are the hardest.
[…] negaliu nesutikti su “13 Strategies for Breaking Bad Habits and Cultivating Good Ones” autoriumi, kad didžioji dalis to,ką mes darome yra įpročiai. Deja, kaip ateina, taip ir […]
It’s interesting, I used to use the list technique to keep me on track. Now my time management system is simple and automatic. I only have to write things down when my mind starts feeling cluttered. The trick for me is to simplify my life and focus on what’s truly important.
[…] came across this post - 13 Strategies for Breaking Bad Habits and Cultivating Good Ones - and thought it was worth sharing. I hope you find it interesting too and take the time to read […]
My habit that im going to break is to stop biting my fingernails.
I’ve obsession disease and I want stop some bad habits that I have. I tried to took medicine but it doenst works and I can’t work or make sex because of the medicine and I need 24 hours of sleep each day. What I have is not so terrible, is like some litlle bad habits that I don’t like like. Cracking my fingers and my knee.
What I need to do? Snap my fingers? I can’t believe that it will work
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My habit is to get out of bed when my alarm goes off and cook myself a healthy breakfast!
The habit I want to break is to stop biting my fingernails.
It is an annoying habit I have had ever since I was a child, and now at 18 I am completely embarrassed by it, although I cannot stop it.
I work as a web developer and end up reading way too many coding books. I want to get back into reading fiction books and stop thinking about work once I’m home.
Thanks for the tips. I haven’t tried using triggers before to establish new behaviors . I’m going to give that a shot to help me get my lazy rump out of bed in the am.
But for your tip “Write It Down,” you suggest we write it on…paper? Really? Dude, how 1993 of you.
There are better electronic places to put this kind of jotting. I use a private Blogger blog for my personal journal (not indexed by Google, unavailable except by invite). You can also use Google Notebook to tack down your commitments. If that’s too intricate, just put them in a text file on your hard drive.
re: hoi - I used to be the same way about reading too much work material. I let my wife recommend some fiction she thought I might like, based on her reading and her knowledge of my personality. I also made a conscious decision to “interleave” my reading. For every nonfiction book I read, I compel myself to read one work of fiction before moving back to nonfiction again.
I’m not perfect in this habit, but it’s helped me broaden my horizons significantly.
13 Strategies for Breaking Bad Habits and Cultivating Good Ones…
[…]Habits, good or bad, make you who you are. The key is controlling them. If you know how to change your habits, then even a small effort can create big changes. Little changes that, when put on autopilot, can result in an improved quality of life. …
I will stop biting my fingernails.
I will study Japanese for one hour every morning for the next month.
Thanks. =)
I will leave home to school no later than 7:45 sharp and don’t skip class.
[…] cheating on your spouse, etc. These bad habits can really wreck havoc in your life. Scott tells you how to get rid of them and also how to acquire the good […]
[…] Here are some tips to get you started […]
For the next 30 days starting today, I will have sex every night. I’m hoping that by the 30th day I’m a fantasic lover. WaWa Wee Wah!!!!
Whoa nice post actually I want to stop smoking. Thanks for tips!
[…] 13 strategies for breaking bad habits and cultivating new ones. We’ve all got them, now it’s time to kick their habitual asses. […]
Thanks for the tip Jay Andrew Allen!
i, too, want to stop biting my fingers and fingernails… I am 22 and sick of the embarresment of having banadaged and bloody finiger tips constantly
hi,,,,I have tips for you but this I think can to help you,,maybe..buy 50 a fingger nails,,,,,,
13 Strategies for Breaking Bad Habits and Cultivating Good Ones | PickTheBrain…
[…][…]…
I like the idea of telling someone about it, and sticking with it for 30 days. I told my boyfriend, and I’m going to stop drinking for 30 days. Day 1 is today. Awesome.
[…] bad habits and how to develop better habits. Here is the list of the tips they give, go ahead and click here to view the detailed […]
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I have bad skin, and I cant seem to kick the habit of picking it and making it worse. I am going to stop today because it is ruining my life and I feel so frustrated because it is self inflicted.
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[…] mistakes are caused by bad habits. To avoid making the same mistakes you need to break these bad habits. This requires careful consideration and sustained effort to change your way of thinking. However, […]
[…] need A Game Plan. Your Game Plan is your schedule for habit-removal. Set up checkpoints, 30, 90, and 365 day checkpoints seem good (you didn’t think you could get by with no record […]
exercise 30 minutes a day and drop an old habit. 11/20/07
This is great. Bad habits can kill success in any avenue. Thank you for posting this.
-Jeff
My habit to break is giving my finace no attitude and bullshit when he doesnt need it…any ideas to help with not having an attitude or telling him no, since i feel like its my way or no way…any ideas to help this all?
Hi…,
Mi name is miguel…, I’m a 17 year old struggling in high school. Its my senior year and due to “bad habits” i ended up at a continuation school. I know for a fact it isn’t due to me bing incapable of learning a certain material because my sister had simpler classes and is able to pass wiht c’s or b’s. Anyways. I know what i should,could and would do. But i can’t seem to do it. I’ve tried and am still currently trying. I think what i need is just someone to keep pushing me and just keep motivating me. In short. Maybe just a friend and an insparation. Anyone is qualified i don’t discriminate. I see myself as a really bright kid with some bad mistakes. I never smoked or drank or partied and had sex. I really did want to be that straight A student. It just never happened. I think it takes a lot for me to be writing this. But i’m really at the poing where maybe i should stop talking and maybe start listening to more people. Not people with Unconditionable love and are kinda obliged to support me. But from people i dont know. People who have gone thru worse or better yet there willing to say so how you doing? Anyways…, Like i said anyone is welcome to write to me. Maybe I could even help some of you out. So I hope if you read this your willing to not make it a waste of time and write.
you can email me at
Gamblebynight21@aol.com
or you could send me a message on myspace.
myspace.com/thatsrightimgay
(no i’m not gay long story)
anyways…
I hope you all have a great day/evening/night.
Sicerely,
-Miguel A. Perez
hi,,mybe you can to consentration with the homeowork,,,or,,,you can try something sport(fitnes),,swimming,,,watching with your firends…..sry my english not good…i from indonesia
Dearest Nancy Schimelpfening,
I know that you try very hard to help people break their bad habits. I have read a good amount of your work. I have my own that I am seeking to break…starting March 1st I’m going to be giving my day to day efforts on breaking my bad habits. I would love your help in getting people to participate in my journey. This will be very beneficial to all of the people in your system…I will be providing a lot of information and confidence to everyone. This is a great way for anyone with bad habits to have daily contact with the desire to fix their problems.
This will be very uplifting yet very honest in my trials. I would love to put in and use any material and articles that you think would be very beneficial as well as any advice…I want to help anyone with a bad habit…ranging from the lowest to the highest of problems and issues. The website where this will all take place is http://burnthehabit.blogspot.com.
Thank you so much,
Joshua Thompson
I am going to stop using Splenda and eat three healthy meals per day. Peace of mind about my health is far more important that a sweet coffee!
the health is very expensive….so be care
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Hey!
I just read your post and it really helepd me one habit i’m trying to break os watching t.v. and i’m replacing it with scrapbooking. And the other I’m erasing is masturbating. I’m replacing it with reading. You really helped me.
Hey!
I just read your post and it really helepd me one habit i’m trying to break os watching t.v. and i’m replacing it with scrapbooking. And the other I’m erasing is masturbating. I’m replacing it with reading. You really helped me.
signed anonymus
I am changing my habit of getting up late in the mornings. I am starting it from today 09-03-2008. I am fully convinced that if I persist with it for 30 days this habit will stick. Pray for me. I have learn’t in life, by doing otherwise, that getting up early in the mornings is the best good habit one can have.
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Great article. i have read this before but for some reason never gave it a shot. ok here goes …
My first habit to break in 30 days would be to handle the things i dont favour at work first without exception.
Hi, well after reading this article I am willing to try this trial. In thinking about my bad habits I have realized that I have tried similar tactics in breaking them, however, I just did not have a goal. Now, that I have a goal I am hoping and wanting to try this 30 day trial;) It makes sense. So, I will for 30 days eliminate the porno sites and excercise every day instead.
[…] no longer requires willpower. It’s a technique I’ve used to start exercising, switch my eating habits, wake up early and add various other productivity […]
Hi I’m Aditya…actually I’m 13 years old. The problem is that I have a really powerful bad habit. The habit is to open porn things. Actually I tried a hundred times, but I can’t stand it. Each time I try to stop, my head would bi filled with thoughts. I just cant stop it….but I’m trying…TODAY!!!…thanks 4 the post…please help me…
Hi! My problem is that i’m always sucking my thumb which is causing ruin to my teeth but i cant help it i suck it when im asleep so i dont realise.
hi, I want to get up daily at 5.00 in the morning to study for my gmat .I am committed to do this for 30 days .I love the way you have explained .keep it up .
[…] Tips for Breaking Bad Habits and Developing Good Habits by Scott Young Original Post on Habits by Scott Young […]
I am going to stop snooping and start trusting.
I just came accross this post as I am focusing on changing my bad habits like diet and exercise, stress, and email checking.
A few techniques I used from this are a habit per 30 days, writing it down, posting my progress on my blog. Anyway, I’m just starting, but it’s really having an impact! Thanks for the other tips as well.
I am giving up my morning sleep upto 8.00am. I am going to get up at 6.00am and stard meditating.